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10 Tips for Copywriting Success
While video and multimedia technologies are rapidly expanding, the Web remains a largely a text-oriented system. Text utilizes far less space than video or audio, and remains the go-to medium for the majority of the web’s public content. This means that there is a lot of copy on the web, so a savvy copywriter should be on the lookout for any technique that will improve the material he puts forward.
Tip 1 – Know Yourself
This piece of advice has been kicking around for several thousand years, and it has persisted for a reason – people make better decisions when they know their strengths and limits. If your writing lends itself to narrative structures, find ways to tell stories about the product, perhaps in the form of a testimonial or an interview. If you aren’t capable of writing technical articles, don’t try to bluff it.
Tip 2 – Improve Yourself
The web changes, language changes, people change, products change… in short, everything changes. This is a good thing. Improvement and training are important changes that everyone must go through in some degree if they want to remain relevant. You may want to consider enrolling in a writing course, study new SEO and copywriting tips, pick up a highly rated style manual, or continue refining your skills in some other way.
Tip 3 – Target Your Language to the Audience
There is always an audience. Whether writing a letter specifically to one individual or composing for a website to be viewed by international customers, take the time to find out who your audience is and tailor the writing accordingly. Academics will have different writing standards than a DIY auto repair services, and neither will appreciate receiving articles targeted to the other.
Tip 4 – Write Coherently
Compare the following two statements:
* The Large Hadron Collider, created and maintained by CERN in Geneva, is designed to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle, which will provide insight into the origin of the universe.
* CERN intends to use the Large Hadron Collider to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle in an attempt to gain insight into the origin of the universe.
The first sentence is full of asides and parenthetical statements while the second conveys the information more fluidly. There are times when asides and references are important, but as a general rule, take any opportunity you can to simplify your writing. Your message will be stronger and clearer for the effort.
Tip 5 – Write Specifically
Again, consider this ambiguous sentence; “Anti-nuclear protestors released live cockroaches inside the White House Friday, and these were arrested when they left and blocked a security gate.”
While it seems innocuous enough on the surface, this statement does illustrate the problem with ambiguous grammar. Good copywriting is precise and unambiguous. Here it comes across as funny, but if your customers aren’t coming to your site to laugh, go with a clearer example.
Tip 6 – Write Concisely
Strunk and White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ sums this up as ‘Omit needless words.’ Stick to short, clear paragraphs and sentences. Elaborate where needed, but focus on efficient writing that gets the message across without pointless extras.
Tip 7 – Start Strong
Journalism focuses on a technique known as the lede. In short, this is all the relevant detail of the story conveyed in one sentence, and it always comes at the start of the article. “A local man was arrested today in connection with the recent kidnapping of a foreign exchange student.” Notice it doesn’t give names or quotes, just the hard-core facts. While online copywriting rarely needs to emulate this exact approach, it still illustrates a key point; good articles present their best facts quickly while hooking the reader.
Tip 8 – End Strong
There are countless examples of writing that start out with the proverbial ‘bang,’ only to wander off pointlessly. Focus your writing on its key message and make sure the final statement is as strong as the first. Write your beginning statement and ending statement at the same time and make sure the article is always leading toward that killer end sentence that ties the article up in a powerful way.
Tip 9 – Read
While this partially falls under the idea of improving yourself, it’s also a specific example that deserves its own mention. Read constantly. Read good articles and bad, seeing what works and what does not. People who are widely read write better than comparable writers who don’t read as much.
Tip 10 – Write Constantly
Copywriting is a talent like any other. Daily practice with writing will expand your ability to try new ideas and reinforce good habits. Even if you have no copywriting assignment at the moment, browse the web looking for websites in your area of expertise, and see if you can’t improve their copy. Then you can either consider it free practice, or perhaps give the authors a call to see if they’re interested.
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Conversion Secrets
Once you’re online business website is live, generating targeted traffic is your next hurdle. But to maximize your online success you need to go beyond traffic generation. You need to focus on web site conversion. Many online marketers spend lots of time and money on traffic generation. And they fail to pay attention to website conversions.
Here are 7 website conversion secrets to help you get more customers and make more money. Period. Lets start…
Conversion Secret #1
Pay attention to the buying experience. Put your self in your buyer’s shoes. How would you rate your site? The most important rule of thumb is to make everything drop-dead easy. No hoops allowed! Minimize the number of clicks in your ordering process. If they have to register… make it a one-step process. I recently read that up to 40% of ecommerce shopping carts are Abandoned without an order because the order process was confusing.
When your customers get confused, they get frustrated or angry and then they leave. Not sure how you’re doing? Be smart. Test. That’s the only way. Or contact your customers and ask them to rate their buying experience at your site. Just find out and you’ll know! Very simple.
Conversion Secret #2
Optimize your site structure. Sounds easy enough. And it is! But you’d be shocked to know how many marketers Don’t. Make it well organized and stupid simple to navigate. Prioritize your themes and sub-themes and structure accordingly. You have less than 6 to 8 seconds to capture your visitor’s attention and get them interested. Most people don’t sit there and analyze. They respond to unconscious feelings and the famous ‘gut’ feeling.
Conversion Secret #3
What is the goal of your site? Your conversion goal? What is the purpose of the page they’re on? I hope you have thought about this. If not… do it now! Do you have 12 options for them to click on? Ever consider they might get confused because there ARE so many options? You can have many options for them. And if you do then it’s critically important to have a very clearly defined navigation structure.
Conversion Secret #4
Make sure your site or page loads fast! The faster, the better. You know how impatient we’ve all become. Your site needs to be fully loaded in less than 6 to 8 seconds! Fully visible. Research shows again and again that up to half of your visitors will Leave if your site is more than 6 to 8 seconds to load.
Conversion Secret #5
Do you have an effective and clear call to action? Here’s something that has been known for many decades. Courtesy of direct mail pioneers who came way before the internet. But it’s still true! People need to be told what to do next.
Absolutely still true. Don’t be afraid to ‘politely’ inform them of what to do next, or just what to do! Tell them! Don’t expect the website visitor to know what to do next. You can alleviate fears of the unknown by telling them, in some fashion, what their next action will do. Click to order your product… click here to register for your free download, etc. People need to be reassured and you’ll do that by telling them what result will happen from their next action.
Conversion Secret #6
Do you have a strong message? This is different from call to action. I’m talking about a clear, strong, and consistent message throughout your page. If you’re talking about a particular product, theme, service… whatever it is, stay on topic and focus on it.
Conversion Secret #7
Test, test, and test again. Increasing your conversions takes time and is an ongoing process. There are lots of programs available to do this. Find out how much time people are spending on your pages. What do they click on? Find out what’s strong and improve on it. See if you can expand on it. Find out what’s weak and see if you can improve on it.
Your profits will soar if you do only half of what I’ve shown you here today. But why would do that? Do All of them. And there’s even more to be learned. Failing to work on your conversions is like running on half empty, or running on misfiring cylinders. So don’t do it!
Make Your Ezine Make You Money
Writing a regular ezine (online newsletter) can sometimes feel like hard work. So if you’re putting in the time and effort to give your readers valuable content, consider implementing at least a few of the strategies in this article to help your efforts pay off in profits.
Here are 4 ways to help your ezine make you more money:
1. Self-promote
Besides giving valuable content in each issue of your ezine, don’t forget to add a little self-promotion as well. After all, it is one of your best marketing tools, and you want to make sure that you’re letting your subscribers know what products and services you have available for them. It’s best to do this in a separate section of your ezine, instead of in the copy of the article you write for your readers. A short blurb about you and what you offer, as well as a bit about one of your products and services with a link to more information is all you really need to do.
A tip: If space allows, consider adding one or two short testimonials from your clients/customers who are raving fans, too.
Depending on the method through which you are publishing your ezine, you can track how many times your links are clicked on, which gives you valuable market research information about what your readers are interested in finding out more about.
2. Give Options
If you are a service professional, know that there are many people who would like to hire you one-on-one but that option doesn’t fit into their budget just yet. If you offer them other options, and promote those offerings in your ezine, you’ll turn some of those prospects into paying clients.
For example, if you coach or consult one-on-one, consider offering a group coaching program with a price point that would be much more accessible than your private fees would be. Or take your knowledge and package it into an ebook, or a series of teleseminars, or an ecourse, and price them reasonably. Then promote them in your ezine.
3. Offer specials
Your readers may find the content of your free ezine valuable and would really like more, but they might need a bit of encouragement to buy from you. So give your subscribers a special discount on something you offer, with a time limit for purchasing (which really does encourage people to “act now”).
For example, offer a 2-for-1 deal on your ebooks, or 20% off one of your programs if they register within a week. This strategy will move some of your readers from the “free” part of your funnel into the “fee” part of your funnel, which is exactly what you want.
4. Offer recommendations
I get so many questions about the services I use in my business that I periodically give recommendations in my ezine. These products and services are ones I truly believe are of high quality, because I have used them personally or because they come highly recommended to me by my mentor coaches. Some of these I am a reseller of (an affiliate), meaning I make a small commission on every sale I refer, and others are products and services I love and know would be of value to my subscribers.
Don’t forget that your number one priority with your ezine is to provide valuable content for your subscribers. Proportion 10-20% of your content with promoting you and your offerings, and you will be working smarter and not harder.
Also remember that with each issue you put out, you are building trust and rapport with your list, becoming known as an expert in your niche, and gaining lots of exposure (especially if you submit your ezine articles to article submission services), all of which are so important to the overall success of your business.
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
Professional article services can provide you with effective article marketing campaigns that can turn a failing online business into an unexpected success by giving you the time to focus on the more important aspects of your business.
This is not to suggest that you cannot write articles yourself – of course you can – but it can be time-consuming to write in a manner that attracts readers, keeps them reading and then compels them to click the links in your resource to reach your website.
Sure, you can do that yourself, but do you have the time? Probably not, since the majority that are developing their online businesses want to spend their time doing that and expanding their range of products or services. What time is left to write compelling articles and submit them? Next to none!
Article services can do that for you – not only write your articles but also submit them. However, there is always an associated cost, and you have to determine what the cost of your article services are in respect of the benefits you receive. There are two basic ways of looking at this, and while it is not possible to quantify them for individual cases, you can at least consider them with respect to yourself, individually:
1. Saving Time
It takes time to write a good article. Those that claim to teach you how to write a great winning article in 15 minutes are taking nonsense. You might write 300 words about your product, but that won’t impress anybody, and won’t be accepted by many of the important directories that require a minimum 500 word count or even more.
Also, can you write compellingly? Can you persuade a reader that your product is better than the next guys without being allowed to mention your product or even your website? That doesn’t seem very easy, does it. You won’t learn that skill quickly! How long will it take? I know people that work for an hour or more on a 500 word article just to get the spelling and grammar right!
Spelling is extremely important, and any errors in these days of spell checkers will be regarded as unacceptable and careless, but no spell check will tell you that ‘there’ should be ‘there’ or ‘to’ should be ‘too’. In spite of what you have heard, grammar also counts with a number of people. An article with no errors in its grammar will attract more visitors to the link on the resource than the same article full of schoolboy errors. That’s a fact, not an opinion!
So, how long will it take you? Figure that out against the cost of the article from a site offering professional article services. If the money spent is worth the time saved, then it makes sense. If not, then it doesn’t. Your choice, but it is a logical and economic one as all business choices should be – not based upon opinion but on facts.
2. Now for the benefits
Until you are aware of the its benefits, you will be unable to determine the real benefit of the time you will save by using professional article services to help with your article marketing strategy. There are four main benefits:
* You can have your articles published on ezines and article directories. For each of these that accept your article you will receive a share of the PageRank of the web page on which your article is published. The Page Rank cited for the Home Page of the article directory is irrelevant – that is immaterial because the ranking points you receive are related only to the page on which your article is published, and also the other links leaving that page. However, it improves your Google PageRank score.
* Contrary to what many believe, visitors to article directories read the articles. You can get several hundred people reading your article each month if the title attracts them.
* Many people use published articles as content for their websites. This is particularly popular with those that use Adsense and other contextual advertising systems to monetize pages on their sites. To do so, they must also include your resource that publishes your website links, so you get Google PageRank points from the links back to your website from the page on which your article has been used.
* Naturally, anybody visiting that other website can click on your links and visit a page on your website. That page must lead readers to a page that relates to the topic of the article you have written, and also contain a link at least to your home page.
All things considered, when you take into account every benefit that a successful article marketing campaign can provide for you, then using professional article services might make sense rather than trying to do it yourself.
A professional article will be more likely to attract readers and keep them on the page till they click on your link. After that it is up to you, but the same service can also be used to provide the content that will them keep the visitor on that page and perhaps even purchase your products or services.
Is it worth it to you? That is for you to decide, but just as you would consider professional SEO services, advertising services and emailing services as possibilities to help you market your business, so article marketing is an aspect of advertising that good, professional article services can look after for you, leaving you to do what you do best. Make money!
Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
If you do not already have an online writing role model, find one. This is perhaps the best article marketing tip that I can give you to help you grow in your writing.
When you start article marketing, each month you will need to produce a steady stream of articles. At first you may have an initial burst of creative energy that helps you consistently produce your articles, but after a while it’s very easy to lose your focus and your inspiration.
This is where an online writing role model comes in. Not just any type of writing role model, but one who writes for the internet. Online writing is different from any other type of writing.
If you have someone who you can look up to, who you can see producing quality writing on the net, you have a built in motivator. It’s encouraging to think, “If he can do it, so can I!”
Having an web writing role model also helps you to learn. As you watch this person you admire write, you will continuously pick up some of his or her positive writing habits and characteristics.
This is not to say that your writing will mimic someone else’s–quite the contrary. By having someone whose writing you look up to, you will learn from them and have the confidence to develop your own style.
I have a select few web writers who I really look up to, and I’d like to share some of the crucial lessons I’ve learned from them:
* Lesson 1 – Your articles should provide a generous amount of helpful information
When writing an article, the idea is to serve your reader by providing valuable information that is not found elsewhere. Aim to give your reader more than he is expecting. When you write in this fashion, your articles will convey a sense of professionalism, quality, and dedication that readers appreciate.
* Lesson 2 – Focus on teaching in your articles
Not sales, not links, not anything that is directly geared to benefit you. The body of your article is for your readers, and the reason why a reader wants to read your article is to LEARN something. Each article should teach something new. You can be writing on the same topic, but each article should offer new tips, new information, new angles on your topic.
* Lesson 3 – It is never a waste of time to thoroughly think through your article structure and proofread it several times
We’ve all seen articles that are obviously thrown together with little thought for how the article is organized and with numerous spelling or grammar errors. What do you think when you see an article like that? Readers can form some pretty powerful opinions about an author, the author’s business, and the author’s products when the article is obviously low quality. It pays to spend time writing an article that makes sense, has proper spelling and grammar, and offers valuable information to the reader. Writing quality articles takes time, but it’s worth it.
* Lesson 4 – Learn to write on your topic from every angle possible
Publishers do not appreciate seeing virtually the same article being submitted repeatedly. No matter what your topic is, you must come up with a way to offer fresh content. Think about how a beginner would view your topic. Also write articles with more advanced content. Get creative with your approaches to your topic in each article. Any topic can be exciting, depending on how you write about it.
* Lesson 5 – Be yourself
Your articles should demonstrate your expertise, but there’s no need to try to be someone that you’re not. Write about lessons that you’ve learned the hard way. Admit to not always doing things perfectly. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and they will have the benefit of learning from your experience.
These are some of the major lessons I’ve learned from watching online writers that I admire. Do you have a web writing role model yet? What has he or she taught you?
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
1. Ezine
An email newsletter will help you get prospective clients into your marketing funnel. Your VA can format the plain text and HTML versions of your email newsletter. All you need to do is write your primary and filler articles each week and forward those to your VA to format and send the finished product out to your newsletter list.
2. Media
Have your VA research an industry-specific media list . This value of this list is in developing relationships with these media contacts so that you’re the expert they immediately think of when they’re doing a story on your area of expertise.
3. Article Marketing
Write once and have that article work for you again and again. Have your VA submit articles you’ve written to online article databases to increase the number of links back to your website and to send more visitors to your website.
4. Strategic Alliances
Once of the quickest ways to grow your business is by creating strategic alliance or joint venture relationships. Have your VA research potential strategic alliance or joint venture partners who provide a service to a similar audience or whose client base could benefit from your product or service.
5. Product Development
Got recorded interviews sitting around gathering dust on your hard drive? How about information you’ve created for presentations that you’ve never done anything with? Have your VA coordinate the transcript and audio editing of any recorded files you might have and help you polish those into saleable products. Your VA can also help your format printed material into an ebook, ecourse, special report, etc. and before you know you, you’ll become an information marketer!
5 Reasons Why You Should Start Using Article Templates Right Now
Are you a small business owner or internet marketer who’s pulling hair out, grinding teeth and wiping sweat from your brow trying to figure out how to write articles that drive targeted traffic to your website?
Well, then it’s a good thing you’re reading this article, because I’m going to give you the power to get out of that dark, cold, gloomy corner and see the light.
* How?
First, I’m going to explain in detail what article writing templates are – and how they can help you overcome your writer’s block. Then, I’m going to give you an opportunity to get 3 of my instant article writing templates for free! These article templates are guaranteed to help you write articles faster – and in many cases, you’ll be able to write articles in 30 minutes or less. So keep reading.
* What Are Instant Article Writing Templates?
Article templates serve as a blueprint for building great articles in a particular style. They provide the guidance and inspiration you need to quickly and easily build an incredible inventory of high-quality, original articles.
For example, when you get my instant article writing templates at http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com you get worksheets that guide you throughout the process.. Each template is in chart format. All you have to do is put the information that’s in your head and put it exactly where I ask you to. Once the template is complete, all you have to do is copy each section and paste it into a new document – and you’ll have a finished article.
* 5 Reasons Why You Need to Start Using Instant Article Writing Templates Now
1) Inspiration
Are you stuck at the gate? Are you confused on how to begin your article? Are you stuck for ideas? Just browsing through through article templates will help you spark an idea for your next set of articles.
2) Speed
Are you thinking in your head right now – It takes too much time to write articles. That’s because most of your article writing time is spent staring at a blank, white screen. Then, you focus a tremendous amount of time trying to organize your ideas in a flowing manner. But, when you use article writing templates, you’re given a structure and format. So you can write articles faster. Rather than spending time on creating the proper structure for your articles, you can now invest the time you save into writing new articles!
3) Ease
Using the right instant article writing templates make it easy to build high-quality articles that are designed to inform readers while also driving traffic back to your website.
4) Clarity
Since these templates have been well thought out in advance, you’re articles will flow smoothly and have a clear introduction, body and conclusion that will make your articles clear and easy to understand.
5) Style
I can’t tell you how many of my article marketing clients sacrificed speed for quality. They had NO flow, NO organization, NO easy transitions. If I had submitted their articles as-is, their articles would not generate results. So, for the last couple of years, I’ve worked hard to solve these article marketing problems that hinder your chances of getting more prospects and sales online. I’ve analyzed hundreds of articles that I’ve written for my blog, for my newsletter and for article submission. I spent hours reviewing all of my client’s articles that I have proofread, formatted and optimized so it can get published on top websites like About.com, I looked for clear patterns and structures that you can use to write your articles right now. You want to use proven article templates that are designed specifically to give you an article layout and structure that insures an attractive, easy-to-read article that’s almost guaranteed to get results.
* Where Can You Get Instant Article Writing Templates?
Now, if you go to http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com, I’ll give you 3 of my article templates for free! All you have to do is enter your name and email in the provided box, and you’ll immediately receive the article templates download.
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
Some business owners attract clients and customers like magnets. Their marketing seems effortless. They don’t advertise. They haven’t made a cold call in years. They charge more. They’re regularly asked to speak at conferences and are featured in newspapers and magazines. Their articles are found on top websites and ezines. They’re invited to be guest bloggers on very influential blogs. And, everyone knows their name, and they get all the business they can handle.
It’s almost as though they were famous.
Their names come to mind when people are looking for a particular product or service. They get more business – not only more, but the right kind of business. Unlike you, they don’t have to work so hard to get it.
Why?
Because they have become a thought leader in their industry. You can too if you start writing articles with the idea of becoming a thought leader.
3 New Article Templates for a Thought Leader WannaBe:
Article template #1 – A Little Bit of Controversy
An article stating a controversial opinion can attract interest and readers if it is written well and based on facts and if it avoids inflammatory statements or personal judgments. Although “controversial” implies disagreement, you don’t have to use words that intentionally create divisions among readers and set one group of readers against the other.
Your goal as a thought leader should be to tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable or challenges common assumptions. Make controversy a side effect of your article rather than its goal.
Article Template #2 – Predictions
It’s generally believed that authors who make informed, reliable predictions gain credibility in their field. Good predictions are based on knowledge, experience and an ability to recognize and explain trends, developments and signals. They provide a glimpse of what lies ahead and are highly sought after by those not yet in-the-know.
Using this article template, you can quickly tap into your particular knowledge and expertise to generate articles that are both enticing and provide a high-value insider perspective for your readers.
Article Template #3 – Traps and How to Escape Them Article Template
We’ve all been trapped from time to time on almost every plane of possibility, whether it was a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual or financial challenge. With this article template you get to save the day with your expertise by delivering the “escape plan” followed with a Resource Box where they can learn how to further escape from the trap.
Now, I’d like to help you escape your challenges of becoming a thought leader so you can start attracting more clients and customers like magnet. So, I’m going to invite you to claim 3 of my instant article writing templates for free at http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com
This way you can start writing articles more articles, faster. And, then submit your articles to become the expert in your field.
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 9, 2011
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
You probably already know that article marketing is a great way to get your story in front of people that can benefit from it. It helps to drive targeted traffic to your website and is the beginning of the relationship that you build with your customers.
But in today’s fast paced world where visitors take only about 4 seconds to scan a webpage, you are competing with thousands of other article writers so you need to write a compelling title that draws in readers like a magnet so that your article stands out from the crowd.
Here are 5 different types of titles that are sure to get more people “clicking in” to read your article:
A) The Question Title
People are curious by nature, so phrasing your title as a question can cause an irresistible pull for them to satisfy that curiosity.
But not any type of question will do. You need to use an open ended question – one that compels the reader to click into your article to find the answer. This is a question that has more than just a “yes” or “no” answer.
For example, you might want to use the title:
“Do You Know The 1 Trick That Will Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
As opposed to:
“Do You Want To Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
See, how the first title peaks your curiosity more? What is the 1 trick? Do you know it already? Even if you do, you feel compelled to click into the article to see what the author knows that you might not.
B) The List Of Tips Title
Another great way to get people to click on your title is to formulate your article into a list of ideas or tips. For some reason people love a list of tips. Not only will that help make your title compelling, but having a list format in your article with subheadings for each “point” on the list is a great way to structure the article itself and makes for easy reading.
Almost any topic can be written as a list, you just need to think vertically instead of horizontally when writing your article.
Then once you have the topic and the number of “points” on your list, you simply write the title in this format:
“X Ways To {Solve Your Problem}”
So, you might try something like:
* 10 Ways To Help You Lose Belly Fat
* 5 Ways To Get Your Dog To Obey You
* 6 Tips For Growing Bigger Tomatoes
…. And so on
Does this type of title work? Well, it enticed you to click into this article, didn’t you?
C) The How To Title
Let’s face it, most people are surfing the web looking for information on “how to” do something. Whether it’s buying a product or trying to figure out how to do something related to a hobby, or clearing up their acne, there’s a “How To” for it.
So why not just give them what they want?
* “How To Teach Your Dog To Sit”
* “How To Choose The Best Laptop”
* “How To Clean A Saltwater Aquarium”
Think about what you search the web for – wouldn’t an article with the title of “How To” followed by your subject matter be something you would want to read?
D) The Benefits Title
If you can, you should try to work your benefit into every title – even the other types listed on this page. But sometimes, it’s just not feasible to combine these different types and you might want to simply use the benefit as your title.
Benefits are very powerful because the illicit emotion in the reader. Benefits are what make people pull out their wallets and buy.
Yet, a lot of people confuse features with benefits and end up highlighting the wrong things!
A benefit is something that you can feel – that makes someone’s life a little better, less painful or easier. A feature is something about the physical product or service.
For example, someone who has insomnia doesn’t want a list of herbal remedies or relaxation techniques, what they really want is to get a good nights sleep. The “good nights sleep” is the benefit.
So, you would want to use a title like:
“Get A Good Nights Sleep Tomorrow By Using These Relaxation Techniques Today”
Tell them what the end benefit will be and you’ll have more people clicking into your article to learn how they can realize that benefit for themselves.
E) The Why Title
They word “Why” grabs attention – after all, who doesn’t want to know “Why”? Using “Why” in your title can turn a boring drab title into one that commands interest in your readers.
Consider this title:
“A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Now add the word “Why” in the front:
“Why A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Which one seems more interesting to you?
Using “Why” is actually one of the easiest ways to make your titles more engaging. You can add it to almost any title you currently have and make that title more interesting.
The next time you write an article and are considering the title, try to fit your subject into one of these types of titles and I think you will see that you get a better click through rate into your article.
But, of course, the title is only the first part of getting the visitor to your site. Next, you must deliver on the information you promised in the title by answering the questions or listing the tips indicated and, of course, making your article body and resource box compelling enough to get the click to your website or offer.
By using an irresistible title, you’ve done the critical first step of getting the reader into your article – the rest is up to you!
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
So, you’ve finally made the decision to make your life easier by employing the services of an automatic article submitter. That is a very wise decision, because if you choose the right service you can save a ton of time and vastly increase the effectiveness of your articles.
When you’re evaluating article submission services, keep these tips in mind:
1) A referral from someone who has actually used the service is your best bet in finding an excellent article submission service
If you haven’t been referred by anyone, check the website of the article submitter you’re investigating and look for testimonials. If the service is good, its customers should readily volunteer their recommendations for it.
2) Look for a service that has stood the test of time
In the online world, a service that is 5+ years old is a veteran one, and the longevity of the service speaks to its stability.
3) Is it known for its customer service?
When you need help, you want to know that you can get timely and accurate answers. When considering a friend’s referral or testimonials that you are reading about the article submitter, is the business’ customer care complimented?
4) You will want to use an article distribution business that has professional editors on staff who review each and every article
Why? You want your article to be pre-screened for any obvious issues that might prevent it from being accepted by publishers.
5) Does the service update their distribution network on pretty much a daily basis?
The distribution network is the list of publishers to whom your articles are sent. Having a well-maintained list is crucial, as these types of lists can go out of date pretty quickly if they are not attended to regularly.
It’s a perk if the service has a good reputation with publishers. If the publishers directly request to receive articles from the article submitter, then they are much more likely to approve your articles for publication.
6) How many article submission are you allowed?
The most flexible option would be unlimited submissions, although I must caution you that when you are submitting automatically you need to submit far fewer articles than when submitting manually. Usually 8 articles per website is enough when submitting automatically to a large network of publishers.
7) How about scheduling your articles?
This type of feature allows you to submit your article and then have it be distributed at a later date. This is particularly helpful if you are going on vacation and want your article marketing campaign to continue when you are away. Many people also like to submit all their articles at the beginning of the month and schedule them to be distributed at various dates throughout the month.
Can you “trickle” your article distribution?
Normally when you submit through an automatic article submitter your article would be sent to the entire distribution network all at one time. However, there are SEO benefits to having your article submitted to a few publishers a day, perhaps over the course of a month or so.
This creates a more organic accumulation of links, which Google appreciates. Check to see if the service you are interested in will allow you to submit in this “trickled”
fashion.
9) What kind of article spinning features are available?
It’s great if a service allows you to create article variations so that the same article is not sent to every publisher.
10) Is the article submitter committed to ongoing education?
Most article submission services concentrate on the technical aspects of article distribution, rather than on teaching their customers how to improve their article marketing. If you find a service that offers ongoing training, that is a plus!
It may take you a while to find the article submitter that works for your unique needs, but it’s worth the time and effort to do this investigating. The more information you can gather about the service beforehand, the more likely you are to be satisfied.
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
I’ve noticed lately, a lot of writers (and I use that term loosely) are saying article marketing no longer works. They’re complaining, no one is reading their articles, and their pageviews are in the toilet. Well, maybe there’s a good reason for that. Maybe they aren’t giving readers what they want.
Look, contrary to popular belief, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories, and magically getting back a ton of traffic and a gazillion backlinks. It just doesn’t work that way. It just isn’t that easy. Believe it or not. There’s actually an art and science to article marketing.
* The Art and Science of Article Marketing
For example, according to a readability study conducted by Jakob Nielsen of UseIt.com, 79% of Internet users rarely read web pages? Instead they scan, picking out individual words, sentences and paragraphs.
What? You didn’t know that? You see, there really is an art and science to article marketing. Okay, now that you know, how can you use this knowledge to your advantage?
Well, if you want people to read your articles, the first thing you have to do is get their attention. And the best way to do that is with compelling article titles. Stay away from boring, unimaginative titles that are likely to be ignored or skimmed over. Get readers excited! More importantly, get their attention.
Are you attracted to boring titles? Of course not, and neither are your readers. So when writing your article titles, put on your thinking cap, and be creative. Following are a few examples of article titles designed to get the readers attention:
-The 10 Biggest SEO Myths Exposed
-The Pervasion of Disrespectful Marketing
-The Seduction of Internet Marketing Newbies
-Article Marketing Success Tips: How to Write and Promote Articles
-How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes
If you’ll notice, the last title on that list is a “How To” title. It’s an article I wrote recently titled, How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes. In that article, I offer tips and advice on how to write better headlines for your ads and/or sales letters. But, the information applies to article titles as well. So you should definitely Google the title, and read the article.
Speaking of titles, “How To” titles are very effective at getting attention. Always have been. So use them as often as possible. By the way, all of the above titles are from real articles. In fact, I’m the author of each of those articles. You may have even read one or two of them. Notice how each title peaks your curiosity, and makes you want to read more?
But as compelling as those article titles are, a great title is only the beginning. Remember, Internet users are notorious scanners. That means you have to give them plenty of additional eye candy, in the form of subheads, bite size paragraphs, bullet points, etc. And having a well-written, interesting and informative article doesn’t hurt either.
Oh, one last thing. While we’re on the subject of titles. Always put your keywords in your article titles. It’s been my experience, it really doesn’t matter where in the title your keywords are placed, just as long as they’re in there. After all, if you’re going to write articles, you might well get some SEO benefits out of the deal.
* Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
In addition to the readability study I cited earlier, I also read a very interesting study on “findability” that was also conducted by Jakob Nielsen. In the study, he was discussing how having too many so-called “new” words can actually ruin your search rankings, as well as diminish your website’s value. Because all those new words are unlikely to appear in search queries.
For example, many website owners attempt to coin new search terms because they’re under the mistaken impression they can own the top search position, if the new search term becomes in vogue and catches on. But the reality is, more often than not, people will continue to use their old terminology, because it’s what they’re used to.
Here’s a quote from Jakob Nielson’s study titled, Use Old Words When Writing for Findability:
“Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won’t find your site.
If you fill your pages with fancy new words, you’ll lose the most powerful tool in Internet marketing: the ability for users to find you in search. Making the search listings is a crucial first step, but it’s not the only step: users must also click your entry, and your site must have a good conversion rate.
There’s more to website success than simply being found, but it is the first step. Use old words and you’ll be that step ahead of the competition and their useless new words.”
* Consistent Promotion is the Key
As I stated at the beginning of this article, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, and submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories. There’s actually an art and science to the process.
That being said, art and science notwithstanding, even if you do all the things I mentioned in this article, it will all be for naught, unless you consistently promote your articles, like there’s no tomorrow!
Promote them on article directories, promote them on your website or blog, promote them through social media, promote them on social bookmarking sites, promote them on RSS directories, promote them in your newsletter.
Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
Should you write for your readers or for the search engines? That is a really good question to consider.
Search engines are still the best sources of warm and targeted traffic. They aim to provide online users with quality content.
That is why they put much weight on articles that are informative and content-rich. If you can offer these kinds of articles, you can be assured that the search engines will help you better connect with your potential clients so you can boost your sales and revenue.
Here’s how you can improve your article marketing by writing for your readers and letting the search engines benefit from it:
1. Write for your readers
You need to know how to impress online users so you can maximize the benefits that you can get from your articles.
Start by giving them content that they will find useful and relevant to their lives. Offer answers to their most frequent questions. Empower them to do things on their own by offering them step-by-step guides.
Offer solutions to their pressing issues, and share information that can help them better understand their problems and their areas of interest.
Then, ensure that your articles are easy to understand, easy to skim through, and concise. Remember, you do not want to waste the time of your readers as they have short attention span.
2. Talk about your products and services
Article marketing is one of the best ways to promote your offerings without burning your pockets.
You can highlight the benefits and features that your products can offer and communicate how they can help your potential clients improve the quality of their lives.
You just have to make sure that you don’t fill your articles with marketing hype and sales pitches. You need to do the selling in a subtle way so your copies will not be rejected by the publishers. And the search engines will love you more as well.
3. Create a killer resource box
You would want your readers to click on your resource box as this is the only way to get them to visit your website or your squeeze page.
You can get them to act on your favor by making sure that your resource box is benefit-driven. Tell your readers what they can expect to get from your website or offer them with exciting freebies like vouchers and free e-books.
When people know that they will benefit from something, they will surely do it in a heartbeat. This can lead to enormous conversion rate that can help in growing your e-business exponentially.
Follow these article marketing tips and write for your readers. The search engines will find you too.
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 1, 2011
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
Combinations of two or more of the tips below are being used by many successful sites today. Use your imagination and see what you can do with them. Because there are so many web sites on the internet today visitors are spread quite thinly and web traffic is one of the scarcest commodities on the internet today. Without it your online business does not exist:
1. Give people a free subscription to your newsletter
Almost everyone is publishing a newsletter nowadays so it is important to give something extra with the free subscription. You need to set yourself apart from the other internet marketers out there. This might be done by offering a gift or free advertising when people subscribe.
2. Provide visitors with new and original content
Your content will be more attractive to your visitors if it is up-to-date or original. You could also offer people the option to reprint the content in their newsletter or web site. You will need to change your content frequently if you do this. But the benefits are worth the effort. The search engines will love your site and keep coming back. Your site will rank highly in their results and your visitors will keep coming back for the latest updates.
3. Use PPC directories
You can advertise in pay per click directories. With PPC you only pay when some one clicks on your link. If no one clicks you pay nothing. This method is very good if you are selling a product at your site. It is easy to assess the cost of each sale and measure you success.
There are lots of PPC sites out there now. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones. You can often get a better deal at these other sites depending on the competition for the keyword you are using. Shop around. There is probably a site out there with your keyword going cheap. But, Make sure that it can deliver the traffic. You can do this by checking its Alexa rank. If it is not getting much traffic itself, how is it going to direct traffic to you?
4. Give visitors a free ebook
You could write your own and include an ad in the ebook linking to your site and allow other people to sell it or give it away. If you don’t want to take the time to write one, you could ask other writers permission to use their articles and assemble an article eBook. Or commission an eBook. There are plenty of writers around willing to write a fresh eBook for you at a fair price.
5. Hold free online classes or seminars
They could be held in your web site’s chat room. The idea of “live” information will entice people to visit your web site. You will become known as an expert on the topic.
6. Offer free consulting to your web site visitors
You could do this via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive. Use a separate business line if you use the phone or you will have calls coming in to your home phone around the clock as the world turns. If your site becomes known for this service you may need to employ people to help keep up. If this happens you can bring in a two tier system whereby you have a free service and a paid service offering something extra.
7. Give visitors a free entry into a contest
The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors or relevant to your site’s topics. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results. Do not be discouraged if the first one or two contests do not set the world on fire. The word has to get out. People will talk to their friends about this site that is running this great contest, and before too long your site will have a name for running contests. There are people out there who really go for that sort of thing and will visit your site regularly.
8. Let visitors download free software
It could be freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software area and let other people sell it or give it away from this area. You do not need to produce the free software yourself. There are plenty of sources on the web. All you have to do is link to them. If you gather a significant amount of software of a type relevant to the topic of your site you will make your site a valuable resource for your visitors and they will keep coming back to get more.
9. Offer free online services or utilities
They could be search engine submitting, copy writing proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.
10. Give your visitors a free membership to an online club
People like to feel that they belong to something, why not your online club. You could also give away a free newsletter for club members only. The members will very likely want to contribute a large part of its content making it easy to source articles. If you offer them a link back to their own site your members will be queuing up to put content in your newsletter.
It goes without saying that all of the above should be relevant to the topic of your site in order to be of interest to your visitors. Do not keep changing the topic of your site. I see this happening all too often. The webmaster has a site for three months or so and becomes disheartened because his site not taken off as he hoped, so he decides to try a different topic.
Doing so he / she loses the regular visitors he / she had and has to start at the beginning again in the new topic. Also, the search engines will very likely be slow to change to the new topic, confusing everyone who visits from there. It may also affect the PR of the site as the new topic may initially be viewed as unrelated content.
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
In a nut shell, this is what I’ve found that will help promote your website. These methods are very effective. Keep this blog post as a reference and make sure you are doing all these things. Ok here it goes:
1. Adwords (or any search engine ads at all)
Of course we all know that Google is the top dog but there are many other decent search engines that will get you the same good traffic. For $40 bucks a day I get over 100 unique hits on my website. Every little bit helps
2. Blogging
Even if hate to write, just post relevant information regarding your site just make sure you give credit to who wrote your blog post. Oh and link on your blog post like crazy. I didn’t believe in this method at first but trust me I have learned the ways of the blog.
3. Mailing List
This is a tough area. Its like you need money to make money. But in this case you need email addresses to send emails. Do your best in trying to provoke your customers into signing up for your mailing list. Offer something for free (not a free newsletter) something legit. This will help you by encouraging repeat visits. Its better to keep the same visitor than trying to get new ones, plus it’s easier. Oh and it’s good for word of mouth (which is still the best way to advertise)
4. List, Register & Sign Up!
Spend at least one whole day signing up for every freaking search engine, directory and relevant search site you can. The more you name and website are out on the internet, the better you are ranked by the search engines
5. Links
Ok this is tricky, yes you want your link on as many websites as you can but even better than that is getting your website linked on a website that is really big. If you are officially linked to a big website that will look very good to search engines. Think of your link as a vote to get you to the top of the search engine. And think of a big website and your link like a campaign contribution. That’s right, get the big guys behind you and they’ll help you climb your way to the top. It’s all about who you know.
6. SEO
If you don’t know what this is, then learn. SEO (Search Engine optimization) is very important. The whole point to internet marketing is to get to the top or as high as you can on search engines. They are the number one way people find things on the internet. So in order to help your chances make sure you website is riddled with good keywords, relevant ones. If you are having a hard time with this, follow this logic: If you are online and you wanted to find a website like yours, what would you do? What would you type into a search engine. Ask yourself that question and then ask that question to everybody you know. That way you get a better understanding on what people are searching for.
Also add meta tags like keywords, descriptions and alt tags to all your pages. You can do this all at the end if you want.
7. The No Brainer
Just make sure your site looks good. If you have a crappy looking website then chances are no one will want to stay. For instance if you never cleaned your house do you think new guest will want to sleep over. Nope. And if you suck at making a website look awesome enlist a professional or someone with a clue to help.
8. The Little Things
Do these little things to your site: Add a “Tell A Friend About This Site” Button (For word of mouth, the best marketing), Add a “Bookmark Us” button to your site, give away free stuff, lure customers with contests, make jokes, get an RSS Feed (if you don’t know what that is, then learn, if you are a website designer then you should already know), put some fun things to do on your site to get people to stay. Case in point: Your having guest over for coffee but your TV is broke, all your board games are missing and you just recently started not talking to anyone, your guest will want to leave because it’s boring and it sucks.
9. Get On Myspace or Facebook
If your website is looking for a younger audience then get on anyone of these site and make friends will as many people as you can. Spend hours a day doing this. Make sure your page is chock full of ways to get to your site. This will boost traffic like nobody’s business.
10. Last But Not Least
Be consistent. If you want to have a high traffic website ,then you need to dedicate yourself to the cause. You need to be on the internet doing these things every single day. It’s just like exercising or dieting, if you don’t stick to it everyday, you will fail. But I have faith in you, do as the Romans do.
Tips to Get More Video Viewers
Videos have become a very dominant tool in communicating with readers and the public. It is also not costly to produce. But the problem occurs once you upload it on your website. You do not just display the video in your homepage; you should also consider the other elements involved. It is not about SEO and how to get people to your website. This article will give you tips on how to make people click on the “play” link once they arrive on your website.
The following tips are the best practices gathered through the years. These calls to view techniques will hopefully benefit your site conversion:
1. Give visitors a compelling reason to watch the video
The title should be well-thought out and focuses on the benefits. It can come in the form of a “how to” title. Using words like “powerful”, “funniest”, and “best” may sometimes be appropriate as well, depending on the video. If a well-known personality is featured, be sure to mention his/her name in the title as well.
2. Integrate color changes in the border
This is a very simple trick and no one really knew about its impact until some tests were done. By “lifting” the video off the all-white webpage background, the video stands out in itself and it looks more important. Views can increase to as much as 20%.
3. Choose the graphic image for the video carefully
When people look at a collection of videos, they scan through a lot of images and will only click on the most interesting ones. Most marketers take the easy way out and use the opening shot of the video as the graphic. If it is not compelling, substitute it with another image that may be taken from within the video itself or from another related source.
4. Describe the video
Make it a point to describe the video on the graphic image to strengthen its appeal. The message gives them more reason to watch the video to find out what it contains. Be sure to choose a color that is complementary to the background while being easily readable at the same time.
5. State the length of time
Most people think that videos usually last 3-5 minutes. And indeed, this is usually the case. But there are also web videos that last up to 9-10 minutes or more. People don’t want to open lengthy videos so if yours is a short one, place it on the graphic image.
6. Include the video bar
Finally, the video bar makes people feel in control. Don’t take it away for any reason because it lets the user set the volume, pause, play, and reply as they want.
Strategies for making your Fan page a success
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Strategies for making your Fan page a success
* Make your Fan page a resource
Consider your customers interests. What information do they need? Post articles and links to useful information on your wall. Your Fan page is an opportunity to showcase yourself as an expert. Provide these things for your customers and they will return to your page again and again.
* Connect
Interact with customers. Make use of all of the Facebook tools. Respond to comments. You may not want to list your entire product line. A sample on your fan page could lead new customers to visit your website for more. Spamming is always a bad idea, but targeting offers to customers who show interest can lead to increased customer loyalty.
* Be human
Pictures and personal information put a face on a company. As long as you present an image that enhances your business, personalizing your Fan page is a great way to get followers.
* Be present
Fill out your profile completely. Keep article, photo and video content current. It’s not enough to throw up a page and be done with it. Make sure to respond to customers who become fans. Create a group for your business. You can also participate in groups related to your business.
* Innovate
Facebook moves fast. Don’t be afraid to try the latest thing. Explore webinars, and other interactive media as options to improve business relationships.
Creating Facebook fan page is great first step toward integrating social media into your marketing plan. Don’t forget to provide links from your website to your Fan page. Make sure to connect your Facebook fan page to other social media so your network will grow. In no time your Fan page will be the central hub of your successful online marketing campaign.
YouTube Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, October 13, 2011
YouTube Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
The world’s biggest online video-sharing service, YouTube, is the perfect place for marketing campaigns to shine, if only marketers know how to grab the spotlight. The community is diverse, and its population huge. YouTube marketing can increase sales and widen brand coverage by using this innovative platform to connect and capture existing and potential customers.
But despite the huge market base, not all campaigns flourish in YouTube. Many companies’ YouTube marketing campaigns sizzle at the beginning and fizzle sometime thereafter. What’s the secret to staying power at YouTube? Let’s find out.
1. Quality and quantity of content
A large fraction of company or brand videos at YouTube are of the “flash-in-the- pan” variety, which means that they were initially uploaded as part of a viral marketing strategy. As time goes by, the channels are left untended and un-updated. This is a waste, because the initial videos should have been followed with more and more good content, to sustain the campaign and reap the results.
Video production technology is at its peak these days, providing the tools to create engaging videos, and lots of them. However, video quantity is a function not only of technology but also the quality of content. Companies that create fresh perspectives on a regular basis capture audiences better.
Regular content can come from current events or news related to the brand. It can also come from interviews with experts, endorsers, and even ordinary brand users. The delivery of such useful content can increase brand loyalty and confidence through time.
2. Market for wider coverage
YouTube marketing carries a deep potential for widening the customer base, for many reasons. The first is YouTube’s international audience, and the other is the cultural diversity. With the right content, marketers can capture a slice of this population to boost any marketing campaign.
Here are some ways to do this:
* Categorize videos according to audience preference. This segmentation refines the target audience population through a tailored communication aimed specifically to appeal to a group of audiences. The long-term result is an accumulation of searchable videos that are continuously viewed by common-interest users.
* Cultivate a subscriber base that views and returns to view the uploaded videos because they find value in unique and useful content.
* If possible, publish in as many international languages as possible. This widens the coverage more than when publishing only in a single language such as English.
Marketers should bear in mind, however, that building a wider market base through YouTube marketing takes time and patience, as much as it does using other channels.
3. Offer an expertise
Shying away from blatant self-promotions, a subtle yet very effective YouTube marketing strategy is to build a reputation through videos with have useful and practical information.
YouTube is not only full of entertaining videos, there are also many educational presentations or documentaries that impart knowledge and skills to users. Audiences view these videos to learn from the expertise of the company or brand.
How-to videos where notable experts are dishing out innovations and providing clarity on particular subjects are frequently viewed in YouTube. The experts may be well-known industry gurus, or the company’s president, or even a simple employee.
The secret to this YouTube marketing approach is sincerity and conviction in the message. This sincerity connects with audiences and makes them trust the information that they were provided with.
What Should You Include In Your Video Resume?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, October 10, 2011
What Should You Include In Your Video Resume?
A video resume may just be the key to your next job. Still relatively new, video resumes are now being used to land smart job seekers their “dream job,” because the HR field is beginning to embrace online branding and the use of new technology.
For example, recent research shows that 85 percent of recruiters and HR professionals make positive and negative hiring decisions based upon a candidate’s online reputation; good content equals positive decisions, negative content equals candidate rejection. Studies also show that 60 percent of hiring managers have shown high interest in reviewing video resumes from possible candidates.
Making a video resume to define your skills and to highlight your experiences just makes sense, especially for creative professionals who need to show off their creativity and ability to change with the times.
That’s because today’s society is extremely visual. We are used to growing up with a television in front of us. We’re used to learning, getting information, and being entertained visually. So why not take advantage of this and use the same technology to land a job?
* What should I include in my video resume?
This is no different from your paper resume. It is a sales tool designed to help you get an interview. Your interview is where you’ll get your job. So your resume needs to be short, to the point, and highlight your most important qualities. You want to make sure that whatever you include, it matches your style, personality and the particular image you want to present. When including key skills in your video resume, make sure whatever is included is relevant.
It needs to be appropriate for the target industry and particular career.
Length of the video resume is also important. Your paper resume should be no more than one page long (remember, it’s getting you that interview, not landing you the job). Your video resume should only be a couple minutes long at the most.
Treat this almost like a commercial for your favorite product: you. The goal of this resume is to sell yourself. If anyone is an expert at you, it’s you. This should be used like a tool in a sales and marketing campaign.
A video resume needs to include your strengths and highlight them using the most up-to-date technology. Including the best quality graphics is also important. In order to hold an employer’s attention span, your video resume must be visually appealing.
This job-searching tool can also help you manage your online reputation, helping to push any negative content off the front pages of the search engines. This way, when an employer searches for your name online (remember, 85 percent of hiring managers make decisions based on your online reputation), the the first thing they see is the stuff that will help you get a job.
Using a combination of photos and hitting the high points from your paper resume, video resumes are key in achieving that unique look out of the bunch. But you need to make sure the audio, graphics, and video quality are all the best they can possibly be. So if you don’t have the equipment or knowledge, consider hiring a professional firm that can manage it for you. Consider this your job seeker’s canvas: whether you want your resume to be light-hearted and cool, or serious and conservative, there are a wide range of templates and designs that are suitable to many different career choices.
A video resume is an effective way to show yourself in a manner that is different and light-years ahead of what everyone else is doing. It should be one of the most effective tools in your personal branding toolbox, and one that you can use to great effectiveness.
How to Set Up Your Video Marketing Studio in 30 Minutes or Less?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, October 7, 2011
How to Set Up Your Video Marketing Studio in 30 Minutes or Less?
* How to Quickly Set Up Your Video Marketing “Studio”
You know you want to do video marketing consistently. You may even want to use video to create products and services.
That means setting up a space to do video in. Because if you’ve taken my previous articles to heart you know that setting up your video properly makes a huge difference in how you and your company are perceived.
* The Complication of Video Marketing
But that adds a complication, doesn’t it? Because now you have to move around a bunch of lights, mess up your workspace, tell everyone to keep their noise level down, choose a background, compose your shot, set your audio levels…well, you get the idea. It can be a royal pain in the you-know-what.
Is there a better way? The answer is most definitely yes. In fact, you can get this whole prep session down to about 5 minutes. But there’s a catch. And the catch is that you have to make a decision.
* The Decision That Makes Video Marketing a Snap
That decision is very, very simple and very, very hard. It’s simple, because once you make it, the way you make videos will be very easy from then one. You’ll save hundreds of hours that you can spend selling, creating products, devising marketing campaigns, the whole nine yards.
But it’s also hard, because making the decision is also making a commitment. Ugh. There’s that word again. What are you committing to, precisely? I think you’ve already guessed it, haven’t you? The commitment is that you are going to use video to begin attracting your best clients in a kind of auto-pilot marketing program. It means you will be putting out video content on a regular basis; from once a week to once a month.
And that is the sticking point for most people and most businesses. They aren’t really super-sold on the fact that video can truly help them or that it’s worth the time and trouble to set up a dedicated space. So if this is you, I have a solution for you.
* How to Quickly Set Up a Video Marketing “Studio”
This solution will allow you to prove to yourself that video done right works really, really well. And it won’t cost you a penny to implement. Ready to find out how it works? Great! Right before I tell you how to set this up, I’d like you to see a particularly nice example of this solution in action.
Please click on where it says “new video”: www.bamagazine.com
Now, did that look very difficult to pull off? Of course not! It looked like he was working at his desk, then just shifted in his chair to talk to you. That’s what we’re going to make your space look like. You can set this up in just a few minutes, and…this is the commitment part…keep the setup there for a few weeks. You may decide you like it so much that it becomes your permanent studio.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
1. One video light
2. Camera on a tripod set up at eye level
3. Wired or wireless microphone plugged into the camera and ready to clip on.
You can even set the light and camera aside if you place a mark on the floor where they will go when you need them.
Set the light from 20 – 45 to the side of the camera. If you want to get crazy, hang a little backlight from the ceiling and leave it there out of the way. That’s it.
That’s all you need to do. Remember composition. Where you place the camera is important. Put yourself off-center to create a pleasing composition, just as John has done in his video. If you want to review how to handle this particular piece when no one else is around, click here: www.youtube.com/watch?v-sednrGipvvk
* The Unique Advantages of Your Own Video Marketing Studio
And that’s all there is to it! You can literally have this entire “studio” set up in less than 30 minutes. Now anytime you get the inspiration to talk to your audience, you can do so on the spot and you’ll have the confidence to know that it will look fantastic.
There’s one other less tangible benefit to all this. It will encourage you to keep your work area relatively clean. I find that a clean workspace tends to free my imagination anyway, so it might even make your videos better.
Consistency in getting your message out is really important to establishing your credentials. Don’t let lack of a dedicated studio hold you back.
Good Process Makes Good Partners
1. Broad Strokes
Take some time to think about what you’re trying to accomplish with your website or web project. Hone in on how your project fits with your business, your industry and ultimately your customers. If the project is for internal use, how does it fit with your staff? Your website is ultimately about a business or marketing solution that solves a problem or set of problems. What are your trying to solve? What are you trying to accomplish?
2. Who Are You?
Help your web development company understand your business and your brand. If it’s a new website or a redesign that reflects a new look, it’s helpful to have some of your promotional materials, logos, letterhead, etc. available for the discovery meeting. You want to convey who you are as a business and how you present yourself to the world. The company or web developer you are working with should be interested in this and be able to summarize it back to you. If you’re a new company tackling small business website development for the first time and don’t really have too much in the way of branding or logos, don’t sweat it. A good website design company should be able to work with you to create design elements that reflect who you are or recommend a copy that specializes in logo or branding for business. Keep a list of websites you encounter where the web design speaks to you. The important thing is to reach a good design consensus.
3. Remember Your Audience
As your thinking about your business website development project, focus on your website visitors. Who are your customers? That’s ultimately who the website or web development project is being created for. Who is going to be using the website and how are they going to be using it? What’s the goal? Are you looking to generate leads from your website, automate your ordering process, sell products online, allows customers or staff to access certain information? Since you are the voice for the end users of the site, make sure and give them ample consideration during the discovery process.
4. You Don’t Have to Do It All At Once
The beauty of the web is that it is a dynamic and flowing medium. Your website can evolve in phases and you don’t have to accomplish everything in Phase I of your web project. You can brainstorm without barriers about what you want. Then, hone in and decide where the best starting point is. This is an area where an experienced web developer should be able to provide guidance. Perhaps phase I of your business web development project will be a new site creation that focuses on good design and offers essential content about your company and your services. It might include a newsletter subscriber “call to action” box on each page. Phase II might be the addition of an online store that allows customers to view order history and create reorders. Phase III could integrate added functionality to the store like the assembly of certain components, detailed reporting or a place for customer reviews. For small business web design and development, budgetary constraints have to be contended with. A website can be a work in progress and grow with your business. Breaking the project into digestible pieces can not only help you in getting better insight into what the priorities are but it can also help in spreading out the cost.
5. The Devils in the Details
You don’t need to know every detail in advance in terms of how the project will look. A good business web designer or developer should work with you through the process to draw out those fine points. It is useful to give some thought in advance to as many elements of the project as possible, particularly where projects involve interactive customer-based websites. To that end, it can be helpful to sketch out the step-by-step flow of what you’re trying to accomplish and how information flows. You might have a crystal clear idea in your head regarding how each element should look and behave. Putting it on paper helps communicate it to the web company. Or, maybe it’s a bit murky and setting the pencil to paper can be extremely helpful in clarifying your own ideas and objectives. Whether designing a new site or redesigning an existing site, jotting down a site outline is a great starting point. What are the key sections of the website? What content do you want to include for your visitors and where do you want them to go? During the initial discovery meeting, the objective should be to do a lot of fact finding. The more details you can provide the web development company, the faster and more effectively you can bring your vision to fruition.
6. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
While it is very useful to put some serious thought into the project for your initial discovery meeting, the nature of business web design and development projects is that many fine points will be shaped and forged as the project development unrolls. That’s why an integral part of the process should involve the web development company staging your project on the web (preferably in a staging area of the web company’s server). Then, as steps are completed and the project moves forward, a consensus on the final result is maintained. Small adjustments as the project progresses are common and expected. As long as all of the key points are in place, don’t feel like you can’t adjust minor details as things move along. With that said do keep in mind that major revisions or additions to project development can add hourly labor and impact the cost. Make sure you understand how much “adjustment” space you’re allowed without incurring additional costs. If you have a change or addition that is going to impact the bottom line on the proposal, request that you be notified in advance and have full veto or approval before work proceeds.
* Conclusion
The best way to ensure that your web development project doesn’t miss the mark is by preparing for the process and selecting a small business web development company that can help you to realize your vision. Hopefully, this guide will serve as a useful tool in the creative and development process. It was designed not only for small business owners and managers but to be shared with the website developer or designer you ultimately engage. The process of good web development is about reaching a consensus defined by budget, vision, technical requirements and good communication. The blending of those elements serves to lay the groundwork for success with your project and a final result that realizes your vision and serves your business.
The Android Phone
Google and T-Mobile have teamed up to create a new breed of cell phone. The T-Mobile G1 is the world’s first Android Phone. An “android” is traditionally defined as a robot with human qualities. Perhaps the name was chosen because of the capabilities of this new phone.
It’s known as the T-Mobile G1 Android, the Android Phone, the G1 Phone, or (more informally) the Google Phone.
The G1 Phone integrates fully with your Google accounts. Here are a few of the features and capabilities of this new cell phone:
* An Android phone allows you to browse the Internet just as you would on a normal computer.
* It allows one to run several applications at the same time, on one phone. You can switch between applications, and you can also be notified when something new occurs on one of those applications.
* It allows you to chat and share photos on applications such as Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, etc.
* It allows you to copy URLs and share them with friends via a chat line, using a simple touch-screen interface.
The following Google applications can be accessed and used directly by the Android Phone:
* Google Maps
* YouTube
* Gmail
* Contacts
* Calendar
* IM (Instant Message)
All of these Google applications will be available to you with a single logon – and they will be automatically synchronized with the web. What that means is that any change you make in one of your google accounts from your phone will also show up the next time you log on from any other computer.
For example, when you are out and about with your phone and you meet a new contact, you might want to save their contact information. All you do is save it into your Google Contacts on your G1 phone. That information will be available to you online, in your Gmail account, and in any other applicable Google account, accessible by any computer in the world.
Any information you save on your phone in this way will appear on your computer as well – and vice-versa.
If you lose or break your phone, your data will still be there waiting for you on your Google account, which you can access from anywhere in the world. And there is no need to worry about your information being stolen, as its password-protected.
Here is another example of the a use of a Google Android phone. Once you have a contact address saved into your Google account, you can easily find that location on a map – using Google Maps, of course. And what’s more, you can access street level events in any area where this is available.
This makes it a breeze to get directions to a new location! Simply find your contact on a a map with a couple of clicks, and use a street-level view to find your way if needed!
Another example of the use of the this phone is the integration of the cell phone with your Google Calendar. Any event you save on your Google Calendar will be available to you on your phone, wherever you are. So you can access your schedule easily, on the go and from anywhere, as long as you have your phone with you.
No more schedule books! And you can probably say goodbye to those tiny notebooks and pads of paper you carry around to save your information.
What’s more, once you save information on your Android phone, there’s no need to transfer it over after you get home. Its all there, safely stored on your Google account, for ready access whenever you need it.
5 Useless Internet Marketing Tactics You Should Avoid
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, August 7, 2011
5 Useless Internet Marketing Tactics You Should Avoid
Knowing what doesn’t work can sometimes be more important that learning what does. Here are some things you should avoid when marketing your web site.
It’s easy to get confused with all of the various ways that you can be marketing your web site. Over the years I have tried just about every one and have learned some things along the way. Here’s some real time and money wasters that you can safely avoid doing.
1. SPAM Don’t waste your time on trash
You don’t like getting spam in your email do you? Neither does anyone else. Don’t send unsolicited commercial emails to try and promote your web site or product. (Out of all of the things listed here, I have never gone this route and won’t).
You risk getting your site shut down if your Internet Service Provider gets enough complaints. You can also be “blacklisted”. This means your email can be labelled as spam and be blocked by a lot of service providers.
Spam is stupid and a very poor decision for a business to make.
2. Free For All (FFA) Links
There are some sites which let anyone list a link to their own site. Sometimes you are required to put your own FFA link page up on your site. This tactic does not work. The only people reading FFA sites are other sites looking to post their own link. It is totally untargeted towards any potential customer.
Additionally, some search engines will penalise you for having FFA links on your site. They basically equate them as being garbage and not something a legitimate site would do. I can’t say I blame them.
3. Banner Ads
Once upon a time (in the late 1990’s) banner ads were very common and fairly effective. They don’t work very well at all anymore. I have read statistics that the click through rate is down to a mere percent of what they used to be.
You will have a much more effective chances of getting a visitor to your site by having a legitimate endorsement. You should also avoid having banner ads on your own site unless it is for your own products. Why on earth would you want to be sending people away from your site when you could be earning a higher profit if they stick around?
4. Classified Ads
Online newsletters commonly offer low priced classified ad spots. You can pay a few dollars and have your 4 to 5 line ad listed at the bottom of some newsletter when it gets sent out.
Generally these ads don’t work too well. I don’t read them. Do you?
5. Anything That’s Not A Solo or Top Sponsorship Ads
As a follow up to the classified ads, it is worth mentioning that not all ads are bad. You should try for a more prominent ad if you are going to go the newsletter route.
I recommend the Solo Ad or as second best, the Top Sponsorship Ad.
A solo ad is just that. Your ad is run all by itself. You have the reader’s full and undivided attention to your ad. The downside is that you will be paying top dollar so you want to track your results. If the ad was profitable, then keep running it until it is not anymore.
A top sponsorship ad is the very first ad in a newsletter. These can be pretty effective. They are a good alternative if you don’t want to take the plunge to buy a solo ad.
When it comes down to advertising in a newsletter I stick to either solo or top sponsorship. Otherwise I don’t even bother.
Knowing some of these tips can help you to avoid wasting your valuable time (and money) on ineffective marketing tactics.
Tips For Launching A Successful Email Marketing Campaign
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tips For Launching A Successful Email Marketing Campaign
If you’ve ever considered launching an email marketing campaign, you probably very rapidly discovered that there are two main road-blocks between you and email marketing success. The first is the question of how to get your hands on an email subscriber list. And the second is once you have begun building your list, what should you send them? This article will focus on those two fundamental tasks of email marketing.
List-building is not as hard as you might imagine. All it really takes is the effort of asking people you are already coming into contact with to join your mailing list. You can do this in person if you run a restaurant, dealership, or other brick and mortar venue. At a retail store, the cash register is the best place to offer a free membership. If you are trying to convert your existing web traffic into email subscribers, you will want to create an attractive sign-up form and place it very prominently on your web site. You will also need to provide a good explanation of the value that people can expect to receive by being subscribes to your mailing list.
We all know that high quality content is not cheap. And when you’re dealing in email marketing, that is likely to be the primary expense related to your campaign. So you want to make that investment worthwhile by getting as many potential buyers as possible signed up for your mailing list. Take advantage of your existing web traffic by making your subscription form a central feature of your web site. It should almost always appear above the fold, and almost always on every page of your site. Keep in mind, email list subscribers convert much better than one-time web site visitors, so you should not be afraid to lose a sale or two in the short term in order to collect a large number of subscriptions that will become valued clients over the long term.
When you think about designing content for your email list, there is a very important question you should ask yourself: What will people in my target market be happy to receive? What value can I provide to them? Because the first task of an email list is to ingratiate you to your subscribers. If the list is ultimately going to convert into sales, then your subscribers must trust you and see you as someone who provides things that they value. Once you have developed the unique proposition for your mailing list, then you can begin developing content to fulfill that promise.
These two basic steps are all it really takes to build an effective list that you can continue to improve upon indefinitely. The list and the techniques that you use to market to the list will evolve over time along with your overall business strategy. But the long and the short of it is simply this: create a mailing list that offers a real value to your market, and then ask people to sign up for it. Everything else simply improves on this basic, winning formula.
7 Campaign Killing Affiliate Marketing Mistakes
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, August 1, 2011
7 Campaign Killing Affiliate Marketing Mistakes
Affiliate marketing is becoming more and more popular, especially with the current state of the economy. High unemployment rates have many people turning to the internet as a means of making ends meet.
It sounds great at first. You’re told all you have to do is start a free blog and write a few articles, and you can achieve wild riches. Many people buy into this myth, and are let down after weeks go by and they haven’t made a single dollar.
Believe it or not, more than ninety percent of internet entrepreneurs fold up shop within the first month. Once reality sets in, it’s easy to get discouraged. Affiliate marketing, like any other business, requires hard work and effort for success to become a reality.
In this article, we’re going to discuss seven of the worst mistakes that an affiliate marketer can make. If you can avoid these career killing pitfalls, you’ll have a good chance at becoming a successful affiliate marketer.
1. Using Free Services
The problem with many affiliate marketers is they don’t want to make an investment into their business. This is due in part to all of the tutorials available that instruct marketers to use free services. While there is nothing wrong with free services, the lack of imminent control over one’s content can be a problem. If the company providing the free service decided to delete your account, or went out of business, you could lose content that may have been making you some money.
2. Promoting The Wrong Product
Market research is especially important in affiliate marketing. Many affiliates promote products that have a very low demand, hence making it near impossible to succeed. Researching your chosen niche is crucial.
3. Promoting Too Many Products
It’s easy to lose focus. There are so many great products to promote that many affiliate marketers try to promote five or ten products at once. It’s not good to spread yourself so thin. Rather than promoting ten products and giving ten percent effort to each, it’s better to put one-hundred percent effort into promoting a single product.
4. Not Starting An Email List
Many affiliate marketers refuse to believe in the importance of email marketing. This is partly due to the wealth of information available about article marketing. Many are led to believe that article marketing is a miracle money maker. While it’s true that money can be made this way, it’s much better to establish a contact and build trust with a potential buyer through email.
5. Spamming
Spam is a gray area when it comes to affiliate marketing. Basically, spamming is blatantly promoting your products or services to those who didn’t ask for information. The worst kind of spam is email spam. Many affiliate marketers engage in this without even knowing. Spamming is a surefire way to ruin your reputation as a marketer.
6. Not Writing Unique Content
Affiliate marketing requires a lot of writing. It usually comes in the form of sales copy, classified ads, and articles. Since outsourcing the work is costly, many affiliate marketers turn to what’s known as private label rights, or “PLR” articles. These are articles that have been written specifically for the use of others. The problem is that they have been sold to many people. This means that they are no longer unique. Most marketers rewrite the content before publishing, but the general idea of the article remains the same. Content is king on the internet, and those that write fresh, exciting content will always have a leg up on the competition.
7. Not Using The Products They Promote
A great way to promote affiliate marketing products is by writing reviews. However, many affiliate marketers review products that they don’t own. If written properly, this can be effective. For the most part, though, readers can tell if the reviewer has actually tried the product. It’s not a good idea to recommend a product to anyone that you don’t like and use. If you don’t purchase the product, you can’t honestly know if you like it. If the product isn’t quality, and you continue to recommend it, you’ll quickly lose customers and tarnish your reputation.
Affiliate marketing is hard work. However, you shouldn’t get discouraged. The best advice I could give you is to avoid making the above mistakes, and NEVER, EVER give up! Persistence and knowledge are the two most important tools you could possess if you want to be a successful affiliate marketer.
10 Ways to Energize Your Email Marketing
emailmktgEmail marketing has grown tremendously over the years and it can benefit your business substantially. As with any type of marketing, email marketing takes a great deal of time and effort to insure it is working effectively.
There are many types of email marketing such as sending out periodical newsletters/ezines, sending out promotional emails and product updates, tutorials, etc.
Regardless of which type of email marketing you utilize, one important thing you must do is continually evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign. Do not let your email marketing go stale. You need to keep it alive, fresh and energized.
* Below are 10 ways you can help energize your email marketing campaign:
- Fresh and Helpful Content
Always be sure to include good, solid content. Check the content to make sure it is reliable. You want to make sure you are providing true, helpful information for your mailing list. Offer good resources, tools, tips and other content that will actually help your subscribers. This will help in building the foundation of the essential trust relationship between you and your mailing list members.
- Make it Personal
Making your email more personal will help build trust and your reputation. You need to connect with your list and by making your emails more personal, warm and friendly, you will accomplish this task.
- Grab Their Interest with Your Subject Line
Grabbing the readers’ interest with the subject line can make all the difference as to whether they open the email or just delete it. Keep the subject line short and to the point. Use words that will pique the readers curiosity and make them want to know more. Use power and/or action words such as new, innovative, secret, reveal, etc.
Which email would you open? How to Increase sales or New, Innovative Sales Strategy Revealed…
- Be Available for Your Readers
There is nothing worse than emailing questions to a company about their products/services and waiting days or longer to get an answer. Make it a point to answer questions and concerns as soon as possible. Be as helpful and responsive as possible. You will be amazed at the difference this will make in your business.
- Be Consistent
I know some people that will send out an email here and an email there – sometimes with months in between. This will never bring you any results. Send out your emails on a regular basis using the same design, layout and format each time. Keep them neat, clean and free from a lot of clutter. You want your readers to become familiar with your mailings.
- Add New Features
Always be thinking of new features to add to your mailings to keep it fresh and alive. Add a Q&A section or do interviews with your readers. Give your readers a weekly challenge to accomplish to help them obtain their goals.Publish success stories. The possibilities are endless!
- Offer Subscriber Only Specials
Let your subscribers know they are appreciated by offering them deals and specials that you would not offer anyone else. Give them an extra percentage off the price or give them a free gift in your mailings. Doing little things like this can go a long way for your business.
- Get Your Mailing List Involved
Encourage them to email you with ideas, suggestions and feedback. Let them know you are willing to consider all their suggestions. Ask them if you can use their feedback. Post their questions with the answers to help all your readers. Make them feel like they make a difference because THEY DO!
- Contests and Competitions
Hold contests and competitions for your subscribers and offer prizes. For example: Each week in my newsletter I have a trivia challenge for free advertising and a movie quote contest for a free e-book. They are a lot of fun and my subscribers let me know how much they enjoy it.
- Offer Referral Incentives
Let your mailing list members know that if they refer people to your mailing list, they will be rewarded. Have contests on who can get the most referrals for a grand prize.
Business owners who successfully implement an email marketing campaign are likely to gain a huge advantage over those who don’t. But you must keep your email marketing fresh, alive, consistent and reliable. Keeping in contact with your mailing list members and providing them with useful, helpful information and resources will help build a solid foundation of trust with which to grow your business!
Niche Marketing Strategies
Niche marketing is essential for any good internet marketing campaign. Niche marketing is easy enough almost anyone can drill down to the micro niches where money can be made, but some people aren’t doing necessary niche research before hand. The key components to finding these money making micro-niches is proper research and careful selection. So how do you select a niche? Here’s 3 simple niche marketing strategies.
1. Follow Your Strength
Remember in school when you had to do a presentation and the teacher was assigning topics and you got stuck with one you weren’t exactly happy to do research on?
Don’t relive those feeling with picking your niche. Select something you are passionate about or at least would enjoy doing research on. It’s important to select a niche you have a natural strength in because following a strength will give you leverage and make your work seem less like work.
Selecting a niche you have no interest in will reflect to your customers or clients. Lack luster enthusiasm or information about a niche will equal lack luster sales.
Though, when you have a strength in a particular field it shows through not only in your writing and the amount of value but it helps give you an edge over your competition because you know where to find your target audience and exactly what their looking for when it comes time to market to them.
2. Look to Mainstream Media
Turn on the TV, open a magazine, and watch talk shows. You can get a ton of ideas of profitable, hot niches just by flipping through a magazine while standing in the check out line at the supermarket or studying television commercials during your favorite show. You can even log onto Google Trends to see what the latest trends are online.
There are many clues beyond the internet which will indicate good niches. Many of the advertisers you see in magazines and TV also operate affiliate programs so be sure to check out advertisers you’re interested in.
3. Do Your Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential when selecting a niche marketing or any other type of marketing. Do not skip researching potential keywords to target. Research a possible niche with a keyword tool and investigate if your niche will be profitable.
Does it get a fair number of searches per month? Are there more searches than there are competing websites? Also, see if there are advertisements running along the side of the search results of your main keyword, that’s another indicator the advertisers may very well be making money in that niche.
Look for indicators in a potential niche will be profitable. Keyword research can be fascinating, but be sure not to get too involved with research or you might not get anything done.
Niche research can be fun and it should be like anything else you do online. Not only is it fun and relatively easy, but finding the right niche can also create a nice part-time or full-time income. Just remember follow your strength, look for hints of profitable niches from the real world and always do your keyword research with proper keyword research tools. With those three niche marketing strategies in mind you’ll be your way to becoming a niche marketing wizard.
How to Navigate Online Marketing’s Slippery Path
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
How to Navigate Online Marketing’s Slippery Path
It’s not an easy task to be successful at online marketing. One slip and you can practically watch your leads and sales roll down a hill and end up with some other company.
Here are 10 key tips and suggestions to keep in mind as you make your way along online marketing routes.
1. Grow thick skin
Encourage your staff or consultants to tell you the plain truth instead of going out of their way not to offend or upset you.
If your website design has serious issues, own up to them so the rest of your campaign can really pay off. In other words, if you invest in getting more traffic and visitors give up on your website, then you’ve failed.
2. Pick the right keywords for search engine optimization (SEO)
It’s not about just researching keywords. It’s about selecting keywords. You need to think about site age, keywords in the domain, competition, current rankings, existing content, planned content, page headers, keywords in URLs and more.
3. Learn how paid search really works
The primary pay-per-click tools are easy. You can have an ad up in no time. If you waste your money, it’s not Google’s fault. If you send your paid search visitors to your home page and can make a good profit, great. Odds are, you’re better off directing them to a specific interior page. In fact, you’d be wise to make some outstanding custom landing pages with clear Calls to Action and not a lot of distracting navigation.
4. Use paid search negative keywords
Why should you pay for the wrong keywords? Think of all of the ways you don’t want to be found. Maybe you sell men’s jackets. You better rule out women’s jackets. Your options – broad, phrase and exact match can make a huge difference.
5. Use misspellings with paid search
You can find different tools to generate misspellings, including one at SEO Chat. Sure, these phrases won’t get a lot of traffic. But it could be worth while adding a number of them to your overall mix.
6. Write content – lots of content
At least from an SEO perspective, tiny websites get what they support – tiny traffic. Whether you expand the website with a blog or regular pages following existing navigation, write more words. Yes, you may rank well for keywords on a single page. However, several pages with cross-linked pages can make a big impact on rankings.
7. Don’t bury your calls to action
Too often, I see pages with 12 paragraphs followed by a phone number that’s probably going to be overlooked. Promote the phone number up high. Add a short form – you can easily see. Create an image that points visitors to case studies, white papers, demos, how-to guides, etc.
8. Track everything
Are website analytics on every page? Did you set up your goals (Google Analytics makes it easy)? Are you using all of the right settings with your paid search? For example, are your ads running all of the time or just when you want them to appear? Are you favoring certain ads or giving all of your ads a shot?
9. Don’t ignore link building
It takes time – a lot of time. Sure, you can register with hundreds of free directories. But what’s the impact? Make sure you get links from industry-related websites and credible directories with structures categories that relate to your services and products. Swap links with some other businesses (try to get them to include strategic keywords when they link to you). Create a blog and get involved in other blogs. If you participate, you’ll increase the odds that someone will link back to you. Share your knowledge – write articles for online publications (you always get a good link in your bio). Speak at conferences (you’ll get another link).
10. Test and measure everything
If people get lost on your website, fix it. If your keywords don’t rank, change them. If no one is calling, stop hiding your phone number next to your outdated 2003 copyright notice. Make note of where people leave their shopping carts in your digital aisle. Shorten your long response forms. Seriously, do you really need their address, zip code, state in all cases? Look at your competition. Are you charging more than they are and can you defend your pricing? Add some testimonials – real ones (the fake variety turn me off).
10 Networking Blunders That Cost You Sales
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
10 Networking Blunders That Cost You Sales
Networking is a critical skill sales; after all, the more people you connect with the more you sales opportunities you create. However, many sales people make a variety of mistakes that prevent them from maximizing the power of networking. Here are ten blunders and mistakes you need to avoid.
1. Attending the wrong networking events. When I first started my business I attended as many local networking events as I could fit into my schedule. However, I quickly noticed that I encountered the same people at these events-other small business owners out looking for business. These people were not my target market and very few of them interacted with the type of decision-maker I usually worked with so I realized that I was going to the wrong events. Get the most from your networking opportunities by showing up at events that your prospects attend.
2. Waiting for people to introduce themselves. Let’s face it; the vast majority of people are reluctant or hesitant to approach strangers. However, if you take the initiative to introduce yourself to others you will be perceived as a person of authority and power. Not to mention that the other person will be relieved that they didn’t have to make the first approach.
3. Spending too much time talking. One of the most fatal mistakes is to dominate the conversation. If you truly want to make a great impression, limit the amount you talk to no more than 40 percent of the airtime. Remember, networking events are not the appropriate setting to sell your solution. However, they are perfect situations to uncover potential sales opportunities.
4. Failing to ask other people questions. The most effective way to create a connection with someone is to ask them questions about their business and what they do. Ask them about the challenges they face and what they enjoy most about their work. High-value questions encourage people to share information and help you position yourself as an expert and a great networker.
5. Becoming distracted by other people. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who constantly watched the room instead of paying attention to what you were saying? If so, you likely felt ignored and unimportant. I also suspect that you would not refer business to that person. Don’t make the same mistake. Pay close attention to every person you meet and learn how you might be able to help them.
6. Focusing on your self-interest. This follows the last point. If you make the effort to find out how you can help someone else, the chances are they will reciprocate. In the words of motivational guru, Zig Ziglar, “You can anything you want in life if you just are willing to help enough other people get what they want.”
7. Failing to articulate your value proposition. I once spoke with a small business owner at a networking event and after a 20 minute conversation I still had no idea what she did because she was unable to clearly articulate the purpose of her company and her ideal client.
8. Failing to establish a connection. Effective networking means connecting with people. Although you will not connect with everyone you meet, you can improve your results by making great eye contact, smiling, asking questions, and showing interest in the other person.
9. Executing the “meet & move” strategy. We’ve all encountered the person at a networking event who introduces themselves, gives you their business card, asks for yours in return, and immediately moves on to repeat the process with another victim. You get much better results by connecting with a small number of people rather than trying to meet as many people as you can.
10. Failing to follow-up afterward. Post-event follow-up is critical. However, don’t make the mistake of calling someone three months after a networking meeting and saying something like, “We met a few months ago and I thought I’d touch base with you.” This approach simply does not add any type of value to the relationship. Here two follow-up strategies to consider:
- When you meet a potential customer, arrange to contact them shortly after the event. Mark it in your calendar and make sure you contact them on the agreed-upon day and time.
- After you meet someone who is NOT a prospect, look for opportunities to refer business to them. You can also help them by sending articles or information related to their business.
Networking effectively can have a dramatic impact on your sales providing it is done correctly. Avoid these fatal networking mistakes and improve your results.
The Impatience of Internet Marketing Newbies
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Impatience of Internet Marketing Newbies
If you attempted to take a test without studying, chances are, you’d fail. Yet, every single day on the Internet, thousands of newbies are performing the equivalent of the aforementioned test analogy, by putting up a website without having the slightest idea how to promote it. And guess what happens – they fail. No, they don’t all fail, but most do.
The point is starting a business – any business without having even basic marketing skills is putting the proverbial cart before the horse. It’s a bad move. Competency in marketing is one of the most important business skills that you can acquire. If you become proficient in the art of marketing, there is no limit to what you can accomplish in the business world.
A) Take the Time to Educate Yourself First
Look, there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious and enthusiastic. Those attributes can take you a long way in business. But you also need to be smart about how you approach things as well. Why be in such a hurry? Take some time to educate yourself first. Does it really matter if you build that website now, or a few months from now when you’re more prepared? Of course it doesn’t.
Starting a business is like building a house. You start with a strong foundation, and then you build on it. Well,in business, being knowledgeable about basic marketing fundamentals is your strong foundation. You just have to build on it.
That means taking the time to learn how to do things the right way. Be patient, and prepare yourself for success. By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Study and apply basic marketing fundamentals. Read a few marketing books. To get started, I highly recommend Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies. It’s actually eight books in one, and is written by multiple authors. It’s perfect for newbies, and touches all the bases including,
* Establishing a Web Presence
* Search Engine Optimization
* Web Analytics
* E-Mail Marketing
* Blogging and Podcasting
* Social Media Marketing
* Online Advertising & Pay-Per-Click
* Mobile Web Marketing
B) Increase the Odds in Your Favor
To be clear, I’m not suggesting you have to become some sort of marketing expert, before you build your website. After all, even experts don’t know everything. And reading books certainly doesn’t guarantee you’ll be successful. But at least by educating yourself first, you give yourself a fighting chance – you increase the odds in your favor. And the Internet marketing process won’t seem like such a foreign language to you. In addition, your learning curve won’t be nearly as steep.
Conversely, when newbies rush into the process with their eyes wide shut, more often than not, they end up thoroughly defeated, disillusioned, and convinced that Internet marketing doesn’t work. Many give up on Internet marketing altogether, and never bother trying again. And that’s a shame. The sad part is many times those failures could have been avoided, if newbies had just taken the time to learn how to do the process the right way.
C) What’s Effective Frequency?
I’m a member of several small business forums. And one of the questions newbies ask most often is why isn’t anyone responding to their ads. Now if these newbies had taken the time to educate themselves about marketing beforehand, they would know about effective frequency.
What’s effective frequency? Effective frequency is the number of times a person must be exposed to an advertising message before they act on it. How many times that actually is debatable. However, some marketing experts believe in The Rule of 7…meaning on average, people have to see your ad a minimum of seven times, before they act on it. Does that mean people will automatically buy what you’re offering after they’ve seen your ad seven times?
No it doesn’t. Again, it’s just an average. It could be more than seven, but it could also be less. The fact of the matter is there are far too many variables involved to suggest that after people see your ad seven times they will automatically whip out their credit card, and purchase what you’re offering – not the least of which is traffic quality, competency of your sales copy, and the viability of the item being offered.
The point is by educating yourself on basic marketing fundamentals, you will learn about and understand marketing theories and concepts like effective frequency. By the way, the theory of effective frequency isn’t new. In fact, as far back as 1885, Thomas Smith, a successful London businessman wrote:
1. The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
2. The second time, they don’t notice it.
3. The third time, they are aware that it is there.
4. The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
5. The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
6. The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
7. The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
8. The eighth time, they start to think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
9. The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.
10. The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
11. The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
12. The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
13. The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
14. The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
16. The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
17. The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
18. The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
19. The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
20. The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.
Indeed, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Thomas Smith’s words are every bit as salient today as they were back then.
In closing, Internet marketing is serious business – so be sure to treat it that way. Slow down, and take the time to educate yourself first. In the long run, it will be in your best interest. Because unlike the movie, Field of Dreams, where “if you build it, he will come.” In the real world, if you build a website without knowing how to promote it – nobody’s coming!
The Different Types Of Mobile Websites And How They’re Used
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Mobile Marketing – The Different Types Of Mobile Websites And How They’re Used
More and more people are signing up for advanced mobile plans, which means that smart business owners and entrepreneurs have a window of opportunity open to them right now. Mobile marketing is cheap and people don’t have ‘banner blindness’ when it comes to their mobile device.
Those to things spell out an incredibly easy marketing solution. What I want to do is lay out a few different ways mobile marketing. Then, I’ll follow it up with a few resources you can check out for more information.
* Mobile Squeeze Page
Mobile squeeze pages serve one purpose, and one purpose alone, to collect data. Basically, what you do is offer a free download of some kinds or discounts/coupons to visitors who sign up for your email list. That way, you can market to them again and again in the future.
* Using A Check Out Page As A Mobile Landing Page
Another effective way of mobile marketing is sending prospects directly to your main product page or the page where they can sign up for your services. Obviously, a higher ticket item will need some pre-selling, but lower end offers work well.
* Mobile Landing Page – Phone Number
One of the best innovations of mobile marketing ads is its click to call technology. What that means is that when someone clicks an ad, it automatically dials a phone number! That’s awesome for pizza shops and doctor’s offices!
* Does Mobile Marketing Work?
Right about now, I’m sure you’re thinking that all this stuff is good in theory. But does it actually work?
On a cell phone, there is very little screen real estate. The user only has so many options… Sign up for your free download or exit the page. More times than not, the person will sign up so they can get your information or they’ll call you. It really is incredibly effective.
A properly designed mobile website won’t have any distractions at all. It’ll have a call to action and a action option… Something that the user has to do.
Graphics will be minimal and the page will seem relatively simplistic. That’s OK though, because mobile phones are typically much slower than normal computers and will need more computational power to load the page.
* My Mobile Marketing Results
Based on the testing I’ve done, mobile marketing is definitely a big hit. Generally, people who view mobile websites or find your business on Google Maps are very well targeted. They know what they want and are willing to pay for it. If you place an email marketing opt-in box on the mobile page itself, you’re going to get lots of new leads. The ‘click to call’ option is also really impressive.
Mobile Marketing – Another Market To Build Your Empire?
Smartphones have suddenly become the device to have. No longer a novelty, or a tool for the rich, everywhere I look I can see someone using their iPhone or Android phone. Doing everything from making calls to searching for information. That’s new eyes in a new market with new customers. How could you incorporate a business model using mobile marketing, and affiliate marketing, as a part of your Empire Building?
The surprise arrival of the iPhone a few years ago and its incredible growth has given rise to explosive growth in the mobile market. Over 2 million phones were sold recently by Apple. The recent launch of the iPhone 4 was Apple’s most successful yet. Then there are all the other handset manufacturers that are scrambling to catch up. Let’s stop and consider for a moment the number of people that are connected to the internet from their smartphone right now… Most people have their phones within 3 feet of them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Furthermore, over half of all new connections to the internet are from these new mobile phones.
* Smartphone marketing
What is it? In it’s broadest definition it is providing customers with personalized information that is time and location sensitive using media sources that is interactive and wireless to promote goods, services and ideas, such as from Google search.
There are not many marketers in this market yet. I will emphasize the word “yet”. With mobile advertising your ad is the ONLY ad that will be displayed on the page. With a bit of tweaking and personalizing your ad using a bit of research and geo marketing and you can begin to see how easy it would be to get someones attention without all the noise and distraction of other AdWords and flashing banners on the page.
Everything that you are using now in affiliate marketing using ClickBank, CPA offers, and building a list will also work the same with the mobile market as it does with a PC. The difference is that it is not as competitive.
The mobile marketing potential has just started, and there appears that it is not going to slow down anytime in the near future. The number of people going mobile continues to rise – using their smartphone for so many more things than just making calls.
How you could use this developing market to build your Empire?
Linking Strategies: “To Buy or not to Buy, That is the Question”
Buying text links for your website is a highly controversial subject online. Like it or not, approve of the practice or disapprove, it does exist and there are many website owners who are doing it. I’m not going to debate the issue one way or the other; just shed some light on what some consider a “gray subject.”
So why would you want or need to buy a text link on another website? It all goes back to “link popularity.” Search engines look at how many other sites are linking to yours when deciding on your ranking. Granted, this is just one criterion, but nevertheless an important one to pay attention to.
If you don’t know how many other sites are linking to yours, go to any search engine and type this in: link:http://www.yourdomain.com … you should get a pretty good idea of your “popularity.” Keep in mind that Google never shows all sites linking to yours, so what you see in the results will not be an accurate presentation of those linking to you. Why they do this is not clear (it’s one of those “Google Secrets”), but a possible explanation is that it’s one of the methods they use to keep their ranking algorithms private.
When considering a link purchase, only buy from sites that are related to your theme and use the Google Toolbar to check their page rank. You can download it here:
http://toolbar.google.com/
A page rank of 4 or above is pretty good but a 7 or 8 is excellent. Never buy a link based on page rank alone. If the site doesn’t relate to your site’s content, don’t do it.
Here are some things to keep in mind before making any purchases:
There are two types of links: one-way and reciprocal. A reciprocal link is when two sites agree to link to each other, a one-way link is just one site linking to another without linking back. Purchasing a text link is an example of a one-way link. One-way links are counted higher by most search engines and therefore are more valuable then reciprocal.
When supplying your text link to other sites, make sure to include your keywords in your anchor text. The anchor text is the part of the link that is clickable. Use a variety of key phrases so as not to raise any red flags with the search engines.
You also want to be consistent with your url. Use the “www.” part in all incoming links, as links to “yourdomain.com” and “www.yourdomain.com” could be treated as two different websites by the search engines.
Another tip when buying links is to do it slowly. Don’t buy too many at one time. You want it to look natural to the search engines. Hundreds of sites deciding to link to yours in a week is not “natural” and may catch unwanted attention from the powers that be.
Stay away from link farms when choosing link partners. Just associating with “bad sites” can be enough to get you banned by the search engines. You’ll also want to make sure you’re getting links from different IP addresses. Search engines will give the links more weight if they don’t all come from the same IP.
* So now that you have the basics, where do you buy the text links?
I thought you’d never ask:
1) LinkHaul: http://www.LinkHaul.com
Purchase static links to PR 4, 5,6, 7 or 8 websites. Pricing starts at 3.00 per month.
2) Text Link Brokers: http://TextLinkBrokers.com
Offering a variety of link building programs to increase your link popularity.
3) LinkAdage: http://www.LinkAdage.com
Buy or sell text links within an auction format or buy direct thru a broker.
4) Text-Link-Ads: http://www.Text-Link-Ads.com
Offering $100.00 in free text link ads when you spend $125.00. So you only have to spend an initial investment of $25.00
5) BackLinks: http://www.BackLinks.com
* A service that allows webmasters to trade, sell or buy text links
When you buy a link, it’s usually billed on a monthly basis and you’ll always pay more for a site with a higher page rank, and also for having them put your link on their main page compared to a page deeper down within the site. Once you purchase a link let it run for a few months at a time, search engines will need it in order to find and spider them.
Right or wrong, purchasing links is one way to improve your link popularity quickly and move your site up the ranks in the search engines. Remember, there are many ways to increase your website traffic, and buying text links is just another means to an end.
What is the Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, July 14, 2011
What is the Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
When it comes to marketing, you can go either inbound or outbound marketing. Most of us are familiar with outbound marketing. This type of marketing is a push strategy where you advertise to purchased leads, have a cold calling department, use telemarketing, and advertise through various channels. Inbound marketing is different in that it focuses on attracting people to your business.
Inbound marketing is where you focus on strategies to get the attention of prospects, industry leaders, and customers. An example of this is setting up a blog for your business where you attract subscribers and readers by posting valuable content. By focusing on quality content, you will start to establish yourself as an authority, gain credibility, and start a conversation in the community around your site.
An additional benefit of inbound strategies is that you will start to get traffic from the search engines because other websites start to naturally link to yours. You will also get traffic because the blogosphere is viral and loves to share great posts. Bloggers love to work together, share other valuable blogs, link to great resources, and are open to helping each other grow.
Another example of inbound marketing is email marketing. Many marketers use the Internet to deliver a regular newsletter to their subscribers. Through this newsletter and regular email communication, they are able to create relationships with prospects and customers. An email list also provides a great way to promote your latest product and services. Email campaigns have been known to generate big profits because of the fact that it is very affordable to use.
So should your business use inbound marketing or outbound marketing? It really depends on where you are and what direction you want to go. If you’re looking for quick results and have money to spend on advertising then outbound marketing may be a great way to grow your business. Most businesses depend on outbound marketing to bring in their profits.
However, if you’re on a limited budget and you have the time to spend on developing an authority site then inbound marketing may be the better choice. If you have the confidence to deliver something of value to your industry and community, then inbound marketing can really produce great results for you.
By establishing yourself in your market and industry, many people will choose you over competing businesses because they feel you’ve presented enough value, have established credibility, and also because they are more familiar with you as opposed to other businesses that don’t have a following behind them.
The difference between inbound and outbound marketing is that outbound marketing can help you get quick results and can give you a scientific way to measure your sales.
Inbound marketing is more about a long term strategy that will establish your business in the market and industry. It may be a great solution if outbound marketing channels are too crowded or expensive to compete in.
Many businesses that have used outbound marketing are also using inbound marketing to complement their business model. They are realizing that while maintaining cash flow with outbound marketing is important, they need to establish themselves in the marketplace and connect with people so that can ensure long term success.
Inbound marketing is still in its infancy and there is so much to learn about how to use it to its full capacity.
Many businesses are using multiple channels from blogs, email, Facebook, Twitter, to community forums. There are different ways to monetize these channels as well as rules that you need to follow when using them.
The best way to get the most out of inbound marketing is to focus on learning how to use one channel at a time and slowly integrating it into your overall strategy. There is a community of marketers devoted to learning how to use inbound marketing to grow their business and is worth your time to learn from them if you want to get the most out it.
In conclusion, there are big differences between inbound and outbound marketing. Some say that outbound marketing is the better choice while others think inbound marketing produces better results. It’s really up to you which strategy you go with as it will depend on your business model and also on what direction you want to lead your business towards.
Confidence Building Tips For Internet Marketers
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Confidence Building Tips For Internet Marketers
It doesn’t matter how much talent or acquired ability you have, if you lack confidence you aren’t going to get anywhere. On the other hand, if you have confidence plus desire, even if you lack the raw talent, you can acquire the ability you need to succeed.
This is as true on the Internet as it is anywhere else in life. When you look at who has succeeded with Internet marketing you will find a surprising range of people. They are not all technical whiz kids at all. Yes, some of the Internet marketing greats have a lot of technical talent, but on the other hand there are plenty of work from home mums, retired company employees, youngsters with no formal qualifications who have built successful businesses on the Internet.
They succeeded because they had the desire and determination plus the confidence to risk failure and not worry about what other people thought about their dream to succeed on the Internet.
So what can you do if you want to succeed as an Internet marketer but suffer with your confidence? Let’s look at some confidence building tips for Internet marketers.
Just telling yourself that you need to be more confident will not help. Instead, think about and imagine your ultimate goal as an Internet marketer. You may have no idea how you are going to achieve this goal at the moment. Don’t worry about that at this stage. It is important to see yourself as having already attained the goal that you have set for yourself. Don’t just see it, but feel the feeling of success, the exhilaration of having achieved your goal.
Now you will need to set yourself a series of small goals that you can achieve in a reasonable amount of time. Each small goal should be seen as a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal that you have mapped out in your imagination. State what it is that each mini goal is seeking to achieve and set a time limit in which you aim to achieve it.
When it comes to Internet marketing there are several things that you can try to achieve without challenging your fear of failure.
For example, you could aim to improve your website’s Alexa ranking by a certain amount in the course of the coming month. This kind of goal can be achieved with various online activities, such as posting articles, building back-links, blogging and posting comments on other people’s blogs or on forums and so forth. (See Alexa.com if you do not know what I am talking about!)
When you see that your activities are producing results, it will give your confidence boost and help you to set slightly more challenging goals, while keeping your new positive business building habits as part of your routine.
The next step could be, for example, starting to build a mailing list and aiming to get so many subscribers by a certain date. This would involve learning about auto responders and researching list building tactics and putting them into action, one step at a time.
Gradually, as you see your skills improve, your website ranking improve, and traffic to your website starting to increase, you will want to think about how to convert your traffic into your first sale. Just aiming for one sale if you have not yet begun to sell anything is a good goal to aim for because once you have sold something you will feel more confident in your ability to simply do it again. After all, if you’ve done it before you can do it again. And again and again.
As each of these small steps takes you a little nearer to your ultimate goal of Internet marketing success, they will in turn help to boost your confidence in your ability to succeed. A key confidence building tip is simply that the art of success is discovered in trying to succeed, and a feeling of self-confidence is generated almost as a side-effect of this process.
Finally, another valuable confidence building tip for helping to build confidence is to read the stories and testimonies of other people who have come from unpromising backgrounds and circumstances to achieve great success on the Internet.
There are many examples of successful Internet marketers who are just average people, with no special skills beyond a determination to succeed, often from a starting point of abject failure. Reading their stories will help you to build your own confidence and determination to succeed as a home-based Internet marketer.
5 Tips on Creating and Using Successful Squeeze Pages
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, July 11, 2011
5 Tips on Creating and Using Successful Squeeze Pages
* Creating a successful squeeze page that converts well is a must if you want to be successful as an Internet marketer
Basically, a squeeze page (also known as an opt-in page or a splash page) is used to capture visitor information, like their name and email address, so that you can build a relationship with them. A good squeeze page will help your business save time and money.
Getting traffic to your website can not only be very time consuming, but it can also be very costly. However, if you have a good squeeze page, you will attract more subscribers to your list. And with a list, you can leverage your marketing efforts for the years to come.
One problem most marketers face with their squeeze pages is the reluctance of people to enter their contact information online. To help you with this, five tips to effectively create successful squeeze pages are discussed below so you can increase your visitor opt-ins:
1. Personalize
Since you will be asking complete strangers to part with their information, you have to make sure they are comfortable in doing so. Introduce yourself and make them feel that they know something about the person they are giving their information to.
Add a video, picture, or an audio message of you so that you can establish rapport at your first point of contact.
2. Professional Layout
A professional layout means that you don’t overcrowd your squeeze page with graphics and bright colors. There is no need to hire a professional designer to accomplish this. Use the swipe system…simply check what other successful marketers have done with their squeeze pages and copy and paste the process.
Evaluate it and if it looks cluttered to you, adjust it accordingly.
3. Giveaways
In order to motivate your visitors to fill in your opt-in form, give them something in return when they do so. Simply offer them something of value like an excellent ereport, ebook, interview or video that would entice them to opt in.
Everyone loves freebies and you can take advantage of this fact. Just see to it that your giveaway is beneficial to your target market so that your conversion rate will increase.
4. Remove Distractions
Keep in mind that everything in your squeeze page should work together with one goal in mind – getting your visitor’s contact information. See to it that your headline, graphics, and copy support what you are trying to accomplish.
Don’t make the mistake that many marketers online make by creating extremely long squeeze pages with unnecessary information. This practice defeats the purpose of getting the much desired visitor information because when people get distracted, they tend to leave the page immediately.
Distracting them away from opting in on your squeeze page defeats the purpose of the squeeze page…to gather their personal information for your list.
5. Templates
If you’ve been around lately, you’ll see squeeze pages that look exactly like each other. Before you label these pages as spam, think again. There’s a reason why people continue to use them — they are very effective in getting the conversions required. For this reason alone, it is recommended that you create a squeeze page with a similar template and see it work its wonders for your conversions.
By taking these five tips into mind, you’ll surely have a squeeze page that will get you the conversions you need. However, if you already have a squeeze page up, you must test and tweak it until you receive your desired conversion rate.
The Forgotten Method of Marketing: Forums
Forums are a great way of marketing alongside articles, email and blogging – there is no real way to compare all of these, they are just a different way of communicating. The big difference however with forums is that many many more people will see you and get to know you which builds trust as you interact with the community.
Forums have been around in many forms since the dawn of the internet, they provide a means of conversation with like-minded people in a community-driven atmosphere of helping one another with problems. If you don’t know how they work, let me just tell you a bit about them.
First off, you have to find your forum in your niche, the best way to do this is type in subject forums as the keywords (replacing subject with your topic) into a search engine. Once you have found one in the topic you’re interested in, with a nice community going on, registration is the next step.
Registration is pretty simple, its just a case of filling your details in and perhaps entering a captcha (one of those funny sets of digits and numbers that tell the site that you are not an automated spammer!) You may have to click a link in your email to register the fact that you own the email address you registered with.
There usually is many sub-forums, i would reccomend finding one that usually reads something like “introduce yourself” and post a brief overview of what you are about and say hello. I would advise against just registering and posting “buy my product now” or “come to my website” etc. type comments as you’ll end up with a flame war – if you dont know what that is please do a search on it as its not a nice thing to happen to you!
Get involved in the forum, post replies to people’s problems to help with any questions that you can – its a community-type feeling that you will enjoy. Forums which are busy have the advantage of many more people in the nich you are targeting, so you can find out about some really exciting new widget thing in your niche that is very important to you, and also reply and ask more.
Some forums have a specific buy, sell or trade section where you can sell your products, this is the place to be if you want to directly pitch your product. Another way of pitching your product is to enter links to your website in your signature, this is shown directly under each post that you make and is updated automatically – be careful however, some forums dont like this and will ask you to remove them. Some have rules on the size of images or links allowed, please read these before adding it.
Some of the more advanced forums that run vbulletin have private messaging which can be great to directly carry out business to people privately on the forum, i’ve bought many websites and domain names using this – some sites like digital point have itrader which is also a way of showing how trustworthy the user is in terms of buying and selling, similar to the ebay feedback system.
One last thing to remember, forums are a great place to communicate rather than a place to pitch-fest – if you want to advertise on a forum, but you cant find any other method other than the ones i’ve outlined, contact the owners of the site and ask for banner rates, this is a great way of getting in front of these people, then you have the right to freely talk about your product or service which is a huge bonus compared to advertising on a static site!
Are You Sacrificing Your Long Term Internet Marketing Success For Short Term Profits?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Are You Sacrificing Your Long Term Internet Marketing Success For Short Term Profits?
One thing about internet marketing is that all the strategies you implement require a level of specialization in order to be successful. Very often, this causes internet marketing start-up businesses to sacrifice consistent, passive long-term profits for short-term gains.
This isn’t a bad strategy when done correctly, but it will most likely mean that you’ll always be looking for the next sale instead leveraging the power that you have gained over time. Here’s a look at some of the potential trade-offs that are often made.
* PPC vs. SEO
PPC is a very common short-term tactic which is one of the quickest ways to generate targeted traffic to your web pages. The key to effective PPC campaigns is a mix of bid management, effective ad creation and conversions. While this approach can be extremely successful, it also involves consistent monitoring. The skills involved also require some level of specialization and time.
On the other hand, SEO has consistently proved that it’s the most effective way to ensure that your website has long-term visibility. While more work will be required at the outset to generate traffic, in the medium-long term, less and less time needs to be allocated to SEO. Plus, all of the work builds upon itself, so over time it will provide you with a large number of valuable assets that can be leveraged to promote new websites you may have in the future.
The trade-off between PPC and SEO is twofold. The first is time. Putting emphasis on one almost requires focusing less on the other when there is only a limited amount of time and resources. While PPC marketing can generate short-term profits, you’ll need to monitor and tweak your strategy consistently. Plus, if you decide you no longer want to pay for anymore PPC ads, you’ll no longer get any traffic.
On the other hand, if you stop doing SEO tactics, you’ll still be able to generate traffic based upon your past efforts. In most cases, people can set-up small websites, and once efficient enough, can be left to generate passive income without any additional work. Thanks to effective SEO, these websites can continue to generate profits for years after they are left alone.
* Possible Solutions
There are ways that you can include both PPC and SEO into your short and long-term marketing strategies. Regarding PPC, make sure that your landing page is focused on generating opt-ins to your newsletter list rather than trying to directly sell a product. This will allow you to use PPC to feed your long-term traffic and marketing strategies.
Also, if you’re currently only using PPC, then take 25% of your net profits and use them to start building your SEO efforts. Then, you’ll still be able to generate short-term profits from PPC but will also be able to invest time and money into creating and executing a long-term SEO strategy.
You can now see that it can be tempting to put off generating long-term passive income for short-term profits. However, if you plan accordingly and make sure to focus on the end-goal, then you can easily maintain both short-term profits from PPC ads and your dedication to SEO tactics. By doing this, you’ll cut down the amount of work that needs to be done in the long-run, without giving up on generating a profit in the short-term. This is the key to Internet marketing success.
The Sunny Side Of Internet Marketing
I am the type of writer that can look at the glass half full or look at it half empty. Sometimes I think Internet marketers need to fully realize what a sunny business they have chosen to be in.
Here are 4 things that bring a smile to my Internet marketing lips!
1. Instant affiliate commissions. I love the fact that I can get paid to sell other people’s stuff and I do not have to wait to see my money.
Today there are affiliate programs you can join that will set you up with your own PayPal url. When you make a sale your commissions are instantly deposited into your PayPal account.
WackyCentral.com has a great program. PaySpree.com is an instant payment affiliate network. Both are worth joining for free.
2. Easy blog set up. I admit that I do not like to build websites. Even setting up a WordPress blog used to be enough to turn me into an A #1 Procrastinator. Not anymore.
Most hosting companies offer a Fantastico icon you can click on for fast WordPress set up. This is simple enough that I can even do it.
Because of how easy it is you can also pay someone to do it for you and not break the bank doing it. Outsourcing a WordPress blog set up is very cheap to do.
3. Very good training available. When I started out online good Internet training was expensive. Today you can join membership sites for under $1 a day and get some really good personal coaching. The Affiliate Power Group is at the top of my list.
There are also many top notch discussion forums where you can get excellent training and meet some fantastic Internet marketers. The Warrior Forum is one of my favorites.
4. People will pay you to do things for them. I learned this by mistake at first. I had my son write content articles for me starting back in 2005. He was a journalism major and I wanted to expose him to Internet writing.
Out of that came our own Internet writing company and article marketing company. We have been able to turn that into a 6 figure writing business.
There are many examples of people getting paid by other Internet marketers. Some of what they do includes copywriting, blog building, virtual assistant, graphic design and so on. You will be smiling all the way to the bank when you get paid to stay at home and do things for online businesses.
These are 4 things that make me happy about Internet marketing. It is very easy to see the sunny side of this business when you think about all of the advantages it offers!
Some Tips In Creating Consistent Marketing Collaterals
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Some Tips In Creating Consistent Marketing Collaterals
A few weeks ago a flyer was handed to a friend of mine at the mall by a lady selling real estate. My friend doesn’t have any intentions of purchasing a house, but she read the flyer anyway and checked out the company’s website. The houses looked nice and the prices were reasonable but being a marketer herself, she was turned off by the typographical errors she spotted on the flyer and wondered why the color schemes in the flyer and the site were different. In marketing, image is everything.
This is why having consistent marketing pieces is essential. You may have a clear mission, vision and values when you started your business. You know your objectives, and you’re thrilled to execute your marketing strategies.
You know you need to build your communications based on your value propositions, so you look at some of the most commonly used marketing materials and decide which ones you’ll create for your company such as brochures, newsletters, product sheets, and business cards. With a good copywriter and a creative graphic designer, it should be a piece of cake right?
* So why do we still see some inconsistent marketing messages in some marketing pieces?
a) The importance of a consistent look and feel
Just how important is producing quality, consistent marketing materials? These pieces are the “face” of the company, so it’s essential that they not only look great and have flawless content – they also need to sends out consistent messages in order to be effective. We wouldn’t want to mislead prospects, customer and clients with inconsistent messages, slogans and even company colors, would we?
I’ve enumerated some tips for creating consistent marketing pieces. These may be very easy and basic for any marketer, but still, I believe it bears repeating. Eventually, marketing materials speak volumes about your brand, company and credibility. Might as well make it perfect.
b) Colors and Images
Materials should be created from a consistent palate of colors and images. You don’t want to cause confusion. You would want to make certain that you are conveying a clear, consistent and compelling message, from your website, brochure and email newsletters to your print and billboard ads.
c) Perfect grammar, consistent terminology
What would you think of a company if you notice bad grammar after visiting their site or reading their brochure? Care about the words you use. Consistent marketing collaterals require the use of consistent terms so that your customers are clear on what you are explaining. Content is king in your marketing pieces, and this shows a lot about the professionalism of your company.
d) Update, update, update
After spending the time and money on your marketing collateral, perhaps, you don’t want to do it again.
Nevertheless, it’s important to keep them current. Make it a practice to check and review your pieces often to be certain that your messages are still consistent. Perhaps, you could even adjust the content and improve the design. No matter how busy business gets, never, never forget to keep your materials recent.
With consistent marketing pieces, you not only make an excellent impression – you also establish your brand and attract potential customers in!
5 Must-haves for Making it in Internet Marketing
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Successful Online Businesses: 5 Must-haves for Making it in Internet Marketing
Successful online businesses don’t come easy or we’d all have one—right? It is a hard game, and there are plenty of people who never make it, but the ones who do make it have a pretty good life indeed. And if you’re the type who was inspired by the Four Hour Workweek and loved Tim Ferris’s idea of tramping around the globe and leveraging currency differences in some of the best place son Earth, it doesn’t take all that much money for a good internet marketing business to set you free.
* So what does it take to create a successful online business then?
1. Ridiculous Work Ethic
Cast your assumptions aside – internet marketing success takes A LOT of hard, hard work – at least in the beginning. Most big-timers have put in massive amounts of time and energy to get their businesses where they are today. Sure, now they may be coasting now – although many learn to love the grind and just keep creating – but most have paid their dues.
Be prepared to put in 120% effort, as they say, and work while your friends and family are sleeping. Keep your eye on your dream, and push on.
2. Money to Invest
While it is possible to start successful online businesses from scratch, in most cases, it will take some money to get going along the way. Now, most costs, like web hosting, a domain name, and a quality autoresponder program, are quite cheap, but there are other costs you may not be taking into account until you get your feet wet.
I’d say a major one is skills. Learning things like graphics design, web design, and marketing itself – these things cost time and money. You can hire a quality freelancer to do some of them, and I recommend that with the most important ones, but if you want quality, be prepared to pay.
Another thing that costs is knowledge. You can find anything you want for free – or come up with them through your own through processes – but unless you want to grind away for years at this craft, it’s better to find someone highly successful to emulate, in which case you’ll likely need to pay for their knowledge.
Finally, if you don’t want to do all this while working a full-time job, you’d better have some money saved up – to last a good chunk of time. I highly recommend freelancing as a way to fund your internet marketing journey.
3. The Ability to Learn
Do you have the ability to learn new skills and the energy to keep after them until you have achieved mastery? In many cases, that’s what it takes, and while everyone says they can learn and love to do it, true learning is rare in our culture. Just look how often the people around you have made actual changes in their life if you don’t believe me.
4. Unrealistic Goals
Like any successful entrepreneur, you need to be somewhat of a dreamer. And the ability to stand behind those big dreams when no one else has faith in you is even more important in this business because all your friends and family will be there telling you it’s a sham.
5. Guidance
Finally, nothing is so valuable as solid guidance in the internet marketing world. It is hard to find someone you can put your faith in, but if you don’t find someone then you will find yourself running down one path after another, never staying on one long enough to get results.
I highly encourage you to find one person who you respect and trust that is doing very well for themselves, and follow them. Once you’ve mastered what they are teaching and begun making money, then you can begin to study someone else and keep building on your knowledge-base to emulate the successful online businesses that are already out there.
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