The cornerstone of my success philosophy
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Schedule your Internet Marketing and be more Focused ! (blog # 3)
Many business owners have content or information far flung all over over the
web in the form of blogs, videos, business web pages, social networks, directories , etc. Most of today's business owners know you can't build a brand without a web presence. As professionals and small business owners, in whatever industry, it is important to know how to assemble this information in an orderly fashion and link all information (websites, blogs,videos, etc) together... so your client can find you.
Personally I, use my web site as the centerpiece of my business, followed by my profiles on facebook, myspace, this blog and a Youtube Channel. My text ads are layered on top of that. Depending on your business profile and your personality, you may choose a different path for your web presence. But the most important thing is to have a foundation which for long-term growth (social networks, etc.) and short term (quick) traffic. What is the difference ?
Short term traffic is what I call the clients who are immediately looking for
you and want to buy now. Such as a client who needs a plumber for a leaky
sink. This client is on Craigslist or Google, doing a search. The long term
strategy describes a client who is exposed to your name and number (with a
continuous supply of "soft sell" commercials and relevant content), and happens to call you up later on in the future when they may need you. You want both of these types of clients. These types of clients are also what develops your ongoing word of mouth referral machine (another long-term marketing strategy - developing an automatic referral system). The combination of short term and long term online
marketing techniques will bring a continuous supply of traffic to your
website.
So the first thing I recommend is get out a calendar, and on each day of the
week schedule one marketing task for your business. The idea is to put your
quick marketing strategies in place in the beginning and middle of the week, and
the long term or slower strategies in place middle and end of the week.
Example
Monday: Free Texts Ads (Craigslist,etc.)
Tuesday: Paid Text Ads (PPC,Google Adwords, etc.)
Wednesday: Update FaceBook
Thursday: Update Myspace
Friday: Craigslist, Update Blog
Saturday: General Maintenance
People do like to sync networks... but don't over do it. You don't want a potential client to see the same exact status or other content posted on your twitter, facebook and myspace ! Keep it different, keep it fresh.
I use Saturday as my Copy and Paste day. I check all my content links and copy and paste them on all my sites. I put together some of my old content (that is still relevant) and create articles... which I then re-publish in directories.
At least once a month (on a Saturday), I take one of my Internet media... and do
a "refreshing". All of the different elements of your web presence feed to and from each other. If you like twitter, then that will lay on top of everything as your
Daily Public Relations Broadcast. By using your content wisely (long term
strategy) along with some free and paid text ads (short term strategy) you can
establish a strong overall presence online, and increase your chances of having your websites and social media profiles appear in the first page of Google !
web in the form of blogs, videos, business web pages, social networks, directories , etc. Most of today's business owners know you can't build a brand without a web presence. As professionals and small business owners, in whatever industry, it is important to know how to assemble this information in an orderly fashion and link all information (websites, blogs,videos, etc) together... so your client can find you.
Personally I, use my web site as the centerpiece of my business, followed by my profiles on facebook, myspace, this blog and a Youtube Channel. My text ads are layered on top of that. Depending on your business profile and your personality, you may choose a different path for your web presence. But the most important thing is to have a foundation which for long-term growth (social networks, etc.) and short term (quick) traffic. What is the difference ?
Short term traffic is what I call the clients who are immediately looking for
you and want to buy now. Such as a client who needs a plumber for a leaky
sink. This client is on Craigslist or Google, doing a search. The long term
strategy describes a client who is exposed to your name and number (with a
continuous supply of "soft sell" commercials and relevant content), and happens to call you up later on in the future when they may need you. You want both of these types of clients. These types of clients are also what develops your ongoing word of mouth referral machine (another long-term marketing strategy - developing an automatic referral system). The combination of short term and long term online
marketing techniques will bring a continuous supply of traffic to your
website.
So the first thing I recommend is get out a calendar, and on each day of the
week schedule one marketing task for your business. The idea is to put your
quick marketing strategies in place in the beginning and middle of the week, and
the long term or slower strategies in place middle and end of the week.
Example
Monday: Free Texts Ads (Craigslist,etc.)
Tuesday: Paid Text Ads (PPC,Google Adwords, etc.)
Wednesday: Update FaceBook
Thursday: Update Myspace
Friday: Craigslist, Update Blog
Saturday: General Maintenance
People do like to sync networks... but don't over do it. You don't want a potential client to see the same exact status or other content posted on your twitter, facebook and myspace ! Keep it different, keep it fresh.
I use Saturday as my Copy and Paste day. I check all my content links and copy and paste them on all my sites. I put together some of my old content (that is still relevant) and create articles... which I then re-publish in directories.
At least once a month (on a Saturday), I take one of my Internet media... and do
a "refreshing". All of the different elements of your web presence feed to and from each other. If you like twitter, then that will lay on top of everything as your
Daily Public Relations Broadcast. By using your content wisely (long term
strategy) along with some free and paid text ads (short term strategy) you can
establish a strong overall presence online, and increase your chances of having your websites and social media profiles appear in the first page of Google !
Monday, November 9, 2009
SEO Tips for the do-it-yourself marketer (#2)
We all hear the term SEO ...but what does it mean and how can you use it to improve your business ?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
As part of your Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for and how they search for it. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Google says it ranks sites using more than 200 different signals! A person who put together their own site can go into the coding of their site to manipulate the necessary words, links and tags for essential seo.
Three "easy" Steps to SEO your own website.
1. Develop Great Content
2. Links
3. Relevant Tags and Keywords
Search engines look at a combination of over 200 factors to determine what pages
should rank for which queries. These factors include:
1. Information on the web pages. Your Page content and Title heading should tell a person what you do and what you are about...within the first few words or sentences. Secondly, you absolutely must spend a considerable amount of time gathering new and relevant data for your website. Content is King! Content refers to the information pages and articles on your website. Creating content that is entertaining, interesting, educational, informative, funny, or compelling in some other way is the best way for you to encourage people to visit your site
frequently, link to you, and ultimately improve your rankings. The more unique and interesting your content is, the more value it has to your site's visitors. This is what is going to draw your client and keep him/her on your site. Your client is searching for information and entertainment. The purchase comes second. If you
concentrate on just uploading excellent and regular content... your battle is half way over (but this is an ongoing job).
2. Links:
Links are the primary method a search engine uses to discover your website, and a key factor in its rankings. How reputable are your links and the pages linking to you ? What words are being used to link to you ? Links and Anchor text is one of the
mechanisms search engines use to tell what a page is about. Be sure you link to other relevant sources outside of your web page as well as link to other pages within your site. The link strategy will take you the longest time to implement properly. The idea is to have other relevant sites linking back to your web page. If you sold Janitorial services on the web, you may have a few supply companies that link to you and perhaps a few sites that give tips on specialized cleaning techniques (that you don't provide). You want to be seen as a huge relevant icon within your industry. Online directories and blogs are also an excellent source of links to your website. Regularly submit articles to a few directories and blogs and watch your links grow!
3. Meta Tags and keywords
Meta Tags (not so relevant as they used to be due to wide spread abuse) are
little word cluster site descriptions used within the program code of your
website. They are information inserted into the "head" or header area of your web pages. Other than the title tag, information in the head area of your web pages is not seen by those viewing your pages in browsers (but are seen and read by search engines and their robots). Create unique descriptions and use relevant tags and keywords for your business. Internet searchers spend much of their time surfing the net and using keywords in search engines to look for what they want, be it information, products or services. As a result, keyword marketing, plays a pivotal role in marketing and promoting any online business. Another tip to keyword marketing for your Internet business is to use phrases instead of single words.
Phrases tend to be slightly less generic than singular keywords and are also able
to more accurately describe the site or products you are promoting.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
As part of your Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for and how they search for it. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Google says it ranks sites using more than 200 different signals! A person who put together their own site can go into the coding of their site to manipulate the necessary words, links and tags for essential seo.
Three "easy" Steps to SEO your own website.
1. Develop Great Content
2. Links
3. Relevant Tags and Keywords
Search engines look at a combination of over 200 factors to determine what pages
should rank for which queries. These factors include:
1. Information on the web pages. Your Page content and Title heading should tell a person what you do and what you are about...within the first few words or sentences. Secondly, you absolutely must spend a considerable amount of time gathering new and relevant data for your website. Content is King! Content refers to the information pages and articles on your website. Creating content that is entertaining, interesting, educational, informative, funny, or compelling in some other way is the best way for you to encourage people to visit your site
frequently, link to you, and ultimately improve your rankings. The more unique and interesting your content is, the more value it has to your site's visitors. This is what is going to draw your client and keep him/her on your site. Your client is searching for information and entertainment. The purchase comes second. If you
concentrate on just uploading excellent and regular content... your battle is half way over (but this is an ongoing job).
2. Links:
Links are the primary method a search engine uses to discover your website, and a key factor in its rankings. How reputable are your links and the pages linking to you ? What words are being used to link to you ? Links and Anchor text is one of the
mechanisms search engines use to tell what a page is about. Be sure you link to other relevant sources outside of your web page as well as link to other pages within your site. The link strategy will take you the longest time to implement properly. The idea is to have other relevant sites linking back to your web page. If you sold Janitorial services on the web, you may have a few supply companies that link to you and perhaps a few sites that give tips on specialized cleaning techniques (that you don't provide). You want to be seen as a huge relevant icon within your industry. Online directories and blogs are also an excellent source of links to your website. Regularly submit articles to a few directories and blogs and watch your links grow!
3. Meta Tags and keywords
Meta Tags (not so relevant as they used to be due to wide spread abuse) are
little word cluster site descriptions used within the program code of your
website. They are information inserted into the "head" or header area of your web pages. Other than the title tag, information in the head area of your web pages is not seen by those viewing your pages in browsers (but are seen and read by search engines and their robots). Create unique descriptions and use relevant tags and keywords for your business. Internet searchers spend much of their time surfing the net and using keywords in search engines to look for what they want, be it information, products or services. As a result, keyword marketing, plays a pivotal role in marketing and promoting any online business. Another tip to keyword marketing for your Internet business is to use phrases instead of single words.
Phrases tend to be slightly less generic than singular keywords and are also able
to more accurately describe the site or products you are promoting.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Secret of Social Media Marketing
Social Media Web sites have been the craze since MySpace became popular. And now we have Facebook, Twitter and many many more sites! The phrase, Social Media Marketing has recently been coined to describe a new type of online advertising.There is virtually limitless marketing potential from the myriad of Social Media Web sites that exist today.
So for the average do it yourself marketer out there, where do you start? I like to refer you to my mantra... KISS; keep it simple sam! My advice would be to select two or three social media sites for your business and keep them updated regularly. If you try and do too many, none of them will look professional and you will do more harm than good.
The idea of Social Marketing is to "socialize" with friends online and weave your product or business into the online relationship. Many business people use there social markets to sell directly to their online friends or networks.
The first and most important thing to do after you selected your social networks you are going to be involved with (facebook, myspace, linkedin, ning, etc); is to set up your profile. Profile Content – The first place to be concerned about marketing on Social sites is the profile area. The picture and description are the initial items other users of the site may see. Profiles should be completely filled out with valuable information. In the case of corporate profiles, include an abstract of what the company does and good keyword-based links back to the company’s Web site where possible.
Friends – Many social media sites are based on networking principles. It is beneficial to increase “friends” that are associated with the account. Approved friends become the network that can easily be marketed to via email, bulletins, conversations, or other online interaction.
Groups – This can be a faster way to increase the network of friends associated with the account. Groups can be organized by common interests or other unifying factors. Groups can be another target for marketing.
Comments – A very common communication channel in Social Media is some type of comment area for each member. This area can be used for marketing purposes with banners, text ads, or links.
Bulletins – This is a creative way to let all of the friends in a network or group be notified about something through a mechanism that is in between an email and a comment. This is a very efficient path for marketers to get their message across.
Every Social Networking Site has it's strengths and weaknesses, and it is up to you to decide what is best for you and your business. Social networks work well to inform and educate people about your business, and drive traffic to your main website. This traffic will hopefully convert to sales!
Gerard Fairley
11-03-2009
So for the average do it yourself marketer out there, where do you start? I like to refer you to my mantra... KISS; keep it simple sam! My advice would be to select two or three social media sites for your business and keep them updated regularly. If you try and do too many, none of them will look professional and you will do more harm than good.
The idea of Social Marketing is to "socialize" with friends online and weave your product or business into the online relationship. Many business people use there social markets to sell directly to their online friends or networks.
The first and most important thing to do after you selected your social networks you are going to be involved with (facebook, myspace, linkedin, ning, etc); is to set up your profile. Profile Content – The first place to be concerned about marketing on Social sites is the profile area. The picture and description are the initial items other users of the site may see. Profiles should be completely filled out with valuable information. In the case of corporate profiles, include an abstract of what the company does and good keyword-based links back to the company’s Web site where possible.
Friends – Many social media sites are based on networking principles. It is beneficial to increase “friends” that are associated with the account. Approved friends become the network that can easily be marketed to via email, bulletins, conversations, or other online interaction.
Groups – This can be a faster way to increase the network of friends associated with the account. Groups can be organized by common interests or other unifying factors. Groups can be another target for marketing.
Comments – A very common communication channel in Social Media is some type of comment area for each member. This area can be used for marketing purposes with banners, text ads, or links.
Bulletins – This is a creative way to let all of the friends in a network or group be notified about something through a mechanism that is in between an email and a comment. This is a very efficient path for marketers to get their message across.
Every Social Networking Site has it's strengths and weaknesses, and it is up to you to decide what is best for you and your business. Social networks work well to inform and educate people about your business, and drive traffic to your main website. This traffic will hopefully convert to sales!
Gerard Fairley
11-03-2009
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