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For an Effective Online Marketing, Do Social Media Marketing

Every website owner desires to be visible on the search results web page in search engines. When they want to be on the race towards online presence, they need to have techniques or strategies. Marketing strategies, for example, search engine optimization, website design, social media marketing, pay-per-click management and printing are currently the most effective methods toward driving higher quantity of people to one’s internet site.

Search Engine Optimization. The optimization of the site is the most certain means of getting visitors or traffic and achieving greater ranking from engines. It is because of this that advanced methods of search engine optimization such as keyword research, backlinks building, article marketing, and refining a website as well as other strategies are ought to be done to help make a website stand above others.

Web Design Project. In web development strategies, models that are innovative, user-friendly and also useful are supposed to be created. One can make use of the website CMS (Content Management Systems) that allows him or her to have full charge of the actual website’s content. Specific top features of CMS include plug-ins, user supervision, E-Commerce functionality, textual content enhancing, sub-page development, picture modifying and banner supervision.

Print Layout. In order that the online reputation as well as exposure of a web site is best, you need imaginative style to do these. Personalized packages include emblem, business card, quote, sales receipt, letterhead as well as account models, making pamphlets, booklet, flyers and cards that will captivate each and every customer’s curiosity.

Social Media Marketing. Using the growth associated with social networks these days, one can make use of sites for example Facebook or Twitter to improve the particular visibility of his services to be able to millions of internet surfers. Efficient strategies including establishing social media marketing accounts, creating these to stand above the fall behind MySpace pages/Twitter pages, creating tournaments and also special gifts, getting visitors to some web page utilizing Facebook marketing, participating followers by asking questions, carrying out polls, tests as well as blessed attracts as well as computing just what proved helpful and exactly what didn’t can easily definitely assist a single drive traffic to their website within a couple of hours.

Pay-per-click Management. If a person likes his merchandise to be elevated in major search engines by paying advertisements, what he needs is pay-per-click supervision. He will acquire more visitors using PPC supervision methods. Staff who were educated from the unique Yahoo Ad Phrases team can easily optimize and take away unproductive advertising campaigns, observe and keep track results, discover new markets, uncover new clients which rivals have not reached yet.

Business Letter Writing – Writing a Business Letter, Offline or Online II

Whenever you are writing about an action that the company, or a department, as whole is taking, use ‘we’, and whenever it is you personally taking the action, use ‘I’. In the examples above, the first is an action on behalf of the company, and the second is an action taken by you personally. “I will talk to my colleagues” is correct in that case.

When writing in a business style, you should do so in such a way that there is no possibility of ambiguity, and that your message is clear and easy to understand. Don’t make the mistake of believing that senior personnel in your, or any other, company is educated and can understand the nuances of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. Most can’t. Most business leaders are not English language majors. All they want is clear writing that they can understand without having to reach for a dictionary. They also want clear information, and never make excuses: provide reasons.

For example,

“Dear Mr. Customer, I am sorry that your order is late. It will be with you shortly” is not acceptable, whereas “Dear Mr. Customer, We apologize for the lateness of your recent order. It was held up due to a problem with our production unit but will be with you by the 17th of this month” is more acceptable.

Business letters should never tell lies or prevaricate. They should be short and to the point, and make an honest statement of the facts. Lies and prevarication have a habit of biting you later, so leave them alone. Put yourself in the position of the person you are writing to and write accordingly.

Business letters relevant to internet businesses are no different, only that you must not assume that just because it is the internet then you need not be so formal. Many internet entrepreneurs are very educated people who run their internet business in the same way that offline businesses are run.

The best approach you can take when writing a business letter relating to either an online or offline conventional business is to stay formal, do not use too many long words and keep to the point. State what has to be said and no more. Businessmen want the facts, not the waffle.

Online Database – Key Advantages And Disadvantages

Database in a business scenario is commonly associated with a list of leads or customer information, though in a more technical environment it can also be referred to as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or Sybase. Traditionally available offline, databases have also spread across the online horizon delivered over the internet and available on a monthly subscription basis. Though Wikipedia gives you a wide list of online databases, here I’ll mention only about the advantage and disadvantage of getting your data online and forming an online database of your own.

Since the past ten years we have been collecting data using spreadsheets and enhancing our skills to convert it into a database which comes in handy later. Microsoft Access, SQL and Oracle has come along a long way supporting spreadsheets as the complexity of the database increased and it started falling apart. But these databases were available only on a single desktop or accessed over a LAN connection to an in-house server. Easily tackling the desktop spreadsheet applications in the mid-field, web-databases are closing in to score and has become the lifeline of people moving their data online. Most of these web-databases are hosted in a Cloud environment and protected by SSL encryption and a secure log-in with proper User Access Control.

Some advantages of using an Online Database

Online – As the name suggests, an online database can be accessed from a web browser from anywhere in the world. With Cloud Computing coming to the foreground, it is much easier to host an online database in an elastic public cloud making it more scalable and secure.

Elasticity – A web-based-database can hold infinite data and is totally elastic in nature. Whenever there is a surge in data flow, more storage space can be allocated and scaled up and down based on requirement.

Multi-tenancy – A public cloud database is generally multi-tenant in nature. This means the same database can be used by multiple customers on a shared model where you pay only for the space you use.

Pay-Per-Use – Monthly subscription based pay-per-use model makes online databases look quite lucrative where you do not need to invest a huge Cap-Ex on licensed software.

Limitations or disadvantages of an Online Database

Security – One of the gravest concerns of using a web-database is security. With not many security standards available in the Cloud Computing model, most of the users are worried about putting their financial data online.

Switching – Another concern when selecting an online database is switching. Different databases support different formats and switching from one to another becomes a pain thereby increasing switching cost.

Downtime – There are times when the server can be down because of multiple reasons which can lead to huge data loss and inaccessibility thereby causing great losses to customers.

Online database can improve your productivity in many ways and can serve multiple functions. You can customize an online database according to your business workflow or simply use it for data collection and information sharing. Web-based-databases work on different environments, so that is the biggest advantage you can get.

Free Domain Names Online

With the way the internet is growing these days, it’s no surprise that there are a ton of people that want to own their own website. There are even more people that want to have their own domain name. Having your own can become a bit difficult. There is of course the option to own a sub domain but that will not help most people, because while they have a domain name by using this method, it will never end up at the top of the Google hit list, no matter how many great keywords they use. For those who don’t care about it, that’s great because sub domains are generally free so long as you use the free ones, and they are offered by many different websites. So the question on everyone’s mind these days, is it possible to get absolutely free domain names?

It is possible to obtain a free name that you actually own, but even free comes with a certain price. One of the biggest issues is that you’ll generally end up filling out a lot of different offers. Yes, we’ve all been through this, the scenario where they offer you something for free, and you get excited thinking you’re going to have the newest video game console, or absolutely free domain names in this case, and then they make you answer a bunch of questions. You’re fine with the questions, until you get to the one that requires a paid subscription to some ridiculous magazine in order to proceed. That’s where you end up drawing the line and clicking on the X.

If you do manage to get your own, and somehow manage to get it without giving up any money, then you’ll probably notice that you have to pay for the hosting. Without it, your site will never go live because even though you have your website made, with all of its cute little flash buttons and the like, it’s never going to be live on the internet until you shell out the cash for the hosting. Normally you’ll discover that the company offering the paid hosting is the same company that you got this free domain from. They’re going to get their money no matter what. If you do manage to get free hosting along with absolutely free domain names, then you’ll probably find that your page is littered with advertisements over which you have no control. You might be okay with this at the moment, but later on you’re going to realize that this isn’t the website you had in mind when you went looking for absolutely free domain names.

One more problem you run into, is that if you did not acquire the rights to .com, .org, .net and every other extension under the sun, people will be free to copy your name with a different extension. Say you have rubblecake.com, and someone makes rubblecake.org. This means that others may accidentally navigate to that site instead of yours, costing you both traffic and ratings.

All in all, it’s better to buy your domain name if you are serious about having your own website. It’s better for you, and it’s definitely better for everyone that visits your website on a daily basis.

Make Money Online

In today’s economy a lot of people are wondering how to make money online. The secrets to making money online are the same as making money in the “real world”: Hard work, creativity, innovation and knowledge. The Internet is the real world, it just has some aspects that allow a person of lesser means compete with people with much deeper pockets. That is its biggest draw.

Hard Work

Perhaps the biggest myth to making money online is that you don’t have to work hard. This is far from the case. In fact, in the beginning you might be working harder than you are now. Most people who succeed online do so by working very hard work at whatever project they are doing online. They did not just put up a website and sit back and wait for checks to flow in. They worked hard to get their businesses off the ground and were rewarded for it. A person who wants to make money online will have to commit several hours a day at least and lots of sweat equity to the project. If you’re not prepared to work hard forget about making money online. You have a chance to make a good deal of money online but you do have to earn it.

Creativity

The people who make the most money online are those who come up with new ideas and concepts. Whether it’s SEO marketing, blogging, selling through Twitter whatever somebody had to create it. The biggest fortunes will be made by those who are willing to create something new and work hard at it. This has been the case in the “real world” for some time. It was Bill Gates who decided the PC need a new operating system Now he can give away billions and not miss it. The same creativity takes place now on the Internet.

Innovation

After the creators the people who make the most money online are the innovators. These can be those who come with a new idea or those who have the courage to try and implement a new idea. If an innovator sees something new that looks like a big money maker they try it, they adapt it and they start doing it. In many cases innovators simply take somebody else’s idea and run with it. Next time you see a really great money making idea don’t just try to figure out how you can get in on it. Instead, try to figure out how to do it better. That will make you an innovator. It was Henry Ford who realized cars could be made efficiently with an assembly line process. That innovation changed the way cars are built.

Knowledge

The old saying that knowledge is power has never been truer. The online world is all about knowledge; those who have the most knowledge will succeed online. That means learn as much about your business or product as you can. Read, do research online, talk to others in the business, or develop a mentor relationship with a more experienced marketer. Do whatever it takes to get more knowledge and you make money online.

You Can Get Rich (Still) As a Home-Based Online Entrepreneur

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. “

Thomas A Edison

You may recall the late 90s when it looked as though anyone with a computer and access to the internet could become a millionaire overnight. Those were dotcom bubble and bust days. But that was only the first phase – the hype and sensation phase – of the Internet revolution. The dust has cleared and we can see things much clearer now, hopefully.

By some accounts, we’re now in the consolidation phase. And in this phase, it is quite easier to distinguish a good, real money making business opportunity from a bad one conceived and crafted in a scam artist’s lab.

Start Small and Grow it Big as You go

Given the state of the economic mess we’re now in, it is much harder to raise capital for any entrepreneurial venture be it on- or off-line. But this is the really good news. You don’t need millions of dollars in start-up money to start profiting from the online money making ideas we’re talking about.

What you need to understand is that the Internet is a communication medium par excellence – a most effective and reliable way to transmit information. And just like the telegraph, the telephone, and television before it, it has expanded the business and consumer marketplace by making it easier and also cheaper for people to buy and sell things.

Some of Those Who Wrote the Initial Online Success Stories

And some of the savvy entrepreneurs who understood this and jumped in early in the first phase came out fabulously reach. Just take a look at some of these top early performers who built billion dollar fortunes from their online business ventures Jeff Bezos, creator of Amazon.com; Jay Walker of Priceline.com; Pierre Omidyar and Margaret Whitman of eBay; Joe Ricketts of Ameritrade, Steve Case, Barry Schuler, Robert Pittman and Ted Leonsis of America Online; and Silicon Valley venture capitalists Johan Doerr and Vinod Khosla.

Then there are the “latter day saints” – otherwise average folks who are creating great wealth online as I write Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskvitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin the founders of Facebook.com; Reid Hoffman and his group who founded LinkedIn.com; Jack Dorsey and others who founded Twitter.com.

The Lesser Known Among Them

Others like Bill Bonner, Founder of AgoraInc.com – one of the largest and most successful consumer newsletter publishers in the world, my very own business mentors, Michael Masterson – who has recently “retired” again as a business builder, Jay Abraham, Bob Bly, David Cross, Rich Schefren, Mary-Ellen Tribby, and many other astute entrepreneurs have also built great wealth online. These individuals are writing their own internet-based business success stories.

Unfortunately, not every one of the lucky billionaires referred to earlier – especially those in the first phase of the Internet revolution, created good businesses. Some of them got rich simply by ‘selling a hot idea into a frenzied market’.

What this means is that there are all manner of ‘success stories’ out there. And if you want to build your own fortune online today, you have to choose the right success story for you. You’ve got to find a proven online business building model to follow. Two of my favorite recommendations come from Mark Zuckerberb and his colleagues who founded Facebook.com and AgoraInc.com. The Agora model is by far the most successful online business building model I know of. It is a model developed in part by my main business mentor, Michael Masterson. This is the model we’ve adopted and are refining in our own business. And it is what makes us the destination of choice for those who want to start and grow a profit making, Internet-based home business today and don’t have a large bank account to use as start-up money.

You really don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All you need is to learn from a successful model and adapt it to your peculiar situation.

So, are you ready to finally to start creating your own little fortune online while there’s still a chance to do so even when you don’t have that much money?

Remember, nothing happens unless you take action. The best time to start creating your own little web fortune is NOW!

Paybacks of Having an Online Ecommerce Drop Ship Business

The present economy has more and more people thinking about the future and how they will achieve their financial ambitions. People are so much concern about their capability to provide the needs of their family for tomorrow. A rigid answer to ensure a prospering financial future is to start an online business. Establishing an online drop ship business can deliver the solution that everyone is looking for. There are many paybacks to own and operate your own business store.

Establishing an online store with passion in it is very essential to one’s business. Any line of business created could not endure the competition in the business world if the owner himself doesn’t have the drive to succeed in whatever endeavors that may come along the way. Having the time to do the activities he enjoys the most can lead to a very successful online business.

Aside from that, managing an online business gives everyone the ability to work from home. This can give the owners the opportunity to be with their family at all times. He can spend a lot of time with kids while also working at his business. This is a great advantage since the work doesn’t necessarily need anyone to travel away from home just to fulfill the tasks given.

In order not to put this business on waste is they have to partner with reliable wholesale suppliers for their merchandises. Although every item sold only gives them a little profit but come to think of it, the products being delivered by the drop shippers are in huge volume. This business has the potential to earn a substantial income as time goes by. This will give the owners the satisfaction of witnessing the fruits of their labor.

To make sure anyone can achieve this dream is they have to locate this wholesale drop ship directory from the web. I know this is hard but I know one site which offers the most reliable source of wholesaler drop shipper lists. All you have to do is to source out the most reliable suppliers who have the potential to make your business successful. These companies have the power to take your future wherever you desire.

Could Celebrities Be Cutting-Edge Marketers – Leading Online Business Entrepreneurs?

“Where is The Future of Online Business –

Could Celebrities be showing mainstream business the way?”

Have Your Competitors ‘Caught On” and already Talking to Your Customers in this latest marketing evolution for Web Success? (And are they doing it Auto-matically and VERY Cheaply!) SO MANY Crucial Questions to answer… please read on.

The following Report is the Cover Story for “Australian Business Solutions” magazine“

YOU WILL DISCOVER HOW CELEBRITY MARKETING STYLES ONLINE LEAD ‘AUDIENCES’ TO WANT TO BUY RATHER THAN THE CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS APPROACH OF SELLING AND CLOSING. YOU WILL DISCOVER VALUABE, IN FACT ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS AND IDEAS THAT EVERY MARKETER, ENTREPRENEUR AND BUSINESS OWNER MUST NOW EMBRACE!”

(WARNING: THIS REPORT MAY FRIGHTEN YOU… IT WILL DEFINITELY ENLIGHTEN YOU!)

There is a buzz around on the television news, radio, in the print media, at business networking groups and meetings and especially on the internet right now. There seems to be a shift of focus for how people look for products and services and then decide how they spend their money.

In terms of influence and power, the new way people search for products and services and make their buying decisions online could even rival the search engines. And it’s been said that this buzz could be the single biggest thing to happen in business since the industrial revolution!

Sounds over the top, but is there enough evidence (for you) to be a part of it too? And is this buzz a fad or could it be here to stay?

If you’ve watched TV news or listened to radio or brought a newspaper in the past 2-3 years, you will have noticed references to websites in both stories and advertising, where you can find out more – including how to get more information about a product or service and/or how to buy instructions. In more recent times nearly every news presenter, TV show host, journalist and celebrity are also promoting how you can ‘follow’ their lives, interests and activities online too – and it all seems to be centred around websites such as Facebook.com, Twitter.com, YouTube.com, Digg.com and more, collectively known as Social Engines.

Celebrities are using these sites to raise their profile, build their brand and most importantly, solidify their popularity and [hopefully] longevity in their profession and industry. AND, these sites enable their audience (loyal army of fans) to talk directly back to them. And this is at the heart of the buzz and current shift – and why it’s so very important you read on and learn more.

On the Social Engine Twitter.com, Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more followers (fans) than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama. Their brand awareness and popularity building is personal, although as that increases, so too does their value to corporations looking for product endorsements to drive their market penetration and increase their market share.

Sporting stars like celebrities have broadened their talent base too, becoming more entrepreneurial and business savvy, seeing their name, brand and product value increase, in many cases, to a higher income level than the actual core sporting talent. In other words, acting, playing a sport, being a comedienne or whatever is their core talent is no longer their only talent. They have embraced the concept of brand building (and protection), marketplace communications and conversations – opting for direct contact via sources like online Social Engines. Here they can touch far more people quicker and easier than say a traditional autograph signing exercise.

A true business woman, leader and entrepreneur, celebrity Oprah Winfrey instantly connects and updates a loyal army of over 2 million+ people that follow her on Twitter. Her power and influence is no surprise or revolution in itself, but her army of followers are able to directly provide instant feedback and ideas to her too -and marketplace feedback is a life blood to your business growth and long term sustainability. (Try ignoring it and see where your business goes.) Everyone wants to be heard and Social Engines give you, your business and your customers a voice.

A loyal army of followers can also provide a viral effect to disseminate information quickly too, meaning they can ‘spread the word for you’ if you ask them to – this can be particularly useful if you want to spread good news and conversely if your brand comes under attack via other mainstream media mechanisms or on the Social Engines themself.

Although it might be hard to fathom, could celebrity entrepreneurs like these be showing more traditional businesses how to connect, behave, build our brand, increase our marketplace value and build our business too using these Social Engines?

Is this a valid idea and model for mainstream business or not?

Firstly, the power of Social Engines extends far beyond Twitter.com alone. Some of the other leading Social Engine sites sprout some pretty impressive visitor and member statistics, as well as services.

Facebook.com – If it was a country rather than a website, it would be the world’s 3rd largest after China and India.

On Facebook there are more than 250 million active users and more than 120 million of them log on to Facebook at least once each day and more than 5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide). The fastest growing demographic is 35 years old and older and within that, the fastest growing segment is 55-65 year-old females. Do people 35+ and women influence the buying decision for your products and services? This is worthy of your attention.

And there’s more… more than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared each week on Facebook alone and more than 2.5 million events are created and advertised each month. More than 45 million active user groups exist on the site and more than 50 language translations of that content are available on the site. The people supplying all this content include business owners and professionals, some of whom are surely in your industry and probably your competitors. And if you think because you’re a localised business that this doesn’t count, you’ll find this statistic most enlightening- 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.

All of those statistics are just for Facebook alone (source Facebook.com/press/statistics).

You can also purchase Pay Per Click and Pay Per Impression advertising on Facebook (and other Social Engines). They take your spend to a whole new level of value and ROI with their member data allowing you to display your adverts for keywords AND additional, specific demographics of the member base. For example you can display your advertising message to women, 55+ in Melbourne who are single. You can even target people specifically on their birthday with a relevant offer.

YouTube.com – take a look at YouTube (which is owned by Google for good reason) – People are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, ten hours of video is uploaded to YouTube -including promotional videos, education, product consumption/direction videos and client testimonials for business. Plus every video you add to YouTube includes a spot on the webpage where you can put a link back to your website. PLUS you can add these videos to your blog posts, making them more interesting to your blog readers on other Social Engines too (more about blogs in a moment).

YouTube’s user base is broad in age range, 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies. Fifty-one percent of users go to YouTube weekly or more often, and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues.

And could this be the good reason Google brought YouTube? It’s the 2nd largest search engine in the world today, 2nd only to Google.com. If you want to connect with your marketplace on volume, this is worthy of your attention.

Twitter.com – let’s take a statistical look at that quickly too. Twitter’s footprint has expanded impressively in the first half of 2009, reaching 10.7 percent of all active Internet users in June with 83.1% of users over the age of 25. In July 2009, the Twitter website recorded 23,284,395 unique visitors – who else wants to be ‘front-of-mind’ to an audience of that size? Does your target market include people 25+? This is worthy of your attention.

Twitter has been described as the “Pulse of the Planet” given its instant, viral spread-the-word-to-the-world-instantly nature. It has boosted box office numbers and it’s killed them too, just ask the makers of the movie “Bruno” – overnight ticket sales dropped by more than half thanks to the frank and instant feedback from those that had just seen it. It was so quick too because 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. People update anywhere, anytime – imagine what that means for bad customer experiences and you!

Do you let your customers walk away with a bad experience, only to stand out the front of your store or hang up the phone and blast their frustration and disappointment to hundreds, thousands maybe millions of people -in the ‘heat of the moment’?

The true power of Social Engines is not to be feared, it is to be embraced and when done well, you can influence large numbers of people in the ways you want them to know and represent you. This is worthy of your attention.

Understanding the nature of Social Engine participation is important and the question to answer is – What are people doing on these Social Engines? They are looking for ideas, insights, invites, offers, information, inspiration and conversation.

Savvy business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals are providing it all to them and at the same time, in a more passive or softer way than conventional advertising, promoting their business, building their reputation and ultimately getting more leads and customers to their web sites. These business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals are using resources within services like Facebook that include a Personal Profile Page, Business and Product Pages, Fan Clubs, Groups, Time-sensitive Events/Promotions, Classified Advertising (PPC) and more… and the really smart ones are sharing content direct from their website blog feed too (more about that in a moment).

Then there are sites like LinkedIn, a professional social network and directory of business owners and professionals who can communicate quickly and easily with one another. In a 2009 survey, 80% of businesses and companies who are members were using LinkedIn as a primary recruitment tool to find new employees. This is worthy of your attention.

On these Social Engines, people can say what they want about you and it’s uncensored. What do you do about it? Ignore it and hope the customers and prospects that really matter to you don’t see it? Should you take a proactive approach and start by monitoring what’s been said about you and then start providing your brand of information, insights, ideas and inspiration to your marketplace and control the information flow you want through them?

We are living in an era now where what happens in Vegas goes ON and STAYS ON YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and more.

“Because of the speed in which social media enables communication, WORD of mouth has become WORLD of mouth.”

Love them or hate them, social engines are here to stay simply because ‘the people’ love them and trust others on them. Facebook and MySpace are among the most popular destinations on the web. And even though they can be extremely annoying, there is one inescapable fact: the most irritating thing about Facebook is the 200m-strong army of people who use it.

And here’s the final enlightening point- Social Engine participation has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the Web.

SO Do you get involved or not? And if so, how do you do it easily and cheaply but still ‘play the game’ like a Celebrity with a 2m+ loyal army of followers?

The reality is that even if you’re not involved, your customers and prospects AND competitors probably are – and they’re talking to one another, perhaps about you and without you so the sooner you start, the better chance you have to becoming both a part of the conversation and then lead it.

The answer for businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals is automation – this is the single biggest break-through strategy and tactic that very few people have worked out, including many larger corporations who are successfully using Social Engines but they are not leveraged with automation, also known as things happening ‘auto-magically‘.

In many cases, businesses are employing specialist online staff on top of web masters and advertising/SEO experts. With automation, you can do a whole lot for very little extra time and virtually no money.

HOW DOES IT ALL WORK?

At its essence or core are six words that will transform the way you generate leads and make repeat sales online – those words are YOUR WEBLOG FEED PLUS SOCIAL ENGINES.

A Weblog or blog as it’s more commonly known is a type of website or part of an existing website that allows you to add content as blog posts or articles and display them on your website – content like information, ideas, insights, offers, news, invites, images and more and you can create blog posts quickly and easily without ever needing to get a webmaster to do it for you.

There are over 200,000,000 Blogs online today and that number grows every day. Again, not all blogs and blog owners are equal, many are neglecting to include automation and leverage and integration with Social Engines so there are many nay-sayers about blogging, but that attitude is changing as more people are enlightened.

A Feed or RSS Feed as it’s more commonly known will distribute your blog posts well beyond just displaying them on your website. Feeds permit subscription to regular updates of your blog posts, delivered ‘auto-magically‘ via a web portal, news reader, or in some cases good old email. Feeds also make it possible for your content (information) to be packaged into “widgets,” “gadgets,” mobile devices, and other technologies as shortened or full length messages, which Social Engines happen to LOVE. Your Feed makes it possible to display blog posts just about anywhere on the web or web connected device and most importantly directly to the millions of people online every day.

That means a Blog with an RSS Feed can ‘auto-magically‘ distribute information you create about you, your business, your products and your services quickly and easily across thousands of sites on the web. And you only have to create your pieces of content once!

A blog is a powerful code (invisible to the human, non-techie eye) and every time you add content to an existing or new blog post, like you would add content to a word document, it is distributed around the web in seconds and is fed directly into the biggest marketplaces and communities of people online every day.

What makes a blog with a feed even more powerful is that it reaches the biggest sources of people (leads) online – who by the way are not just using Search Engines anymore to find out about products and services, they are also using the “Social Engines”. PLUS your Blog Feed can also ‘auto-magically‘ update Google and Yahoo about your site too, so you still stay connected with the Search Engines for no more extra work, or money.

Now if you’re anything like me, when I first heard about these Social Engines, I dismissed them as not being a viable business and marketing channel because they appeared to be for personal networking and friendship (and they are indeed used for those reasons). Whilst many businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals are using these engines and winning new business – only a handful are doing it easily and quickly, because most of them do not know about the power of connecting your Weblog RSS Feed and how it fits in with using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg and hundreds more Social Engines.

In my own experience, I was wrong to not get involved with Blogs and Social Engines sooner (like many business owners and professional managers still are) as my competitors began to build an edge I did not have with my marketplace, simply because I did not understand and connect these two key points about connecting your blog directly to Social Engines. If you want to find new customers quickly and easily and build better sales from existing customers:

Your website must be a Blog with a Feed and/or include one as part of your website
Your online marketing mix and strategy must include sharing your blog post information with people on Social Engines like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg etc.

And here’s why…

Your competitors have possibly already figured out that social engines are where they can connect with people who include your customers and potential customers because the Social Engines are where your customers and potential customers are going online – and they’re going to these Engines regularly and for long periods of time. And people are making buying decisions based on the conversation they are having and the feedback they are hearing.

Even if you [believe you] have no competition, you’re not connecting with your marketplace as directly and as easily as you can, if you are not using the true power of Social Engines. These online sources or marketplaces attract people 24/7/365, who stay for a while each time. How could you NOT promote you, your business and your products and services there?

Every time you add content to your blog, it is circulated out to many Social Engines, once you set up a FREE account with them… people at these Engines who have an interest in what your business offers then come to your website to find out more.

Here’s an example of how your website Blog, its Feed and these Social Engines work together. (Note this diagram also includes the two largest Search engines -let’s not forget them. Using your Blog and RSS Feed, you can ‘auto-magically’ update them too.)

At the centre of this relationship are your website blog and its RSS Feed. Every time you add content to your blog, the Feed distributes it out to the Social and Search Engines with a link back to your website. People on the Social Engines instantly see a summary of your blog post and a link back to your blog/website. If they are interested in you, they click on the link and follow it back to your website to find out more about you and move forward with you.

“Although we like to feed information to the Search Engines for free listings, the Social Engines outperform them in providing INSTANT, FREE traffic (people) to your website… meaning Social Engines host millions of people live online at any given time who are exposed to your blog post instantly… and not only will they follow your link back to your blog/website if they are interested, they also have the power to make your Feed ‘viral’ – voluntarily passing it on to their friends who in turn pass it on… and so on.

The Social Engines and the people on them help you grow your prospect and customer base quickly, easily and cheaply – you can’t get any cheaper than free!”

The Social Engines are places where people go to and stay at; whereas Search Engines are places people only pass through ‘in search of’ a final site destination. This is the major difference and the significant extra power you’re missing out on if you are not involving your business in the Social Engines. Remember though, the Blog Feed is vital to ensuring your participation is mostly ‘auto-magic’ otherwise participating in them could over run your day, your week and your life!

The Blog Feed allows you to ‘auto-magically‘ update the Social Engines, minimizing the ‘air time’ you personally allocate to this.

So, who’s already taking this seriously and using Social Engines as a powerful, quick, cheap and easy tool and media to generate free leads quickly too?

Firstly, no matter your business, products and services, you’ll find prospects and possibly existing clients already participating in these sites on a regular basis. You are bound to find your competitors there too, it makes good business sense to be present on an Engine where millions of people congregate, converse and seek out people with the products and services they require – someone in your industry is probably joining them and being ‘front-of-mind’ and it should be you.

Everyone that gets it commits to it. These world-wide companies, brands and industry leaders have dedicated resources to connect and cultivate relationships with prospects and clients on the Social Engines with reportable, measurable results:

Motor Vehicle Industry: Chevrolet, Ford, General Motors, Honda

Travel and Tourism Industry: JetBlue, Southwest Airlines, Luxor Las Vegas, Marriott International Hotels and Resorts, Carnival Cruise Lines, Hertz Car Hire

Sporting Teams: Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego Chargers

Entertainment: 92Y, The Travel Channel, ComCast, Marvel Entertainment, Direct TV, Pop Caps, TV Guide

Finance: Wachovia, H&R Block, Intuit

Retail: Best Buy, The Home Depot, American Apparel, Rubbermaid, Whole Foods, Zappos.com

Food and Beverage: Starbucks, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Popeye’s Chicken, Tastidlite, Kraft Foods (see Vegemite Case Study below)

Other Global brands: Dell Computers, EMC and Kodak – all benefitting by directly connecting with their target marketplace – whether that’s existing customers and/or potential customers.

Case Study:

Kraft Foods have taken an interesting Corporation-Consumer collaborative approach to product promotion and development using Social Engines. Here’s what they say about their social engine strategy:

For many of our strong brands such as Vegemite – we acknowledged that we are simply (proud) brand custodians and that the brand is owned by ‘the people’. We focused our first two years of social engine participation on simply listening and asking questions.

Two of these questions were:

How do you individually like your Vegemite?
If there ever was to be a Vegemite variation what would this be?

Recently Kraft launched their latest product “Name me” a vegemite plus cream cheese experience. Here’s how they are using Social Engines to develop it.

“This is a work in progress; we spent two years listening and now with the product on shelves the Kraft Communications team is engaging with Vegemite loyalists and cynics alike on the 12 top social engines. They are engaging and getting samples out on and off line- and encouraging debate on the new products. There are a number of Facebook groups sitting in the following camps: pro original, pro new flavour and anti new flavour.”

This is just one way Social Engines are helping businesses already to grow brand, product and corporate awareness. There are many other ways to use it too that can and do lead to direct and immediate sales. No matter the size of your business and marketplace, Social Engines, like the internet at large give you a level playing field with industry leaders like Kraft Foods and the others mentioned here.

Your website with a blog and feed will provide regular content to the Social Engines ‘auto-magically’. You need to support that by also visiting the main Social Engines and engaging people on a weekly basis, as it forms part of your marketing, CRM and all the other pay-offs mentioned previously.

Adding content regularly to your Blog Feed, ‘auto-magically‘ keeps you in touch and front of mind to millions of people around the world, on the Social Engines (and Search Engines) so they can access your business, products and services quickly and easily.

The buzz appears to be more than a fad so for your business it becomes not a question of ‘if’ these Social Engines are going to be a valuable marketing tool for business. Rather, the question now is:

“How quickly will you get your business on the Social Engines

… to Capture Your Competitors Clients too?”

HOW TO GET STARTED

Here’s a checklist to help you get started with your new, exciting and FREE Social Engine Strategy:

1) Get a Blog website with a domain name of your choice OR if you already have a website, get a new sub domain or folder added called blog

2) Open an account with at Google, Feedburner, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, and LinkedIn.

3) Install an RSS Blog Feed and set up a Pinging list on it then add your Blog feed to the Search and Social Engine accounts you created in the step above.

4) Create content-rich education videos that can be added to your YouTube account and your Blog – that is then ‘auto-magically‘ added to your Search and Social Engine accounts.

5) Actively participate in or create new Facebook Groups, Events and Pages.

6) Make promotional videos about you, your business, your products, how you help and support people and upload them to your YouTube Channel then add them to your blog posts.

To really make this all work well for you, you need to know there is a big secret in succeeding with growing your business using Social Engines. You’ve read this far, so here it is: Social Engine success rest largely with you getting to grips with:

Being a ‘face’ of your business and allowing people to connect with your ‘authenticity’ as a person ahead of a product, and
the need to ‘listen’ to your marketplace, innovate with change to meet their ever-changing needs and then share information that will help them, rather than push product.

Millions of dollars are spent monthly with pay per click advertising on these sites and more millions are paid to ‘search engine specialists’ who supposedly help you reach number 1 ranking on keywords relevant to your business. It’s a fierce fight between serious players for top spots on search engines, both free and paid listings. An entire industry is built on it and around it. But you now know how to become a leader in your industry on the most powerful Social (and Search) Engines online today and how to do it Quickly, Cheaply, Easily and Auto-Magically.

In some cases, target market demographics may not be using Social Engines; therefore it would not be worthwhile. Consider these statistics when making your evaluation:

78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Do you rely on 3rd party endorsements to build buyer confidence? If this is not a necessary part of your marketing and sale process, you may be able to ignore Social Engine Marketing.

Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy – Listening first, selling second. Would your competitors be prepared to connect and listen to your prospects and customers directly to discover what they want, and then give it to them? If not, then you may be able to ignore Social Engine Marketing… and least for a little while.

The worst part is the first part. When you start, your ‘following’ could be small but that is far better than not monitoring what’s been said about you at all! The only way to change that is to get in the game!

Get started right now, before your competitors do -it’s the future of marketing your business online, because that is where the people you want as your customers are going online. It’s only a matter of time before someone in your industry emerges as the leader on the Social Engines – get you and your business front-of-mind first. Enjoy the experience and I’ll ‘meet and tweet you’ on the Social Engines of the World!

Social Media Marketing – How to Use Free Online Tools For Site Promotion

Discussing, promoting and sharing information are some of the advantages in social media marketing. It includes social networking, social bookmarks, forums, wikis, and blogs. Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo and LinkedIn are few examples of websites used for social media marketing.

Small and big businesses are now using social sites as tools to spread brand awareness and discuss their products and services. The best part of these applications is that they are free of charge. It is a great advantage for small business operating on a low marketing budget.

Social media requires long term commitment and consistency. Business owners should also have done research on selecting the appropriate social applications in line with their company’s mission and goal. Here are some popular and successful social media tools for small business.

Create a Blog The sites that receive the most traffic are blogs. A blog is like a journal that is written by an individual and is regularly updated. Your company can use or create blogs to share multimedia, news and information about your business. Through the use of blogs, a small business can develop a specific image or personality and educate people about their products and services or the industry in general.
Use Twitter Twitter is a micro blogging and social networking service that allows users to read and send messages to the public. By using Twitter, you can promote your products and broaden brand awareness. Twitter is a fast-growing online community and its popularity is still on a rising trend.
Facebook Fan Page Most people are now using Facebook. Facebook is the most well-known social networking site in the world today. It is not only known for personal profiles but also for business profiles. This social media tool allows you to share your company’s videos, photos, event posts and concise wall posts. By replying to the fan’s questions on your wall post, your customer service will be enhanced.
Use LinkedIn LinkedIn launched in May 2003. It is a business-oriented social networking site and is usually used for professional networking. You can post your resumé and receive approval or recommendations from fellow employees, clients and business partners. This is also an efficient way of hiring competent employees and recognizing business opportunities. Users can make connections and interact through LinkedIn Polls, LinkedIn Groups and LinkedIn Answers.

Social media is now a fascinating tool in the world of business today and is modernized to meet the consumer’s demand. It is highly recommended to do research on the effective tools in social media to promote your company’s services, products and brands to your target market.

Online Press Releases Create Loads of Free Publicity for Your Home Business

Online press releases are one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your home business in front of your target market.

Many times when people think of the term “press release,” what comes to mind is a major life-changing news story published by a large corporation or government agency. According to the World English Dictionary, however, a press release is simply “an official announcement or account of a news item circulated to the press.”

What does that mean for the home business entrepreneur?

You have a powerful tool for generating publicity and getting noticed — right at your fingertips.

Why Online Press Releases?

In the past, news was released in print, on television and on radio. In recent years, however, the internet has completely changed the way individuals and organizations get the word out.

The average consumer now expects to get their news immediately, especially online, so when you publish a press release about your home business on the web, it’s possible to see a major influx of traffic to your business within hours and minutes instead of the weeks and days it used to take.

Here’s why it works.

Many of the press release sites are considered important authority sites by the search engines, so if you optimize your report properly as explained in this article, your news item will appear higher in the search results for the terms your prospective customer cares about.

Moreover, the fact that they are identified as authority sites means the links from the press release sites to your website are given more weight. So from the search engine perspective, you are more of an authority and your website rank increases, making it easier for your intended audience to find you online.

Additionally, due to the relevance associated with press release sites, your perceived authority in the minds of your readers multiplies. You then have an avenue by which you can educate the consumer about your home business, build rapport and truly form a connection.

But What Would I Write a Press Release About?

As stated above, a press release doesn’t have to be about an earth-shattering event (although big news can garner a lot of attention quickly, as you’ll see below). Here are 10 ideas you can use to gain free publicity using the power of the press:

1. Announce the opening of your business. If you’ve been in business for a while and have never written a press release about it, write a piece announcing your mission statement. Tell the world who you are and what it is you have to offer.

2. Publicize a new product or service you’re launching. Share the benefits your customer can expect, and tell them how to do business with you.

3. Announce your teleseminars and webinars. A press release is a fantastic vehicle for attracting attendees, so always include enough information to ensure you’re drawing the right audience.

4. Reveal a special sale or any special offers you have going on. Tell your prospective customer exactly why they should do everything possible to seek you out.

5. Remember that major news story? Link big news with something happening in your company. As an example, about two weeks before the time of this writing, Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton. The Franklin Mint then announced the production of a limited edition Kate Middleton portrait doll.

6. Start a Meetup group for home business owners in your area and promote it with a press release. You can announce the establishment of the group itself and send a news release before each event. In this way, you grow your membership and increase attendance at the meetings.

7. Publish a news piece when you launch your website and every time you make a major change to it. Be sure to include an incentive for the reader to actually visit your site.

8. Create a press release when you hire support staff. This is an implied statement that your home business is growing rapidly and your prospects need to do business with you now, while they can still work with you personally.

9. Set up a charitable event and tell the world via a press release. One of the best ways to implement this idea is to offer a product for sale and commit 100% of the proceeds to the charity of your choice. This is especially effective if the product for sale is an information product because it minimizes your cost. Don’t have an information product? Set up an interview with a well-known figure in your market (let them know it’s for charity), record the interview, and sell the mp3 download.

10. Start a contest and write a news article to announce it. Include enough information that the reader can clearly understand the rules and benefits. Contests are fantastic tools for building your list of prospects.

So What Goes In a Press Release Anyway?

One of the keys to success with online press releases is to write your news item so that it will be found when people are searching for what it is you offer.

In order to do this, spend several minutes brainstorming and writing down specific words and phrases your ideal prospect is likely to enter into the search box when they’re looking for the solution you provide. Then use a keyword research tool, such as the Google External Keyword Tool, to identify the most popular search terms in your market.

Select 4-5 of the most popular terms. One of these will be your main keyword, and the rest will serve as supporting – or secondary – keywords. These are the words you’ll focus on when writing the press release for your home business.

Now that you know your keywords, let’s look at what to put in the press release.

1. Title. A good press release title is short, starts with your main keyword, and grabs the reader’s attention immediately. Use action words and power words such as results, secret, risky, revealed, and announces. Remember the goal is to motivate the audience to want to read more.

2. Summary. The summary is one or two sentences that describe what your news item is about, and it should include 3-5 secondary keywords. The summary should entice the prospective reader to read the entire article. It’s also a good idea to place a link to your website in the summary of a press release so the reader can immediately visit your site if they so choose.

3. Dateline. The dateline must include the date and a clear, concise declaration of the news. When someone reads the dateline, they should have an immediate understanding of what you’re reporting.

4. Main Body. The body of your press release should be 300-800 words long, written from the third-person, neutral point of view. It must answer the 5 W’s — who, what, where, when, and why. The body text should focus on a single news item and must not be written like an advertisement. Instead, tell the reader what’s happening and why they should care. Be certain to include 1-3 links to your website in the body of your press release. At least one of the links should use your main keyword as the anchor text (the visible, clickable text in the hyperlink) and at least one of the links should use your actual website address as the anchor text. Take the time to be sure one of your keywords is in every paragraph of your press release.

5. About/Boilerplate. Give the reader of your press release a high-level look at your home business. Tell them about any special certifications, awards, and honors you’ve received. Convey your unique selling proposition. Then place a call to action, with a direct link to your website, as the last line.

6. Contact Information. Provide your name, the company name, your telephone number and the website address for your business so the reader and members of the media can easily contact you. Do not use a personal email address.

So I Just Write a Press Release and People Start Calling?

Well…no.

After you write your press release, you do have to submit it to the online distribution services. These services share your news items with multiple websites so your content is published all over the web, thereby increasing your exposure and the likelihood that your target audience will connect with you and learn about your home business.

While there are some paid services, there are also several that allow you to distribute your news items for no cost.