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Nicheology Update
Monday, May 19, 2008 at 6:12 AM (Public Entry)
Login to your Nicheology account and go to product in the rough section. Have a GREAT day! Paul www.nicheology.com Content Goldmine
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 6:27 PM (Public Entry)
Article marketing continues to be a HOT online business model.
Of course the key is to continually build new sites with fresh content. www.ContentGoldmine.com provides 100 new articles each month over 10 markets. Plus keywords. Plus autoresponder messages. Plus affiliate market research. Keeping it Real...Simple, Paul What is Internet Marketing
Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 2:25 PM (Public Entry)
Internet marketing is called by many different names such as e-marketing or online marketing. The Internet has long provided people with marketing benefits such as low costs (sometimes even at no cost) on advertising. And it still continues to do just that which makes this the best place to market businesses. There are many aspects on Internet marketing. These could include search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising, interactive advertising, e-mail marketing, blog marketing, online reputation management, and also viral marketing. These make up technical aspects such as development, sales, advertising and design. When someone is promoting or trying to grow an organization over the Internet, that is also defined as Internet marketing. It is not simply website-building or website promotion—internet marketing is much more than these. It is going beyond the façade and looking at the real deal. There are many business models that are associated with Internet marketing. These models often come with goals such as e-commerce; advertising; publishing; and sites that are lead-based. Aside from these, there are many other ways of launching a campaign on Internet marketing. Internet marketing could also refer to media placements on Customer engagement cycle; search engine marketing; SEO; and also banner ads on different sites. Although these all sound technical, most of them actually come in cheap. Since the Internet allows thorough research and even easy product purchases, it can be a great medium of reaching out thousands or even millions of people at the exact same time. Although most of the methods of internet marketing are inexpensive, this does not mean that it is easy to implement. Traditional advertising calls for much money but most of the dirty job is done by professional advertisers. On Internet marketing, you could either do it all on your own or have someone do it for you at a fraction of what is usually required on traditional methods of marketing. Internet marketing requires intelligent decision-making processes. Although it has grown to be the fastest-growing medium for entrepreneurs, it does not mean that everyone can utilize its power. Careful planning equals precise results—which means Internet marketing becomes effective only when it is used with intellect. Although Internet is so far-reaching, there are still some limitations when it comes to the power of online marketing. Some limitations include having slower internet connections. Some customers who have limited or no internet connection do not get the entire picture. Downloading requires a good connection and when this fails, the entire information is compromised. One other disadvantage is not being able to physically feel the products that are being sold. The most effective method that an online marketer could do is to put an enticing photograph but other than that, the customer isn’t left with much choice as to the inspection of the product that is being sold. The customer only gets to touch and really examine the product once it is delivered to him. Another concern could be security when it comes to financial transactions. Many people are still hesitant to buy online due to many factors: their fear of being spammed after purchasing a product; their concern of not getting the goods even after payment, etc. These are only small prices to pay when it comes to the general advantage of Internet marketing. Several businesses have already benefited on doing online marketing and such small setbacks are not about to deter them from using the Internet’s marketing power. Think of the many advantages: online banking, downloadable music files, attending auctions, and many more. The possibilities are endless and so is the opportunity to earn bigger income. Using Free Videos for Marketing
Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:13 AM (Public Entry)
The power of the media is undeniable, capable of changing trends, making news and swaying popular opinion in more ways than a seasoned politician or spin doctor can. The number of videos used for marketing, for example, has risen significantly over the past few years, promoting everything from insurance to environmental concerns to newly invented gadgets, even an awkward defense of a troubled pop star. Most of all, videos have become the medium of choice for many internet marketers. Don’t miss out on this technique. Find out what using free videos for marketing can do for your business.
Advantages of using free videos Internet marketing and online businesses thrive on lightning fast action and reaction. This explains how fickle certain markets can be and how online trends have become notorious for being capricious and unpredictable. People who go online in search of information and products have developed very short attention spans. The challenge here is for business owners to be able to produce marketing strategies and implement them in an instant. Using free videos, you can make this possible. Videos allow instant access, immediate satisfaction and add an interesting angle to your marketing strategy. Furthermore, it's entertaining, something that few people will pass up on and refuse to watch. Using free videos for marketing So now the next question is… how do you use free videos for marketing your products or services? A few considerations you should keep in mind include: Your target market Always keep your target market in mind when creating your free marketing videos. The video must be something that will appeal to them, provide a solution to their concerns and meet their demand for information. If they can't use the content, they won't bother with the message. The proper tone Once you know who your target market is, it's easier to find the right tone to use on it. A tone can be upbeat, whimsical, serious and businesslike or tech-heavy, depending on your audience, topic or purpose. The tone sets the mood of the video and also determines its appeal. The subject matter The choice of topic to discuss in a free video for marketing is critical to its success. Look for keywords that are relevant to your business and then use those as title and topic for your video. Videos designed around a keyword are easier to categorize and are much more likely to appear What you should know about creating quality videos for marketing Just because you're giving away something for free doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think too much about its quality. Video making, especially those used for marketing, require creativity. It must be designed, scripted and executed in such a way as to make it interesting, informative and entertaining at the same time. Without the entertainment factor, viewers will find your free videos a chore and won't stick around to try to see what it's all about. Take efforts in producing free videos that will speak to your target audience and deliver your message. Remember that most of the people you will probably market to online are seasoned surfers and are well aware of what they want. In fact, it's rare for people to surf randomly online. Once they log on, 9 times out of 10 they already have a topic or purpose in mind. Why free? Majority of the videos used for marketing that you'll find online are given for free. The reason for this is simple – people are reluctant to pay for content they aren't sure about. As a result, your videos could stagnate and never get viewed. Offer it for free and you'll increase the chances that people will respond to your marketing strategy. Small Businesses Marketing Tips
Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 11:08 AM (Public Entry)
Small Businesses Marketing Tips
A small business is an excellent opportunity for an independent money-making venture. You get to be your own boss, start with very little capital, minimize the risks and get a foretaste of what entrepreneurship is all about. Make use of this opportunity and maximize your chances of success with these marketing tips for small businesses: Find your business' focus. The worst mistake that small businesses can make in terms of marketing is focusing on the wrong stuff. It's important that you understand the core of your business and what your goals are. What are you trying to sell? Who are your main customers? What kind of value does your product or service give to its target market? How competitive is your small business right now and how competitive will it become in the future? The purpose of focusing your business is to make sure you do not waste time, effort and capital on things that aren't likely to push your business forward or increase your sales. Think about it: why bother selling to people who won't buy? Remember that a small business lives on a small capital and if you try to fit into a profile that isn’t really you, you aren't investing in your business wisely at all. Know the value of your business. When it comes to business, the topic of pricing is often the most common ground for contention between business owners and their customers. As a small business owner, you should be able to look at what your business can offer and then use that as a basis for marketing and pricing. Pricing is critical to the success of small businesses. Price your product or business too low and your prospective customers will doubt your professionalism. Raise your prices and they'll probably balk. However, look at it from a business person's point of view. Consider the type of value you are offering in exchange and then present that within the context of your marketing. When your customers understand what exactly it is that you are offering, the more likely they'll be buying. Become stellar in your industry. Small businesses should not limit their marketing efforts on account of their relative size. The point here is that your business may be moving in a smaller segment of the industry but you could improve your reputation and increase your sales by becoming the reputable business in your field. Offer high quality products and services and become an expert in the field of your choice. This is doubly beneficial as a marketing strategy for your small business -- it builds customer confidence in your business while making you a reliable source of information. Put an emphasis on customer care. Small businesses have far better chances of personalizing their marketing campaigns than larger businesses. Since an excellent customer base is the foundation for a strong, solid business, make sure you take time and effort to polish your customer care policies. Try to personalize communications with your customers by building a database containing a simple profile of each – their names, contact information, buying preferences and sales volume. Using this database as a reference, you can then customize your marketing and promotion campaigns to suit each one. You could also send out letters of appreciation for loyal customers each month, telling them how much you appreciate their business. By keeping an eye out for customers who matter to your business, you can make sure they are given the attention they deserve. Should you decide to offer freebies, discounts and special offers later, you can give this group of customers some special attention. Marketing for small businesses Designing an effective marketing strategy for small businesses doesn’t have to be costly. In fact, there are many resources that allow you to promote your business free of charge or at a very reasonable cost. Focus on how your products or service can stand out and how well you can take care of your customers. You may be running a small business but you can be big in many other ways. RSS Feed Internet Marketing
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 at 4:18 PM (Public Entry)
Internet marketing has become a necessity for online businesses that more and more methods are being developed to improve traffic, even sales, on Web sites. Some resort to affiliate marketing, some to e-mail marketing, but those who know better resort to RSS. Really Simple Syndication or RSS is a group of Web feed layouts that are being used to publish updates on blogs, headlines on recent news, even podcasts. An RSS content can be accessed with the use of an RSS reader or ‘feed reader’ which is a software that does the reading. A user is able to subscribe to a certain feed by keying-in the link of the feed into the reader. There is an RSS icon that would begin the process of subscription. The user can then access regularly to check on the latest updates, and he can even download any update that he finds useful or interesting. Using RSS feeds to do some internet marketing could be a really powerful move. Here are some of the ways that you could utilize the power of RSS to your online business’ advantage: 1. Podcasting and/or Videocasting means delivering audio or video contents through the Internet. This method allows communication through media messages and the greatest advantage is that you can personalize your message to your target market. In here, conversations are very much possible which opens up opportunities for further discussion regarding your business. This is a recent innovation since the online world used to thrive on textual channels. With the recent addition of podcasts or videocasts, people get to have a more interactive and more personal touch to the messages that they read. Audio and video contents make it possible to let the ‘readers’ feel and not just see the message. There are so many ways of utilizing these methods: by giving out press releases through audio or video feeds; setting up audio interviews; sending out personalized messages to customers from your company’s CEO; a clear demonstration on resolving issues; and many more. 2. Customer Support has greatly improved since there is a more personal approach with RSS feeds. Online support (with audio or video contents) enhances the learning experience for any reader. 3. Appcasting means your business can now deliver crucial updates on software to your current clients. This means they don’t have to click on your site each week just to find out. 4. Since press releases are much livelier with RSS feeds, even product news and updates could also be enlivened. With the use of RSS, your current clients can be provided with tools that they can use to create their very own product feeds. Once the customers are subscribed, they get updates as soon as your online business’ portfolio changes. 5. Your subscribers can have the choice of personalizing the content of their services. For instance, they could choose from dating, job listings, real estate, and many others to be added to their personalized RSS feed. This means that they get to choose what gets delivered along with your usual RSS feeds from your online company. Other innovations also include having your RSS feeds delivered to your mobile phone. Once an update is made, the clients would immediately receive SMS. It’s simple, convenient and highly effective. These are all great (and highly technological) opportunities to reach your market—and RSS feeds make them all possible. Offline Internet Marketing
Monday, Apr 28, 2008 at 2:07 PM (Public Entry)
Nowadays, online businesses are so rampant that everyone is talking about how to market their products and services on the Internet. It can be noticed that majority of the entrepreneurs’ marketing efforts are built around online marketing. Very few rely on promoting their businesses the traditional way. http://www.offlineinternetprofits.com Here are some of the age-old yet time-tested methods of marketing products—say hello to offline internet marketing: 1. Make a winning promotion. Think of these—is your product going to benefit any of the TV viewers? What about the millions of radio listeners who would be able to learn something from what you are offering? Once you are convinced that your business really has benefits, present your winning promotion to a Promotion Director from one of the TV or radio stations. Make sure to get that director’s attention and be able to point out why you are worth their air time. A good strategy is to promote during holidays or relevant events; for instance, during Business Week, you could opt to have giveaways or freebies that would entice buyers to your services or products. If you can’t afford to give freebies, you can make a photograph of what you are offering plus a tagline that would immediately catch anyone’s attention. 2. Be a guest on some talk shows on radio. There are so many radio talk shows out there and most of them are in need of professionals who are experts in their field. They would definitely give a portion of their entire airtime if they know that their listeners would be able to learn something by listening to you. Here is how it works: listeners call in to ask several questions about a certain topic and you can become the expert that would answer all those queries. Throughout the entire program, you will have all the opportunity in the world to advertise your web address—free of charge. Doing this will definitely generate traffic to your online business. Most radio talk shows do not pay their guests but, on the other hand, your payment would be the amount of exposure that you get by being there for an hour or two. On this situation, the radio station wins, you also win. 3. Scout for TV programs that have segments where experts can talk about certain topics. Once you get a considerable number of TV programs that have these segments, try contacting each of them and present yourself as an expert who could be a guest on their segment. 4. Most towns have local business magazines which deal with topics that are relevant to the local business sector. It is good to contact one of the people who comprise the magazine and then make a proposition where you could also write regularly as a columnist. They get what they want, and you also get what you are looking for—exposure. Just make sure to provide your domain name when the credits are to be printed. You could use the same idea for local newspapers. When it is a newspaper that you are trying to get in touch with, make sure that you talk to the right person who is the Business Section editor. 5. Look for organizations with a considerable number of memberships (and with an existing newsletter that is regularly mailed to the members). Ask these organizations to allow you to contribute articles whenever their newsletter would come out and ask that your domain name be included during the publication. There are so many ways of reaching your target market and the methods are not only those that can be done online. Remember that although the older methods maybe crude when compared to online marketing, that does not mean that they are less effective. Offline Internet Marketing Keeping It Real...Simple, Paul PayPal is Unsafe for Internet Marketers
Monday, Apr 28, 2008 at 2:05 PM (Public Entry)
For many internet marketers, online auctioneers and e-business owners, performing sales transactions online can be a nightmare. Many buyers, for example, are wary about paying through credit cards and while business owners would prefer cash, it also exposes their bank account details. Using checks for payment may seem relatively safer but checks take too long to process and generally frustrate buyers who are in a hurry. But then came PayPal, which solved the problem for millions of buyers and sellers. But what is this issue about PayPal being unsafe for internet marketers? Can it be that the solution is far from perfect? We examine the pros and cons. The convenience of PayPal PayPal is one of the largest third party processors of online payments. It is also the brainchild of eBay, that giant in online auctions and sales. It functions essentially as an online payment processing service using credit cards and is designed to be used by online business owners who do not have the convenience of a merchant account. It's also relatively cheap, thanks to low transaction fees and free account sign up. Why PayPal is unsafe for internet marketers There are several reasons why an internet marketer may feel PayPal is unsafe and may want to rethink its use. These include: When PayPal is in doubt, they freeze. PayPal has been known to implement very strict control measures in order to protect its customers (both internet marketers and their buyers). If there is but a hint of fraud suspected on your part as internet marketer, your account could get frozen. When this happens, forget about making any further transactions involving PayPal. Worse, whatever money is there in your PayPal account that you haven’t withdrawn yet will remain untouchable during their investigation. In a few cases, internet marketers who have come under suspicion may even have their own bank accounts frozen by PayPal. This is a huge inconvenience if it happens to you, rendering you helpless and your bank account essentially useless – at least for the time it will take to complete the investigation which, by the way, can take a while. Inconvenience to customers and loss of sales for the internet marketer Without a merchant account, an internet marketer will have to use PayPal in order to accept payments online. To make this possible, every customer who decides to buy from the internet marketer must then sign up for a PayPal account or have one. If the customer doesn’t have a PayPal account yet and must apply for one, he will have to wait for approval from PayPal before he can use his account. This process can take several days. What this means to the customer is inconvenience. To the internet marketer, it simply means sales loss due to the delay. Too much information Signing up for PayPal means giving away bank information, something that many internet marketers feel is unsafe for them. To protect themselves, they open a low-average monthly savings account just for use with their PayPal account. Limited payment options PayPal accepts VISA or Mastercard credit cards but will not process American Express or Discover. What to do to address the unsafe option of PayPal Not every one of your buyers may feel comfortable with electronic payments, such as those offered by PayPal. Some of your more important ones may also live in locations where they do not or cannot have PayPal accounts. And still, there are customers who just simply do not want to open a PayPal account. This presents a problem to you, the internet marketer, because it reduces your opportunities to meet your customers' demands, significantly lowering your sales. To address this problem, try offering different payment options for your goods or services. Look at other reputable companies offering reliable online payment processing services. That way, should PayPal prove unsafe for you as an internet marketer, you can still offer your customers a way to buy your products or services. Reprinted Article: Paul Evans Local Internet Marketing
Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 at 6:25 AM (Public Entry)
When everyone else is talking about creating businesses that appeal to a global audience, it's quite easy to forget about the neighborhood. What about the local market? Should internet marketers simply ignore this segment or rely on chance to ensure they are included in the picture? When you're an internet marketer, you should take care of your local market. They are as essential as the wider segment of your market and have a lot to do about the success of your business.
Global is huge but… There's one tiny detail about the global market that not everyone will probably tell you about. It's targeted market. With a global market, you can essentially move within a very wide playing field with tremendous possibilities and opportunities for sales and growth. However, with a playing field as huge as that found in a global market, you will also face a much stiffer competition. You will also be faced with a market that consists of a wide variety of people with huge differences in buying preferences, tastes, temperament and habits. With a local market, your prospective clients are far easier to identify and learn more about. The number of people searching online for local businesses, products and services are increasing. In fact, take a look at major search engines and you'll find facilities for local searches with matching results. In 2004, for example, Nielsen and NetRatings declared that nearly 25% of searches performed on the most popular search engines were local in nature. That translates to nearly 5 searches made per searcher. Why bother with the local market It's simple. If some segment of your target market is made up of local customers and subscribers, then it's only practical that you create a local internet marketing strategy and have it implemented. People who find your products or services useful are not always people who live in other countries – they are people who happen to be in your local area, state or region. There's also a good chance that they make up a good portion of your market. This is why having a local internet marketing plan makes perfect sense. If your online business is about providing customized gift baskets, for example, there is probably a significant number of customers buying from you who happen to live within your vicinity. If the buyer is from Maine, it makes no sense to buy products from a store located in Utah when there is a store right within the locality. Types of businesses that will benefit from local internet marketing Not all businesses will benefit from local internet marketing strategies. However, there are numerous profession-based businesses that will. Industries such as cleaning, maid, and nanny services, for example, along with food and restaurants, movers, insurance and real estate typically find local searches advantageous. So do professional services such as legal assistance, medical and home and appliance repair and maintenance work. Using local internet marketing to boost your business The very first issue you should tackle when designing a business for local internet marketing is your website. Although it can still appeal globally, you should emphasize that it is capable of meeting local consumer needs. Take a look at the use of your domain name, for example, and find out if using a local or country code extension will benefit your business more. You should also consider search engine optimization strategies for your local website. Learn about the keywords that matter to your local internet marketing business and use them strategically. Build links with other local businesses and design promotions and marketing techniques for local consumers. If you're a small business right now, start locally and build from there. If you're already an established business, do not underestimate the local opportunity. http://www.offlineinternetprofits.com Keeping It Real...Simple, Paul Internet Marketing Mindset
Friday, Apr 25, 2008 at 6:40 PM (Public Entry)
Here's something interesting with online marketing.
EVERY successful business person raves about how much mindset and thinking play a part. However, almost no newbies will purchase anything on how to think for success. Perhaps you're different. http://www.6figurefocus.com/ Keeping It Real...Simple, Paul |
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