Specific Sample Internet Marketing Techniques

Most small business owners know that they should be doing some form of Internet marketing but there are so many options to choose from. Dee Adams in 10 Tactical Online Marketing Techniques offers some very specific examples such as telling your prospects about your product by writing a product review, telling your prospects about a news-related story that will persuade them to purchase your product, and telling your prospects how close they are to benefitting from your product.

Consumers Today are Vastly Different Than Consumers of Yesterday

In the article, Consumers Demand Engagement, the author speaks about the changed consumer. 

Consumers today want to be engaged and involved and marketing is adapting more social strategies to meet these challenges and needs of this new breed of consumer.

The Lines between Traditional Marketing and Social Media Marketing Overlap

A research from a national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University’s Master’s Degree Program in Strategic Public Relations found:

• 89% read blogs
• 65% go to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn
• 52% use Twitter or similar services
• 61% use Wikipedia

Read more about how social media marketing is entering the traditional marketing model.

"Analysis Paralysis"

I can't take credit for the term "analysis paralysis".  It was coined by Google Sniper in the comment section of Mike Moran's blog post Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing, but it is very descriptive of what some people's reaction might be when faced with something they deem overwhelming. 

In the case of the Internet, the amount of "stuff" to do, especially social networking "stuff", can be so incredibly overwhelming that some small business owners, when trying to decide where to put their efforts, might become so intimidated that they do nothing.  Hence, the term "analysis paralysis".

Mike says "If you start by focusing on what you want your Web site to do for your business and you focus everything on helping improve the results of that initial goal, then you can try things and see how they work. Or you can take a look at something and say, "I can't see how that helps me towards my goals." Read Mike's full post here for some more very practical advice on how to handle Internet overload.

The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration

A great post by Mashable on how to integrate SMM into your overall marketing strategy.  Read the step-by-step process with great graphics here.

Outsourcing for Small Business Owners - a Win-Win Proposition

Let's face it folks.  The small business owner can't do everything by himself/herself and do it all justice.  Add to that the fact that the small business owner might not have all the necessary knowledge in all areas of running a business and outsourcing becomes even more helpful.  Read The Role of Outsourcing In Online and Offline Marketing to see why outsourcing might make sense for your business.

Attention Small Business Owners!

What exactly is your brand?  For many, this is a difficult question to answer because a typical response is "we do so many different things".  Todd Schnick in "Three Keys You Need to Know About Personal Branding, But Probably Aren’t Doing" explains why you really need to hone in on your brand in order to clearly, concisely and consistently promote your business.  Check it out.

Ask the Experts

What is an "expert"?  When it comes to the field of Internet marketing, there are a lot of heated debates going on about what qualifies someone to call himself/herself an Internet marketing "expert". 

If you can identify those "experts", the advice in How to Become Your Industry's Leading Expert in 30 Days can be very helpful.

Everything you Need to Know About SEO from the "Experts"

SEO Book is an amazing resource for tons of valuable and free information on SEO. 

Check out their article "SEO & PPC Competitive Analysis & Keyword Research Tool"

The Ever Changing World of the Internet

Don't blink or you will miss a new trend trying to keep up with the Internet! 


Check out what Richard Gilmore has to say about how meta descriptions can affect Google - again - here.

How Twitter changed our lives in 2009

The power of Twitter.  Was there ever any doubt? Read article here.

Look confusing?  Well it is and it isn't. 

Read more about Web 2.0 from Online Marketing Series – Overview here.

Social Media Marketing: A Necessity or a Necessary Evil?

To use social media marketing (SMM) or not, that is the question. But what is the answer? This is a hot topic these days. There is definitely validity to all the arguments for and against using social media marketing. Some arguments against SMM are:

• Social media doesn’t sell
• Social media is all hype
• The ROI on social media marketing can take months
• ROI is impossible to determine
• Social media doesn’t generate profit
• No one is searching for a product or service on social sites like Facebook
• It is very difficult to monetize social media
• Social media marketing can be unpredictable
• SMM takes up too much time
• It is too easy to become addicted and wastes time
• Much of the information is duplicated
• Most social media marketing does not lead directly to sales

Some pro-social media points are:

• Social media isn’t supposed to sell, it is supposed to influence
• SMM increases your brand and product visibility
• Social media marketing increases website traffic
• Social media is about conversations, not conversions
• Social media marketing is about marketing – not selling
• Social media is a relationship building function, not a PPC program.
• Social media monitoring can enable companies to identify potential crisis situations and respond   appropriately
• Social networking is both free and entertaining
• Social media marketing is cost-effective
• Social marketing compliments other marketing efforts
• SMM gets the message out faster to a huge audience

The answer lies in ones' understanding of what social media marketing actually is. "Social" means a "friendly gathering," "media" means "a form of communication," and "marketing" means "an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer."

As a phrase and in context, social media marketing can be explained as an online gathering (or platform) for communications that are part of a process designed to move goods from producer to consumer. The problem some people have with social media marketing is in their understanding of what it is supposed to do. Would you hire a plumber to paint your house? I doubt it. But you might ask your plumber to recommend a good painter, especially if the plumber has a good reputation and you trust his or her opinion. This is an example of offline social networking.

Anyone who expects to engage in social media marketing and see an immediate, direct impact on their bottom line sales will be in for a disappointment. A tweet will not make your phone ring, make a customer walk through your door, or fill out an order form on your website (of course, there are those lucky ones who might have this happen, but it is not the norm). If someone becomes a fan of your business fan page on Facebook today, it doesn’t mean they are going to buy your product or service tomorrow. Having a website doesn’t mean people will automatically visit it.

The key is in the understanding and analysis of your specific needs, your available resources, and your overall marketing strategy. There is no doubt that social media marketing has merit. This is one situation where it would benefit a business owner to engage in some aspect of social media marketing because "everyone else is." If your competitor is maintaining an online presence and you are not, you lose. However, how much merit and how much time you are willing and able to commit depends entirely on what works best for each business owner.

It is important to manage your understanding and expectations of social media marketing. Determine what your available resources are, which marketing methods are currently working and which aren’t (this includes traditional offline marketing), investigate where your competitors are hanging out online and join them, and develop an overall marketing strategy that integrates the most effective initiatives for your particular niche and situation. People have a tendency to lean towards all or nothing. In the case of social media marketing, it is most definitely advantageous to find that middle ground.

Top 25 Article Directories and Free Content Sites Ranked by Alexa and PageRank

Top 25 Article Directories and Free Content Sites Ranked by Alexa and PageRank

WordStream Launches Two Free Niche Marketing Tools for SEO and PPC

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - 12/16/09) - WordStream, Inc., a provider of keyword tools for pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts involving large numbers of keywords, today launched a pair of tools designed to help businesses identify and optimize highly profitable keyword niches.

WordStream's new tools, The Keyword Niche Finder and The Free Keyword Grouper, are designed to help businesses and marketers solve specific problems. Read full article here.

Twitter Comic Strips

Twitter comic strips that will definitely make your day a better one.

Most of them have depicted Twitter and our everyday lifestyle pretty well!

 

Catch them here.

 

Blogging: “Are you Human”?

I am all for advanced technology when it helps to enrich our lives or make some tasks easier. However, when this same technology starts to replace humans, I think it has gone a bit too far. As an Internet Marketing Consultant, I obviously spend a lot to time on the Internet and spend way too much time having to “prove” that I am a “human”. Is it just me or do others find this a bit odd? With the use of Captcha’s on so many blogging sites, bookmarking sites, etc. I find myself wondering why and when being “human” became something we had to offer proof for.

A Captcha is defined as “a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer”. In other words, unless we can prove otherwise, we are assumed to NOT be human. This is a rather peculiar twist on the “innocent until proven guilty” premise. The phrase “challenge-response test” in the definition of a Captcha is in many cases, extremely accurate. However, when the “test question” is a simple addition problem such as “what is 1 + 1”, I have no problem passing and have a bit of resentment that this type of question is referred to as a “challenge”. Granted, many of us have lost our ability to do simple math because of the calculator, but “1 + 1”? Even the mathematically-challenged adult can handle that one. But then there are those Captcha’s that cannot possibly be interpreted by a “human”. It sometimes takes me upwards of 5 tries before a non-human presents me with a Captcha I can still barely identify.

This brings me to the new concept in Internet Marketing called “auto blogging” (http://www.profitblogger.com/what-is-autoblogging-and-how-does-it-work/). This is a neat concept that makes it possible for bloggers to blog automatically. In other words, there is no need for a human to sort through the vast amount of information on the Internet that bombards us on a daily basis. There is a program that can do that for us. Personally, I don’t subscribe to this kind of system because I like to assure that the content on my blog is valuable and also like to know what I am posting. But I would like to thank those Internet Marketing Professional bloggers who do use automatic blogging and posted my press release announcing the launching of my new Internet Marketing website on their blog site. I can’t help but wonder if a “human” would intentionally post the announcement of a competitor’s website.

10 Ways Blogging Will Simplify Your Marketing Program (Guest Post)

"When marketers and small business owners consider blogging, they typically worry about added complexity. For a small team already managing many different channels and campaigns, content development can be a daunting undertaking." Read full blog here.

Introduction to Online Branding

"It’s now recognized that online branding is more than banners ads to raise awareness. As marketers looks for ways to stretch advertising dollars, the web has become mainstream for branding online, but with little information on just how create an Internet branding strategy, this post hopefully provides its readers a place to start for the vast opportunities of online branding. Read full article here.

DID YOU KNOW....

Sony played this at their executive meeting. It is amazing...!

Watch it here.