Online Marketing Don’ts



There are over 200 million people worldwide connected to the Internet, with over 64 million regular users in America. It’s no wonder that such a vast audience has made online marketing one of the fastest growing industries in the world. However, half the trick of conducing successful ecommerce is finding a way to get people to your site in the first place–hence online advertising.

Internet advertising generated an astounding $1.92 billion in 1999, double from the amount generated in the previous year.

According to the Association of National Advertisers, nearly half of all American companies are selling online. The American City Business Journal reports that businesses that use the Internet grow 46% faster than those that don’t.

Online advertisers beware; marketing trends in this industry often become outdated faster than you can say “pop-up”. Here are some of the most common outdated online marketing techniques that should be avoided:

- Pop Ups Ads- Pop-ups ads are like the billboards of the information superhighway–you can’t go anywhere without seeing at least one. The Internet has become so saturated with pop-ups that overall web traffic times are slowing down. Most web users are downloading software that eliminates them from their system, so they are not the best way to reach prospective consumers.

- E-commerce sites- Internet stores have become way too abundant, especially when likely 99% of what you’re looking for can be found at Amazon.com, the site that boasts “Earth’s Biggest Selection”. Unless your product is so extremely unique that it can’t be purchased elsewhere on the Web, an e-commerce site may just be a waste of time and money.

- Re-selling E-books- E-books seem like a great idea. However, most of the sites that sell them offer the seller the right to resell the book to others. Therefore, the market has become saturated with books that are often available for free from some sites. And why would someone want to buy an e-book from you that they can get for free elsewhere?

- Safelist Advertising- Like e-books, this is theoretically a good idea. Safelists are groups of members who have opted to receive ads from fellow safelist members. This form of marketing loses its effectiveness due to the fact that most members just mass-delete their bulk emails without reading them. Everyone wants others to read their ads, yet no one will stop to read other people’s ads.

- ‘Free For All’ pages- FFAs will post your ad in one of seven categories on their page. Like safelist advertising, the idea is that the thousands of others that post ads will see your ad and click to your website. Again though, everyone goes to FFAs to post, and not to access ads. On top of this waste of time and Internet space, your email account will get flooded with massive amounts of spam if you sign up with one of these sites.

By:

About the Author:
Jessica Klein is a member of the ‘Mount Real Research Team’, whose aim is to seek out and distribute business information to the virtual public. She is a freelance writer based in Montreal, Canada who loves writing about anything from accounting to zebras.

For more info about Mount Real, visit http://www.mountreal.com.



Massive Traffic

Paid Traffic Methods – The Best Traffic to Buy For a Website



Internet marketers who have a decent advertising budget will find that there are lots of available advertising options. With so many options available, it can become difficult to choose the best ones if you’re inexperienced with online marketing. Marketers who pay for advertising have to make sure that their outgoing costs aren’t more then the amount of sales they can generate. Paid advertising methods require that marketers pay close attention to profit margins. When done correctly, a lot of money can be made online. Below, we will take a look at some of the very best paid, advertising methods.

The first one that we will discuss is paid press releases. Paid press releases can be a really good way to spread the word about your product. They work well even when promoting affiliate products. The biggest benefit is that your press release is seen as an objective story about you and your product. Make sure that you place a link to your web site a couple of times throughout the body of the press release. You don’t want to have to count on people making it to the end of your release. If they want more information, they can click to your website right away. Two excellent paid press release sites are PRweb.com andPRNewswire.com.

Article distribution services are another paid method of advertising. You simply pay a company to distribute your article to various groups, websites, email addresses and article directories. This used to be very effective before Google began penalizing for duplicate content. However, article submission services can still drive traffic to your site. Therefore, if you’re not particularly concerned about getting your article ranked, you may still be able to get some targeted traffic.

Pay per click is one of the most well-known paid advertising methods. You simply pay a certain amount of money for every person that is sent to your website through the pay-per-click companies. The top pay-per-click companies are Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Ezine advertising can be effective if you can find a good ezine or newsletter. This can be expensive. Therefore, look around for affordable options. You will also want to do some testing. Take out some smaller ads and see if you get a return on your money before you pay for expensive solo ads.

Co-registration is another paid option. This is a great strategy for collecting email addresses. You are able to place a small ad on a popular site. This ad should be designed to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter. This allows you to build your list very quickly. A good list can be invaluable and make you a lot of money.

You may also want to consider paid forum advertising is another option. You simply find a well visited forum and pay for advertising space. This could be a text link or a banner ad.

Identify web sites in your niche or a complementary one that receives a lot of traffic. Find out if they sell advertising space. You can find sites by going to your favorite search engine and typing in a keyword related to your niche. Take a look at the top 10 sites. Contact them and ask if they are willing to sell you some space on their site.

By: Scott Brooks

About the Author:
Fortunes can be made online by creating and selling ebooks. Learn the secrets of producing hot-selling ebooks here How to Write an Ebook

You can get a step by step guide which demonstrates how to create profitable information products such as ebooks and audio books lightning fast at: http://www.72HourProduct.com



Online Marketing For Small Business



If you own a small business, getting your name out in the marketplace is critical. Internet marketing for small business is probably the most important thing you can do for success. In order to really accomplish what you want, you’ll have to repeatedly advertise and create brand awareness.

Many studies have shown that it can take up to 7 times of someone seeing your name before they’ll buy from you. People buy from those that they trust. They probably won’t trust you until they’ve seen your name a few times. This creates the impression of consistency and longevity in their mind. The first time they see your name they won’t know if you’re a “fly-by-night” operation or in it for the long term. This is why internet marketing for small business is so important.

With so many options for internet marketing for small business, how do you know which options to use? The truth is, there is no right answer for that question. You should try several different methods and see which ones you feel comfortable with. You should never try a method that doesn’t fit well with your business plan. For example, if your business is meant to be a very respectable, professional product, you probably wouldn’t want to make an infomercial with a screaming promotional guy. This would send mixed messages to your customers and confuse them.

When you get started in internet marketing for small business, you will become aware of the many options that you have. One of the best methods is pay-per-click advertising. This method brings you traffic instantly and is implemented by search engines like Google and Yahoo. When someone types in a search term that is related to your business, you can make it to where your ad appears at the top of the page. The great thing about this type of business is that you can completely customize it for your goals. If you only want to spend $5 per day on advertising, you can do that. If you only want to market to people in your geographical area, you can do that as well. It can be completely tailored to your needs and you only pay for people who visit your site.

Another form of internet marketing for small business is article marketing. This type of marketing involves submitting articles about your area of expertise to article directories. This type of marketing is great because it helps establish you as an expert in the field. It is completely free and it has huge potential. When e-zine editors need unique content, they go to these article directories to find it. If they publish your article, they’ll have a link to your site at the bottom of the article. This means that everyone who gets their publication will have a direct link to your site. It is a great way to drive highly targeted traffic to your site.

There are many different types of internet marketing for small business. These are just a few of the more popular methods available. Look around and try a few methods on for yourself. When you find something that works, stick with it. This is the secret to drive massive amounts of customers to your site. Everyone knows that you need a lot of potential customers looking at your product to make sales. When you make sales, everybody is happy.

By: Lawrence Combs

About the Author:
Brand New Audio E-Course Answers All Your Questions And Teaches You Exactly How To Transform Your Home Based Business Into A Cash Magnet … Guaranteed
http://www.mentorsoncall.net



IM Success Formula

Directory Submission – Tips For Traffic Gathering Through Directory Submission



Function Smarter
Directory submission is a brighter direction to appeal curious and truehearted buyers to your site. You develop and submit the articles to the directory sites. Seekers who discover the responses to the enquiries they placed to the search engines are more expected to reply favorably to your merchandise or servicing. This case of publicity for your merchandise not alone is more conformable than difficult trade attempts only you are able to come across virtually quick outcomes at one time your article is published on the site.

Construct your Articles exciting and enlightening
Barely any old articles clapped up and positioned on an article directory will not be good to go. Expected buyers prefer to check reality they did not recognize antecedently, or interpret approximately something that they already acknowledged only delivered in afresh direction and so that it is more exciting to interpret. Directory submission is of value and favorite as it allows data on just about any field of study you are able to ideate. Ready to establish your articles leap out in front of the bunch of challengers, you must be picky about truth and aim articles that reply to the issues on the well-nigh interest to consumers.

Do work with superior keywords
While readying articles for directory submission, it is most in effect to compose articles that utilize the greatest top-ranking keywords. These superior keywords reflect the several times seekers have called for doubts or explored for a sure full term. Whenever your articles bring in advisory use of these keywords, you will be more expected to captivate the interest of those persons calling for the doubts. This will somewhat rapidly interpret into a lot of internet hits and from there a greater conversion grade and so that you acquire more content buyers for your merchandise or servicing.

By: Alakh Arpan Akhawat

About the Author:
Alakh Arpan is a successful search engine optimizer, internet marketer and successful online entrepreneur. Please visit his website at http://www.seocopywritingservices.net and find out how he can help you to quickly accomplish your Web directory submission strategy and boost your campaign.



Daily Niche Ideas

Getting Traffic to Your Squeeze Page, Part Two Blog Traffic



Last time, we discussed setting up a blog and getting content into it. We also talked a bit about getting search engine traffic to your blog. This time, let’s discuss other ways, which may be more immediate, for getting traffic to your blog. This, in turn, will send traffic for your squeeze page, too.

Organic traffic, or traffic that comes from search engines is great, but it may not start quite as fast as you want it to. So, there are many other options. Take search engines intended solely for blogs, for instance. Technorati.com is one of the oldest. Go there and “claim” your blog right now, if you haven’t already. That will get your blog indexed and ranked, and it’s social. People can favor your blog, and the more readers you get, the higher your blog will rank. The higher the ranking, the more visitors you’ll see coming to your blog, and so on. It’starget=”_New” like a snowball effect. There are other blog searches that aren’t interactive, like IceRocket.com and Blogsearch.Google.com, and they’re just as valuable. Be sure to get your blog entered into as many of these specialized search engines as possible.

Other interactive sites, like MySpace and YouTube, are all the rage right now. They’re part of the whole Web 2.0 scenario that’s been around a couple of years but is really just starting to heat up. Plenty of other Web 2.0 sites are available to join, and they’ll provide instant results:

StumbleUpon: This social bookmarking site works on the tag and favor principal. Each time you make a post to your blog, “StumbleUpon” it, which is like giving yourself a vote. If other people enjoy your posts, they’ll StumbleUpon them, too, and your traffic will grow.

Spicy Page: This site is more like MySpace in that you collect “friends,” who will no doubt vote on your blog. But the cool thing about SpicyPage is that you can also include your websites, so you’ll have both your blog and your list building page bringing in traffic from there. Be sure to upload your sites to this one ASAP.

Digg: The Digg community was created to provide links and reviews to news stories as they happen. You can see exactly what’s being “dugg” and “buried” if you go to their “Digg Spy” feature, which is pretty cool. Just be sure that the entries you add to Digg are good articles, not photos or videos so much. Just be sure that whatever you Digg is quality information. The last thing you want is for your blog to be “buried.”

Web 2.0 sites are proliferating by the minute. Other names include Blue Dot, Ma.gnolia, and Markaboo, but there are hundreds. Sign up for as many as you can and mark your posts in as many as you can every day. You’ll be amazed at the traffic you’ll get from these services.

Another Web 2.0 way to get traffic is:

Wikipedia: This user-written online encyclopedia can be a great source of traffic. But be sure that you’ve provided quality content on the topic in order for your listing to be accepted. For instance, I have an ADHD blog, and we added the link to it at the end of several different attention deficit entries. We get lots of traffic from all of them. Just be sure to follow the editorial guidelines when posting, or your link will be erased by the editors.

Each of these sources is a good way to get traffic, but if you blog and favor in several sites every time you make a post, you’ll really be amazed at the amount traffic you get. Don’t overlook this. Web 2.0 isn’t going away anytime soon, and you’ll be missing a valuable resource if you do. For more sites like these go to http://www.go2web20.net/ .

Next time, let’s discuss writing articles to get traffic to your list building pages.

By: Tellman Knudson

About the Author:
As CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc., Tellman Knudson has become an incredible traffic generator. Pick up all of Tellman’s traffic secrets at MyFirstTraffic.com.



Organize your Affiliate Marketing

Work From Home Moms – Exceptional Organization



Work from home moms need exceptional organization.

Online Marketing Tactics For Launching Successful Businesses



If you have already been using several online marketing tactics to promote your site, but you are still getting the same dismal results, it only means that you have missed out on key ways of how to do it properly. To get the results that you want, you need to assess what actions you have already taken and where wrong turns have been made. Here are some fresh new tips that can help you redirect and create a fresh start when launching online marketing businesses.

1. Search engine optimization, or SEO, should be done properly in order to gain a higher ranking in search engines. In order to do this, hire SEO experts who can fill you in on the right keywords or key phrases that you can add to your content. Also, study your competition and identify the strengths of their ventures so you may apply such learning to optimize your site and generate more traffic.

2. Utilize a PPC (or pay per click) function as a means of advertising. You will need to shell out some money at first, but it is guaranteed to bring in more traffic. A lot of the more popular and highly visited websites avail of this service, so it’s high time that you should, too.

3. Use your great writing skills and come up with well-written informative articles that you can submit to article directories. Doing so will create links to your page and direct traffic towards your website. The more readers get attracted to your style of writing, the more they will be curious about you and their curiosity will lead them to discover your website and all its products and services.

4. Finally, know all the tools that are available to you and utilize each one. Banner ads, social networking sites, link building, forum advertising – these are all ways to generate traffic and promote your website.

By: Melvin Perry

About the Author:
Melvin Perry is a web entrepreneur that specializes in building large email lists within a matter of weeks. He currently teaches marketers via free step by step videos how to earn thousands monthly through the list building model. You can snatch these 2+ hours videos at no cost by visiting FREE Internet Marketing Videos



Five Online Marketing Tactics Every Business Should Use



Every online business strives to make their website unique. In my experience, there are five fundamental tactics that every online business should employ. Some are intuitive, some are not. I have found that businesses find several of them ‘inconvenient’ and choose to ignore them. Review the list and see if you are guilty of avoiding a useful tactic.

1. Use Professional-looking branding

If you were to choose one item from this list not to ignore it should be branding graphics. Professional graphics can make or break your company. If you don’t have strong, well-thought out branding, you are wasting your time selling on the internet. This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune on a high-priced designer. It means you have to decide what your business is about and make it clear to visitors the moment they hit your home page. The key here is strategy, not pretty pictures.

2. Make your Products Easy to Buy

I picked “Make it Easy to Buy’ as the tagline for my online marketing company because I believe most online businesses get that wrong. Intuitively, you know it’s true, because you can’t always buy an online product you want. You have chosen your item, you have your credit card in hand, but you just can’t make it happen. Ask three people who are not associated with your company to log onto your website and attempt to buy a product while you observe. This is always eye-opening. Do this today and you’ll learn something about why your sales are stagnant.

3. Reward your Customers

It seems strange, but most companies don’t really thank their customers for buying from them. By that I mean REALLY thank them, by offering a future discount, a special newsletter or something that moves the relationship forward. No one is required to buy from you. If they are willing to purchase your product, make sure they are rewarded. People, who are rewarded, will repeat the experience, it’s as simple as that.

4. Partner with others in your Field

This tactic separates the successful from the very successful. Many businesses jealously guard their information and never look outside for inspiration. The best way to grow your business is to partner with others who market to the same customers. Not only do I recommend that you seek out those in complimentary businesses, I encourage you to look at others doing the same thing you are. Approach them and see how you can be stronger together. This may seem threatening at first, but once you realize that more resources and more ideas make you stronger, the quicker you’ll see the value. Obviously, don’t give away proprietary secrets, but find common ground and you’ll be amazed what can happen.

5. Provide Content Variety

Everyone has a favorite way to access information. The internet makes it mandatory that you read text to get where you’re going. But don’t be limited to this method. Use audio, video, flash movies and anything else you can try to diversify your message. Don’t be afraid to try teleseminars or pod casting. Use it as a test. You don’t need to commit a huge budget to these tactics, but a small test will allay your fears and might point you toward a great new way to generate revenue.

By: Stephanie Diamond

About the Author:
Digital Media Works, Inc.(http://www.DigMediaWorks.com ) is an Internet marketing and design firm that specializes in solutions for e-commerce companies . . A seasoned 25+ year management/marketing professional , founder Stephanie Diamond is experienced in building profits in a broad range of product and services businesses . She created a line of multimedia software products that sold millions of copies for America Online .



Build a list

Web Traffic Sources – Browser Usage



When I first started browsing the web in the mid 1990s I, like most people, used Netscape Navigator as my web browser. I used it quite happily for a couple of years and then, again like most people I switched to Internet Explorer when it became part of the Windows operating system. I started using Internet Explorer from version 3 onwards and still use it today. Things seem to be changing though, with more and more people switching to Firefox.

I maintain a few web sites and have done for a number of years now. By looking at the web stats for the sites I can see how there seems to be a gradual shift towards Firefox. For example, taking the stats from one of my sites: two years ago, 75% of visitors used Internet Explorer and only 4% used Firefox; one year ago 73% used Internet Explorer and 13% used Firefox; in July 2008 (the time of writing this article), 67% use Internet Explorer and 25% use Firefox. This represents quite a move towards Firefox.

The type of site also seems to be significant when it comes to the browsers that visitors use. Visitors to sites of a more technical nature are more likely to use Firefox than visitors to sites of a non-technical nature. For one of my sites, 42% of visitors use Firefox, with 54% using Internet Explorer. On the other hand, on other sites I maintain the percentage of visitors using Internet Explorer is still around the 80% mark.

It will be interesting to see whether the move towards Firefox continues, or whether its popularity is in part due to a protest by web users who to a large extent have been forced to use Internet Explorer for so long.

By: John Dixon

About the Author:
About the Author: John Dixon is a web developer working through his own company, John Dixon Technology Limited. The company also offers a free open source accounting package called Earnings Tracker.



More about Affiliate Marketing

Online Marketing Tips – How to Make Easy Cash



Occasionally, I come up with some business ideas that I love sharing with people, especially my downlines. But this time around, I want to extend my online marketing tips to people outside my business who are keen on making easy cash. The business ideas I’m about to reveal will take about four weeks to manifest if done accurately.

Step 1 – The plan is you are going to leverage on the talent of others, there is no need doing the grunt job when you don’t have to. This may sound like a crazy idea but wait till you finish reading this article. You will start by finding top internet marketers and contact them asking them you want to promote their business for free, no string attached; they get to keep all the profit. Only a crazy guy would turn this kind of offer down.

Step 2 – Request for a review of their product as this is the only way you would have a good conscience promoting their product; the marketers won’t have any qualms sending you’re a copy of their product review. Once you are done, repeat this process with at least 5 people, the more people you can deal with the better chances you have.

Step 3 – Quickly go through all the reports you have and compile them into a PDF and name it “Unbiased Review of Top 5 Internet Marketer” or something of that nature. Give it to your prospect freely in your opt-in list as well as use other marketing methods like article marketing, blogging, PPC and so on. As a matter of fact, the scope of this business idea is beyond that.

Step 4 – This final step is where you are going to make easy cash. You are going to create a companion product for all of the products and promote it along with your compiled review and charge a small fee of maybe $7 dollar. You will want to ensure the product is useful to those buying the merchants product. From your verification you should know what is wrong in the reviews you have compiled and have quickly made the amendment in the necessary place.

The PDF shouldn’t contain affiliate link to the merchant’s product but rather your companion product.

If you work at this well, you can make at least $500 to $1,200 monthly. Your companion product should not be more than four pages and should be centered on tips on how to get the most out of the product.

If you put these online marketing tips into practice you can make easy money and at the same time, it might lead into a joint partnership with the merchants.

By: John Benjamin

About the Author:
John Benjamin is the webmaster of Internet Business Ideas. Want to find out how you can earn a monthly income that exceeds five figures? Go to Earn Money Online and check out my home business special offer.



All About Addons!