Business Strategy - An Online Empire by Vasrue

Social Media Marketing - Dont Make These 3 Mistakes

2009-11-10T15:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario

The Cluetrain Manifesto asserts that "Markets are Conversations." The Manifesto is a document published in 1999 and 10 years later is still considered to be an outstanding treatise on the Internet phenomenon - in regards to the impact and opportunities of Internet and web technology on the modern businessman. Nowhere has this assertion been borne out more than in the complex, fascinating world of Social Media Marketing (SMM).

What is Social Media Marketing?

Any definition of SMM requires an understanding of social media networks. These are any community-oriented networks based on user-generated content. For example, YouTube's primary focus is the hosting of user-generated videos, not the promotion of the parent company's products. Social media networks include Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and many others.

SMM therefore is the use of these networks to promote and market products, services, or information to the promoter's intended audience. This could be a traditional product seeking a market, such as an author promoting a new novel. Or it could be something much bigger; the US Presidential campaign of 2008 brought Twitter into the spotlight as a way for the candidates to quickly transmit a message to their audience, keeping them updated on happenings on the trail. In the latter case, no tangible product was being promoted per se, but it was a means of marketing the candidates and their messages. Twitter exploded in popularity following the election, and remains a current topic of discussion.

The intelligent business strategy will seek to understand these opportunities, and reach out to the social media markets available, in order to directly reach their customers. SMM has as many pitfalls as opportunities, however. Several politicians have had their tweets made public, and have regretted it. Here are some easy mistakes to make and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1 - Not Having A Blog

Everyone has a blog. While this may not be true in fact, it certainly is true in perception. Free services such as Wordpress and Blogspot allow anyone with a connection to have a voice in an organized and attractive form. Twitter, Facebook, and other networks are useful, but they aren't directly under a user's control. A blog, however, is, and the savvy marketer will take advantage of that. In a blog, a user can post their thoughts, analysis, and arguments with very little restraint and go into greater detail than most social networks permit. For example, Twitter only allows posts of 140 characters, which is certainly too small for a product description or a dissection of a major political speech. However a short 'tweet' telling book fans that their favorite author has been interviewed by a blog will bring people flocking to the site where they will not only read the interview, but probably the many other articles on the site as well.

This of course means that good blogging is consistent blogging. A blog can't be neglected and only updated when big things happen - the modern attention span of Internet users is fairly short. Bloggers need to consistently post good content in order to keep drawing in their intended audience; not month by month but sometimes even day by day.

Mistake #2 - Not Branding Yourself

The web is an information explosion and getting anyone to notice a product or a company consistently is a challenge. The savvy web marketer must take advantage of the chance to brand their name with every networking opportunity. If a company has a blog and a product website, they must be connected. The blog must promote the site's main goal, and the site must refer visitors to their excellent blog content. Posts to social networking sites should refer to this 'brand' image, and keep the message consistent across them all. The successful SMM campaign will treat each element as a unified whole, and approach them systematically. Every Twitter message, every Facebook post should remind users who is posting the content, and where they can find more.

Mistake #3 - Not Being Nice

As mentioned above, "Markets are Conversations." The users on the Internet are not robots. They will respond with a pre-programmed action when a certain combination of criteria is applied. They are people with ideas who think critically, and who have become accustomed to having their say. While a marketer must take every opportunity to promote their message, this does not mean forcing it into every single conversation. Participants on social networking sites will quickly identify the more ham-fisted efforts of some marketers, and let their acquaintances know of their displeasure. A bad reputation can spread quickly on the Internet - a certain St. Louis police officer lost his job when a video of the officer abusing his authority was posted to Google.

So the proper tactic is not to view these markets as simple places to advertise, but places to converse. Simply popping onto Facebook and posting a new product to every available group is a quick way to get noticed, and disregarded as incompetent. On the other hand, a user could join several groups with discussions pertaining to the subject of their personal passions, and cultivate friendships and a reputation as a quality commentator. Then, when they refer folks to their blog, they are more likely to be taken seriously. Simple courtesy and respect for the groups can go a long way to securing a few more hits per post.

In essence, SMM requires thought, persistence, and critical thinking just as any other marketing campaign. It is not a short series of clever commercials that can be aired for several months at a time, but a means of consistently communicating, day in and day out, with a target audience. Good SMM must provide constant, consistent content for its target markets and be prepared to participate in a lot of give-and-take with an audience uniquely suited to making their voices heard.

About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/

Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Buying a Top Level Domain Name - Some Ideas and Suggestions

2009-11-10T14:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu

Of late, it is getting increasingly harder to choose and buy a top-level domain name. It is also very difficult to find a top-level domain name that relates directly to the theme and subject of your web site. People who are looking forward to buy a top-level domain name work hard to find a suitable name often with tremendous difficulty. If you are a seller of products or services through your internet portals, then you must try had to purchase a .com or .biz top-level domain name. In fact, such domains will lend immense credibility and authenticity to your business. Top-level domains can also act as very strong advertising tools for your business.

The top level is always the extension of a particular domain name. .com is the most famous top-level domain name in the world. Top-level domain extension indicates the type of online activities you are carrying right now. These domain name extensions are there for special purposes. A .com domain indicates that you are in some form of business while .net signifies that you are dealing with a network of different services. An .org is always special to non-profits while .biz always signifies that you are dealing with some business services.

For commercial business purposes, you will need to buy .com domain because most web surfers have the habit of adding.com extension at the end of their keywords. Make sure that you buy the .com name extension first before buying other extensions. Otherwise, someone else may pick up your .com name. In this way, .com name extensions are always so invaluable.

Almost all search engines will check your domain names before allowing someone to search your name. You must ensure that the site content and the domain name extension are in complete resonance with each other so that search engines can easily index your web site. Major search engines like Google and Yahoo always respect and value top-level domain names. It is possible to check the availability of a top-level domain name by trying the plural version of the names. However, domain owners are very intelligent and smart because they will always make sure that they register plural forms of their main domain name.

Top-level domains are possible when you add numbers to the domains. Experts recommend adding numbers to choose and register some top-level domain names. Adding numbers to the main body text of the domains may help you register some top-level domain names. Some people use substitutions of the letters to some original letters of the domain name. For example, you can substitute the word four with 4.

Top-level domain names are in excessive demand while people will go any lengths to register such domain names. If you fail to get these domain names, you can always choose and buy an expired domain. Expired domain market could be a very good source of very good top-level domain names. However, get ready to pay very high price for a very good top-level expired domain name.

About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

Read more Articles written by John Khu.

List Building - 9 Steps to Creating a High Converting Squeeze Page

2009-11-10T12:00:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Alan Cheng

With a high converting squeeze page, an online business will make more use of the traffic they drive to their website. With more email leads an online business can promote to, there are more chances of buyers for your products and services. Generating traffic is hard work so you want to capture as many of the visitors' emails as you can when they visit your website.

Here are 9 steps to creating a high converting squeeze page:

1. Determine Type Of Traffic

Decide what type of prospect you want to attract with your squeeze page. Then create your squeeze page to attract that particular type of prospect only. Don't create a squeeze page which caters for everyone. Your conversions of visitors to leads will suffer.

2. Professional Graphics

Create the best graphics you can for your squeeze page. Eye-grabbing graphics have proven in my tests to increase conversion rates. So hire a good graphics designer if you can't design good graphics yourself.

3. Keywords

Make sure your squeeze page shows the keywords which the visitor is looking for. If your ad promises that they will receive an insurance review report when they visit your squeeze page, make sure your squeeze page shows the words "insurance review".

This will confirm to the visitor that they are on the right page and they should find the information they are looking for.

4. Attention

Get your visitor's attention right away when they visit your website.

You can do this by showing a headline that raises curiosity and promises benefits.

Once you have their attention, they will read more of your squeeze page.

5. Benefits

With your squeeze page, explain the benefits for the visitor if they sign up to your list.

Explain the benefits using words or video. Make sure that when you read the message on the squeeze page, you actually emotionally feel how signing up will benefit your visitors.

6. Graphics - Video/Report

If you are offering a free report or video on your squeeze page, create a graphic (called an ecover) for it.

This will make your intangible product seem tangible. Visitors will want their hands on your free offer. It's all about packaging your offer.

7. Call To Action

In your squeeze page, make it very clear what you want the subscriber to do. Don't make them guess that they should enter their name and email address to sign up to your list. Tell them directly in simple terms. Command them on what they need to do.

People react to commands. Telling them to enter their name and email and then click on the submit button is needed. This may sound silly, but tests have shown this to increase response rates.

8. Split Testing

With every squeeze page you create, you need to create another one with a slight variation such as a different headline, different benefits or place your sign up box in another place.

All squeeze pages can be improved. Use the tool at http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer to test which 2 versions of your squeeze page has the better response rate.

Remove the low performing squeeze page and try to create another one to achieve better response rates. This is how you create squeeze pages that have 50% sign up rates.

9. Drive Traffic

At the end of the day, you need to drive traffic to the squeeze page and see what type of prospects react to your squeeze page. If you notice that a certain source of traffic has good sign up rates then market your squeeze page more in that area.

The more traffic you drive to your squeeze page, the quicker you will be able to create a high converting squeeze page.

All these steps are not rocket science, yet not many people follow them. Improve your squeeze page one step at a time following the advice above and you'll be able to convert a high percentage of your visitors to subscribers. This list building component of your online business is essential if you want to increase sales. If you want your online business to succeed, a high converting squeeze page is mandatory.

About the Author:
For more tips on how to promote your online business and increase sales, visit information product creation. To hire professionals to create your own best selling information products, visit http://www.eliteghostwriters.com/infoproducts.html - Alan Cheng, Elite Ghostwriters.

Top Ten Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing

2009-11-10T11:00:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Jason OConnor

Twitter is a micro-blogging site that asks you a basic question, "What are you doing?" It allows anyone with an account to write up to 140 characters in a text field as a means to update, comment, promote or communicate to others who are "following" you. When people follow you, they see what you've recently contributed when they login. They see your "tweets", which are the messages you leave.

And of course you can follow others who tweet about the things that interest you. As an Internet marketer you may want to follow other Internet marketers, for example.

Like anything, and this is especially true of working with social media, the more you give, the more you get. In other words, the more often you tweet the more activity you'll generate. Some suggest that you tweet a few times a day, every day. Not every tweet needs to be profound. But they should all be useful.

It's important that you don't abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets ought to be about offering your followers useful and valuable information. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise you'll be perceived as a spammer, and no one wants that tag.

Imagine if you had a large number of people following your tweets? Some people have tens of thousands following them. If you had something to promote and you had a large following, you could quickly and efficiently alert a lot of people of your promotion. It acts sort of like an opt-in mass emailing blast to your house email list, but it's a heck of a lot easier and faster. This is the power of Twitter.

One thing that I've noticed with Twitter is that it can seem overwhelming at times. The sheer information on Twitter, the 'how-to's', tutorials and all the other ubiquitous advice on how to use and take advantage of it can seem hard to understand and implement. So here's an easy-to-understand list of the top ten ways in which you can use Twitter to market yourself, your business and your website.

The Top 10 Ways To Use Twitter for Marketing:

1. Use it to promote new pieces of content you or your company create to drive traffic to your site. From online articles to blog posts or from videos to webinars, each time you add something to the Web that is of value, tweet about it and include a link. (Most people on Twitter use www.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short.)

2. Use it for learning new marketing ideas, strategies and techniques. If you follow the right people, and you have to be picky about who you follow, you'll get pointed to a good amount of useful tutorials, videos, e-zines and other things that teach you about marketing.

3. Use it to get new customers. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in your product or service. There are many ingenious ways to search for people on Twitter. For example, if you sell red widgets you could go to http://search.twitter.com and find people who have tweeted specifically looking for red widgets. To do this, type the following into the search box: red widgets?

You'll notice a lot of the results will be of others selling red widgets. These ones will all obviously have links in them to direct people to the site they're selling red widgets on. To weed these people/tweets out, use the negative sign like this: -http red widgets?

Since every link has 'http' in it, using the negative sign in front of it will cause your search results to not include any tweets with links in them.

4. Use it to build your email list. Use Twitter's search to find people who may be interested in the monthly newsletter you send out to your opt-in house email list. Invite these people to join.

5. Utilize Twitter plugins or add-ons such as TweetMyBlog or The Twitter Updater, which both automatically make tweets of every new blog post you publish. Also check out TwitThis. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the Web page and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their followers on Twitter. Finally, look at TweetLater, a service that allows you to write lots of tweets at once and then schedule them to go out over time.

6. Use it to build buzz about an upcoming product or website launch.

7. Use it to better brand yourself or your business. Remember, when someone wants to learn more about you or your company, they are increasingly using sites like Twitter for research. You could easily use Twitter to establish yourself as an authority in your field.

8. Use it to update followers on breaking news regarding your company. If your company is mentioned in a new article, tweet about it and include a link to the article. Or if you're at a conference or trade show, you could tweet what you're doing and invite people to visit you in person.

9. Use it for business networking, master-mind groups (see Napoleon Hill), and getting yourself seen by high-profile people in your industry.

10. Use it as an instant messaging system to keep your and your team on the same page during projects. This is especially useful for those who work with teams spread out in different cities or countries.

You should note that this top 10 list is not in order of importance or in any particular order. I suggest that you give Twitter a try if you haven't already. See if you can apply a few of these techniques and tactics to help you take advantage of Twitter as a marketing tool.

And one more important thing to remember is that there is no silver bullet in marketing. You should always be trying and implementing numerous tactics when marketing your business. Don't only rely on Twitter or any other one thing. Instead, use Twitter (or any other Web 2.0 site) as simply one more tool in your entire social media and marketing toolbox.

Copyright 2009 TheNetGazette.net

About the Author:
Jason OConnor is an Web consultant, writes for The Net Gazette, a Web marketing newsletter, and owns Oak Web Works, LLC, a Web design and marketing company at http://www.oakwebworks.com/

Follow Jason OConnor on Twitter.

Don't Destroy Your Online Marketing Results with Bad Website Design

2009-11-09T19:30:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Paul Marshall

So, you've embarked on a search engine advertising program, maybe even SEO. Whether you're doing this on your own or using an online marketing consulting firm, there are key points to become aware of.

If you miss these, you won't increase conversions.

What good is a Number 1 organic search engine ranking or AdWords ad listing, if you don't have increased sales or if you don't generate more sales leads?

Too often, we get all focused about the Internet marketing -- the ads, the offer -- that we don't think the whole process through step-by-step and consider the experience our website visitors will be having.

If we did, we'd be thinking "big picture" and we would head off some of these potential problems before they occur.

Overcoming Your Website Visitors Anxiety

When people come to our website it's natural for them to feel anxiety. After all, look at all the cr*p on the Internet today, all the too-good-to-be-true products and services.

But when you and I offer REAL products or services, we have to overcome that concern, even if we're treating our site visitors fairly and not making outrageous claims.

So, how can you overcome these anxieties?

1. Offer more than a 1-page website. Credible companies have multi-page websites, including Privacy Policy, Terms of Use | Service and About Us pages.

They also have more than 1 page about their products or services.

I'm surprised by the number of 1-page websites I see from companies using infomercials to advertise their products. Often, they have the purchase form right on their home page, their only page (and often their page isn't secured for credit card ordering).

Websites that are only 1-page don't seem credible. And having the purchase form right on the home page comes across as very pushy!

Doesn't this type of site seem all about the company and NOT about their customers? Why would we want to buy from that type of company?

What kind of online marketing consulting firm did these companies use...or did they use any??

2. Next to any sign up or contact form buttons clearly state that you don't sell your customers' private information and link to your Privacy Policy page.

3. Effectively communicate what your Value Proposition is, also called your Unique Selling Proposition. If you don't know why someone should buy your product or service versus your competitors', now is the time to figure it out. (And by the way, based on my experience, if you don't know this, you're not alone, by any means.)

But our websites have to be about more than just us. They have to be about our visitors. What's in it for THEM, to do business with us? What unique voids in the marketplace can we fill?

As a Small Business Owner, Personally Relate to Your Site Visitors and Communicate Directly with Them

People don't buy from websites, they buy from people! So, how can you apply this to your own website?

1. For many small businesses and solo proprietorships, their website text should speak to your visitors directly in first person.

This should be written from the voice of the Owner or President. They shouldn't use third person, institutional-sounding language, getting rid of "we" and "our", using "I" instead, speaking first person, in an actual conversation. Don't try to sound like you're Microsoft!

And while your at it, be careful about overuse of words about you...whether "I", or those words, "we", "our" or "us".

Check out the WeWe calculator (Google: wewe calculator). Make sure to focus on customer-focused words and NOT on words about you or your company.

2. Include your picture on your Web pages.

For a larger small business trying to make that personal connection with their website visitors, try the idea used by the nutritional supplement company Lumina. (Google: Lumina Health Contact Us)

In this execution, notice how Lumina gets you to relate to their customer service department. I still remember it was John I spoke with and that's been over 1 year ago that I called them!

Again, people buy from other people, not from websites.

For us as small businesses, why should we sound large, pretending to be something we aren't? And why should we run from our advantage of being small: low overhead, friendly, personal service and accountability, among other advantages.

Make Each Step in Your Marketing a Smooth Handoff from One Step to Another

Whether you're using AdWords, SEO, or both, make sure your title and description matches the experience your website visitor will have when they come to your landing page.

Quite often when I'm Coaching my small business owner clients or performing online marketing consulting, I find the wording for their organic listing or AdWords ad says one thing and their landing page says something that doesn't sound the same.

This causes confusion is the best case scenario. In the worst case, it causes a lack of trust. Dangerous!

We should understand our products or services. And we know what we want our visitors to do on our site.

Our potential customers may not understand either. We need to think like them, when we explain what we have to offer them and how to use our website to take advantage of what we have to offer.

And when "shifting" from one page to another, we need to hand-off from one page to another naturally and smoothly, like a car with a smooth automatic transmission.

Don't advertise one offer in AdWords or organic search, only to have your landing page sound like it was written for another advertising offer. I see this problem a lot!

Often times, having an affordable online marketing consulting firm reviewing what you're doing can offer easy, inexpensive fixes that can yield big improvements in your search engine advertising and SEO conversions.

Your Action Plan

Let's review what we've talked about.

First, overcome visitors anxieties by offering a multi-page website which answers questions about your company and your services or products, while inspiring confidence in your company. Effectively communicate your Value Proposition.

Second, personally relate to your site visitors. Avoid using the wrong words that may put off your site visitors. Use your picture on your Web pages.

Third, hand-off from one page on your website and one step in your selling process to another smoothly and naturally. We should understand what we want our site visitors to do, but they won't unless we make the process really clear.

Whether your using an online marketing consulting firm or doing the work yourself, if you take these steps, your search engine optimization | advertising plan will convert at a MUCH higher rate, when you take these steps.

About the Author:
Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market on a budget. He's an Online Marketing Consulting expert offering marketing services (and d-i-y Coaching). You can learn more about Paul on his Internet Marketing LinkedIn profile and at Strategic Web Marketing.net.

How to Turn Casual Customers into Raving Fans

2009-11-09T11:30:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch

One piece of advice I'm hearing again and again is the importance of taking good care of your "core customers." The customers who have been working with you for years, who send you referrals, and who return again and again to buy from you.

Loyal customers are vitally important during difficult economic times like we're currently experiencing because they're less expensive to sell to: you don't have to spend weeks sometimes months building credibility because they're already sold.

But what if your business is relatively new and you just don't have many customers who are coming back yet? Or what if you just lost several of your business customers and you need to cultivate new relationships?

Can you do something to accelerate the process of turning casual customers into raving fans who sing your praises?

Enter the art of creating a fully satisfying customer experience.

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A Satisfying Experience is the Key
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A "satisfying customer experience" means that the many ways that your customers interact with and use your products are designed to satisfy in a meaningful way.

This goes far beyond solving the customer's basic problem.

And this is where the magic can happen.

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Dimensions of a Fully Satisfying Experience
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Customer experience is all about "how" a problem is being solved. And this "how" can be broken down into different types of experience including:

Physical senses: sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch

Emotions that come up (happy, curious, interested, annoyed, amused)

Heart-based connection (feeling like the other people have empathy for your situation)

Intellectual connection (how you go about solving problems; how you learn; vocabulary you use)

The more of these dimensions that are touched in an appropriate way, the more satisfying your customer's experience will be.

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Customer Experience: Albuquerque Turkey
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I can't think of a better product that we can all relate to than food so I'll talk about my experience at Spinelli's Market, a local deli/grocery store to which I love going--especially for their awesome sandwiches.

Although Spinelli's sells some mainstream brands of snacks and soft drinks, the best parts of the store are the aisles of imported Italian foods, pastas, sauces, and olive oil and the deli counter where they sell salads and cut to order deli meats.

The awesome sandwiches are made at the deli counter in the back of the store.

You give your sandwich order along with your choice of sides (pickle, a deli salad or fresh fruit or chips) to one of the guys working behind the counter and they make your sandwich while you wait.

I usually use the time to browse through the stores aisles and pick something to drink.

When your sandwich is ready, the counter guy will call your name. You then take your sandwich wrapped in white butcher paper along with whatever else you're buying to the front to pay.

Sometimes I eat my sandwich in the store at one of the little metal tables in the front and sometimes I take my sandwich home.

Those sandwiches always make an impression. Every time I've brought a family member or a friend or a business associate to Spinelli's for sandwiches, they will ask from that time forward "when are we going to that great sandwich place again?"

Spinelli's sandwiches are a great example of a supremely satisfying experience. Here's why:

The ingredients of the sandwiches are always fresh

The Spinelli family is very mindful of where they source the ingredients. They support local farms and dairies and when possible, buy from family owned businesses.

You feel like someone took the time to really think about what to put in a particular sandwich. All the flavors meld together in unique and wonderful ways.

Everyone working at the store is friendly and you feel like they're truly glad to be working at such a cool place.

When you're done eating it's not just your stomach that feels full.

My heart feels full too because I've eaten something prepared with thought and care and because buying lunch from a local business is contributes to the health of the community I live in.

Now take a moment and compare this experience with visiting a big franchise place like Subway or Taco Bell.

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Creating a More Satisfying Experience for Your Customers
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So what about your business, what can you do to create a more fulfilling, satisfying experience with your prospects and customers?

Here are four steps I recommend to get you started.

=== Step #1 Remember Why You Started a Business to Begin with

Before jumping into the specifics, I think it's important to take a moment to remember why you started your own business. Was it because:

you saw a better way to do something than what other companies were offering at the time?

something you're passionate about that you wanted other people to experience?

something important to you that you wanted to actively support through your business?

And make sure your heart is fully engaged too. When your heart is fully engaged you enable customers to engage with their hearts as well.

=== Step #2 Ask Yourself, "How is the Reason Behind my Business Showing Up in My Products and Services?"

If you started your business because you care deeply or have a passion or have a true innovation, I imagine it's showing up in the products and services you offer. Even without deliberate effort.

Take a look at what you currently sell and in what ways is the care and love for your business showing up in your products and services.

For example, the Spinelli family supports the Slow Food movement, a grass roots movement which encourages people to eat locally grown and produced whole foods.

In addition to sandwiches, the Spinelli family produces and markets a line of Italian sauces and sells made-from-scratch entrees that busy customers can heat and eat at home.

=== Step #3 Ask Yourself, "Are There Ways Customers Can Experience More of What We Care About?"

My guess is that if you sell something special, your customers know.

But if you aren't talking about what goes into creating your products and services, they may not know how to articulate this difference to other people.

If this is the case, you and your customers are missing an opportunity for word of mouth marketing.

For example, one of my clients creates girls dresses using patterns and fabrics from the 1950's and 1960's. I love her work because the dresses are cute without being frilly or fussy.

But there are lots of cute kids clothing lines out there. I felt her products were something special

I suggested to her, as part of her marketing, to share the story behind how she found the pattern and why it appealed to her.

Her stories are funny and entertaining and they help store owners who carry her lines and the customers who buy the outfits feel involved in something special and unique.

=== Step #4 Choose One Small Change to Make so Customers Feel More Engaged and Satisfied

By far, the easiest change you can make is to tell your story to customers so they understand why you have the business you have and sell the products and services you sell.

Sharing your story helps people feel more engaged and satisfied for several reasons:

(1.) They have a way to articulate to others a reason for trying your products and services. Referring others helps your customers look good to others and you want to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

(2.) It allows customers to feel like a part of something larger. When you share your story those who share your experience or point of view find a kindred spirit to be with.

(3.) Stories are easy to understand and remember because they touch us not only intellectually but emotionally. Human beings seem "pre-wired" to absorb and integrate information that comes in narrative form.

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Bottom Line
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To create more raving fans it's important to understand what makes your products and services uniquely satisfying to current customers.

This satisfying experience goes beyond simply solving a problem... a satisfying experience engages the senses and emotions as your customers use your products and services.

Four steps I recommend for creating a more satisfying experience are:

1. Think back to why you started your business to begin with

2. Ask whether that reason is reflected in the products and services you sell

3. Find ways in which your clients can experience what makes your products and services special

4. Find an opportunity to tell a story and more fully engage your Customers

About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Follow @judymurdoch on Twitter.

The Missing Element

2009-11-09T09:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

to touch on a really important point most people (including myself, until recently) don't get.

You see, I've always thought the most important aspect of business was marketing.

And I still believe that.

For instance, I was having dinner with my extended family last night and they were talking about why some businesses in their franchise are more successful than others.

And you know what it all really boils down to: the successful businesses know how to sell.

But there's actually three elements to a successful business.

1. Understanding marketing such as what you'll learn at http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/ and http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow

2. Thinking: coming up with new ideas. Focusing your business on the 20% of things that really matter. Planning and scheduling.

But the element most people miss is...

THE PUSH

So what exactly is The Push?

It's the ability to make things happen. It's not leaving to yesterday what needs to be done today. It's setting deadlines and sticking to them. ... because if you don't have some element or person in your business who's constantly pushing, things simply don't happen all that quickly.

In business, I believe "going with the flow" is a recipe for disaster because you've got no control where the flow is going to take you.

Makes sense, right?

For instance, I've been talking about creating more products for over 12 months.

I know that there is plenty more that I can give. But I've been so busy writing copy for my clients that I haven't made time.

But now it's time to bring the "pusher" into play and create the time no matter what.

And that's one of the things I've noticed with the most successful business people I have met.

The fact they are great marketers and thinkers is a given.

But the one thing that seperates the most successful from the also rans is their ability to push for things to get done.

So don't just get your hands on http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/ and master the art of getting new customers.

Learn how to "push" as well so you can make it happen.

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is an income boosting, results focused direct response copywriter and the author of Cashflow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. His popular ebook "7 ways to get more customers" has been downloaded by over 8,247 business owners over the past five years. You can get your hands on it by heading on over to http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.

What's Most Important

2009-11-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

The other day I was speaking to a guy who runs a company which teaches people to trade the stock market. And we were talking about psychology and how it's the most important element to your success.

He was telling me about how you can give EXACTLY the same trading system to one person and they'll go and turn it into a fortune, achieve their dream lifestyle and all that sort of good stuff.

Another will do nothing with it and claim it doesn't work.

It doesn't make any sense, does it?

But I know how true it is.

Because the reality is the same thing happens with advertising and marketing.

I can write an ad for one person. And they won't even place it.

Another person will use that same ad to make millions of dollars, like David Warne from A Crown Roast did with an advertisement I wrote for him.

I remember creating an ad for a real estate agent years ago.

The ad worked. The phones rang. People were interested.

But he claimed they were all dud leads.

I know for a fact they weren't.

They just weren't followed up properly.

He didn't send them newsletters. He didn't invite them to seminars. He didn't take the time to forge a relationship. In essence, he threw away a six figure system simply because he wouldn't put the work into follow the system. (and I know this to be true because I do it myself and have seen plenty of others succeed with this same system over the years).

I've seen this happen over and over again throughout the years.

The number one element to success is psychology.

You've got to believe a strategy can succeed. And you've got to be willing to follow the system.

It's true in the stock market. It's true in marketing. It's true in advertising. It's true in sport. And it's true in virtually every area of life.

So before you get your hands on any information product - yes, even my http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/ program - or begin any marketing or advertising strategy, make sure you...

a. Believe you can succeed.

and

b. Commit to following the system.

Otherwise you'll just be wasting your time and money.

I'll leave you with this quote from writer and economist, Stuart Chase

"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible"

and one more from the inventor of the electric starter, Charles Kettering:

"Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail"

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter and the author of "Cash Flow Advertising" and "More Customers Made Easy". Although Scott is accepting very few clients, he generously shares his experience on copywriting at his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Zig When They Zag - And Stand Out

2009-11-08T20:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

The internet has become all the rage these days.

Don't send a letter, pop it on an email.

Don't mail the customer anything, pop it in an email.

In fact, let's forget about letters altogether and do everything electronically.

I'm as guilty of this as the next person.

But recently I received a thank you card and it made me think a little differently.

You see, I receive (and appreciate) a bundle of emails every week thanking me for the emails I send out.

And nothing makes me feel better than knowing that as I write these emails from my lonely office, someone is reading them and hopefully applying them.

However a couple of weeks ago I received something in the mail which really stood out.

It was a thank you card from a guy called Greg Kumanovski from Global Pictures. All it said was...

"Thank you for your regular emails with all the helpful ideas. Have a great day"

But I've had that card sitting on my filing cabinet ever since he sent it to me.

And I think there's a lesson here for all of us.

Whether it's thank you cards or anything else, consider sending the hard copy version over the soft copy version.

In other words: when everyone else is zigging, why not zag and stand out from the crowd.

After all, mail order should be far more effective these days because nobody else is doing it.

For instance, yesterday I was chatting with a guy who sent out his proposals via email.

He was getting a lot of proposals requests coming in every week and would pretty much churn back a standard response with a quotation.

I suggested he set up a system where he could send them out via mail instead.

We worked out that all he would need to pay for the cost of the mail is a 1% increase in response.

My bet is that he would get it.

Especially when all of his competitors are probably doing everything via email as well.

So take a moment now to think of how you can do things differently... and use alternative strategies to stand out from your competition.

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C writing. Mr Bywater is the author of Cash-Flow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. You can gain access to his copywriting and marketing tips via his entertaining and eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.

Domain Name Ideas for Your Business

2009-11-08T18:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu

To achieve success with your web site, you will need to choose the right type of domain name that is relevant to the theme of your web portal. Hence, choosing the correct name is very important. Almost all well-known web sites have names built around very sensitive and important keywords. Good keywords are very essential for the success of web sites. Web users enter their keywords of choice to search for information from the web. A web user who wants to have an access to information about a product or service will enter keywords in the search bar of the major search engines. Keyword types of domain names are very handy to develop your business ideas.

If you are running an orchid flower selling online business, then you may wish to choose a name like onlineorchidflowers.com. Likewise, a business that sells discount flowers will do well with a name like discountedflowers.com. Choosing the right type of name is not at all difficult. You just need to use your common sense to find out a very good domain name. Here are some practical domain name ideas for your business:

1. All famous domain names are very short. People can easily type very short domain names unlike a long one that is difficult to type and remember. People also hate to type a very long name.

2. Let the name chosen be very simple. People always misspell domain names that are difficult to type. It is likely that someone may visit some other people's web site if they misspell your domain name.

3. Never ever, use a domain name that sounds like an established and approved trade name. You could land in serious trouble if you do that. Double-check your domain name before you publish it.

4. Let the name be relevant to the theme of your business. People want to reach web sites that reflect their needs and requirements.

5. Give preference to a .com domain-name extension. If it is not available, then you can take other domain extensions. .com is still the in thing!

6. If possible, register all similar domain names under different extensions like .net, .org, .biz etc. You can always redirect people to your main web site by using these domain names.

7. Never ever, use hyphens. Web users will never be able to remember them. It is also difficult to type these names. If someone is using domain name of your choice, do not order for a domain that contains hyphens in between. People may confuse your web site with similar sounding web sites. This will result in your web users visiting your competitor's web portals.

8. If you have a difficult to remember name, people may miss out some letters in the domain name. To avoid this possibility, you can register similar sounding names and redirect visitors from these domains to your main web site. All well-known web sites use these techniques even if someone types wrong URL in the address bar of the search engine.

Make sure that the domain of your choice is actually available with a registrar. You can use the Whois database to check whether the domain name of your choice is still available or not.

About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

Read more of John Khu's articles.

3 Key Points in Online Marketing to Avoid Tanking Your Results

2009-11-08T13:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Paul Marshall

With all the changes in Google AdWords and the increased competition these days, organic SEO looks more and more attractive to most of us.

The key is for your website optimization to out-perform your competition, without over spending with an online marketing consultant (or without taking up too much of your time if you're going the do-it-yourself route).

Remember, affordable Search Engine Optimization is about increasing quality traffic, then

converting

that traffic to a sale or a sales lead.

If you miss these points I describe below, your SEO goals of increased conversions will tank, even if you have a Number 1 Google Ranking.

I often notice these missed areas when I'm Coaching a business owner about their Web site and their need to increase sales and sales leads.

So, here are 3 points for you to review that I hope will help your SEO goals of increased conversions.

What's Above the Fold Counts Most, so Consider Monitor Resolutions

Living in the world of TV remote controls and browser back buttons, we have to capture our website visitors' attention ASAP. Our visitors aren't going to give us much time before making a decision to stay or to leave our website.

As much as this subject is discussed these days, it's amazing the number of sites I review that have critical information missing from "above the fold", in that area visible before your visitors scroll down.

This is the area to briefly summarize what people can do on your site and make your best case for your guests staying on your website and not clicking away. This may also be the area to place your contact information.

Keep in mind that what's above the fold on your monitor will likely be different from what's above the fold on the monitor for someone visiting your website. Browser resolution is set differently for various computers.

For instance, on my website, I know the top resolution of my visitors is 1280 by 1024 (53%) and the second most popular resolution is 1024 by 768 (37%). I get this information from my site's analytics script, although not all analytics programs provide this critical information.

Since I make sure my site looks great for these 90% of my visitors and make sure I communicate reasons to stay on my site above the fold (my value proposition), I draw more people into my site, encouraging them to scroll down.

Remember to cross test your site with recent versions of the most popular Web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and maybe even Google's new Chrome.

These steps raise my conversion rate and they will raise yours, too. And increasing traffic and conversions is the whole point of affordable search engine optimization, whether using an online marketing consultant or d-i-y, right?

So, don't miss this important step.

Carefully Select Your Type Size and Font and Remember that White Space is Your Friend

I'm astounded by the improper text choices made by so many website owners today. Is there really any good reason to make people squint at your website, struggling to get the information they need?

Consider reviewing The Easy to Read Standard at Information Architects (you can Google it). I would encourage you to review the size of your text, the white space between your letters and words and between your paragraphs and headings.

Designers often believe whitespace is your enemy; if you want people to understand your message and stay on your website, whitespace is in fact your friend. :-)

Also consider that fonts with serifs are easier to read than fonts without serifs.

If you want to successfully convey your message to as many of your site visitors as possible, then make it as easy for them as you can. When we're talking about increasing conversions, it's all about the numbers and appealing to the largest number of people possible.

Use Opt-in Email or Blog Postings to Maximize Your Sales

All website owners would like for people to buy from their website the first time they visit. But is that realistic?

Consider these statics from the National Sales Executive Association:

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact;

3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact;

5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact;

10% of sales are made on the 4th contact (and)

80% of sales are made on the 5th - 12th contact.

For most businesses, if you don't offer an opt-in contact, like a regular email newsletter or blog postings, you're missing out on most of your potential sales!

When setting up an opt-in Internet marketing campaign, you should offer incentives to subscribe. To entice people to opt-in, you can offer:

special pricing for email list members

a first look at new products

ability for customer to select subjects and emails they receive (controlling the frequency of contact by choosing which of your lists to be on)

promise not to share email or other personal info with other companies

Using opt-in contact allows you to significantly increase conversions by introducing yourself over time to your potential customers, in a soft-sell manner.

Website optimization is important; the goal is increased Internet traffic, sales and sales leads. But whether you've hired an online marketing consultant or you're doing the process yourself, Affordable search engine optimization by itself doesn't accomplish those last points of increased sales and sales leads.

You've got to remember to design your website to alleviate visitors natural apprehensions and make buying from you as easy as possible.

Properly mapping out the above the fold area of your Web pages, using appropriate size text, using adequate whitespace and offering an opt-in process to nurture your buyers will all help you accomplish the real goals you have with SEO and website optimization: increased sales and more sales leads.

About the Author:
Marketing online since 2004, Paul Marshall can help you market on a budget. He's an Online Marketing Consultant and an Affordable Search Engine Optimization specialist offering marketing services (and d-i-y Coaching). You can learn more about Paul on his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmarshallwebmarketing and at Strategic Web Marketing.net.

Read more of Paul Marshall's articles.

How to Be in Charge (without Being a Jerk)

2009-11-08T12:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch

Earlier this year, I was working at a sales training seminar and we were on the topic of handling customer objections.

A participant who owns a massage therapy practice was asking how to best address a prospective client who didn't want to follow his recommended course of treatment.

We then asked other audience members to share their experience. A couple people spoke up and their advice, however well-intended, felt off to me.

The advice focused on listening and negotiating with the prospect: finding a compromise position between what the prospective client was willing to do and what the massage therapist was prescribing.

I took the microphone back, and said, "You know what, you've been a massage therapist for years. You know what works and what doesn't work. You're the expert here and if you don't think what you're client is asking for is going to help, tell them that and stand firm on your recommendation."

It was uncomfortable to disagree with these other two professionals. They had a lot of experience in sales and marketing but in this case they were missing an important point:

# When you own a business and offer expert advice, you're the boss. You're the leader and customers are coming to you for your leadership.

=========================================
Isn't Saying "What I Say, Goes" Arrogant and Obnoxious?
=========================================

Well, yes, actually, that is pretty arrogant and obnoxious.

But that's not what I'm suggesting.

To explain let's look for a moment at what it means to own a business from a larger perspective.

A concept mentioned by all the great spiritual teachers is that of the "servant-leader." In Christianity the term "stewardship" is often used.

In more secular terms, the servant-leader means that the real authority is a higher power: something bigger and grander than ourselves: a greater good in the universe.

If you created your business as a means to make money and to make a positive difference, your position as a business owner is an interesting one.

In a sense your business is a vehicle to serve a greater good and you get to be a steward: entrusted to do the right thing.

Part of doing the right thing is serving your customers.

And if the value your business offers is based in your expertise, serving customers requires that you be an expert and stand in what you know as an expert.

=========================================
Drawing the Line Between Being an Expert in Service versus Being an Argumentative Jerk
=========================================

Ok so where do you draw the line between holding an expert position and being a blowhard?

This is where we check into our hearts and look at our motives.

Let's go back to the example of the massage therapist.

Let's say the massage therapist tells the client they need weekly sessions if they want help with their lower back pain.

The client says, "I'm really busy and I can't afford to come in every week, can't I get the same results if I come in a couple times this month?"

The massage therapist has years of training and experience. He knows that if the client doesn't follow his recommendation chances are good that the client won't get the relief he wants.

This is a situation when, as an expert and business owner, it's important to step into your role as a leader.

Your role is to check in with your expertise and heart for the best course of action to help your customers get the support they've come to you for.

The client may not like your recommendation and that's ok. They may even leave and go to a competitor.

It's painful to lose a customer but customers who can't or won't follow your guidance won't get the help they need anyway.

=========================================
Keys to Being a Non-Jerky Boss
=========================================

== Key #1 Give yourself a Break: You're Human! ==

No one does anything in business or otherwise because of a single motive. Maybe you're in business mostly because you want to make a difference but hey your ego likes being seen as an expert too.

Empathy for yourself is not a luxury, it's a necessity for having effective relationships with others... including clients.

== Key #2 Clarify, really why are you taking the position you're taking? ==

It's not easy taking a stand--especially if it's likely to be unpopular. Which is why it helps to stand solidly in what underlies your perspective.

I find it helpful to ask yourself, "What's my highest intention in this situation?"

In the case of the massage therapist, his highest intention isn't absence of pain for his patients although that is one outcome they get.

His highest intention is to help clients become more aware of their bodies so they can learn to prevent conditions that led to the pain to begin with.

== Key #3 Find empathy for others ==

In our culture, it's easy to mistake taking a position for being "right" and those who don't share our position as being "wrong."

And when we get attached to our "right way" of doing something we can sound critical and judgmental which leads to resistance and defensiveness in others and drives them away.

Remember, even if you don't agree with someone's reason it still feels true for them. There's a greater good in charge of outcomes-- you and I are just humble servants

== Key #4 Remember it isn't About Being Right; It's About Providing Leadership for Those Who Want What You Offer ==

This is probably the most important point to remember.

There are people, your "tribe" if you like that term, who care about the same things you care about and are seeking like-minded people with whom they can do business. These are the customers who resonate with your highest intention.

You're job is to stand strongly in your position for these customers so they can find you and feel supported by you.

This how you are in service as a business owner.

=========================================
Bottom Line
=========================================

When you own a business and offer expert advice, you're the boss. You're the leader and customers are coming to you for your leadership.

But just because you're in charge doesn't mean you have license to be a jerk.

Effective leadership means remembering you're in the position your in to serve a greater good: to support the customers who share your values and need the solutions your business offers.

About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com

Follow Judy Murdoch on Twitter.

How Many Links Does It Take To Get To The Middle Of Google Page One?

2009-11-08T10:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt

Everyday it seems, people are asking me the optimum numbers of inbound links they need to acquire for their website in order to rank well in Google.

My answer is going to seem a little flip, but it is the honest, best answer.

Answer: You need more inbound links - of equal or higher quality - than what your competitors have.

Albert Einstein argued that any mathematical formula that required pages of calculations did not contain within it "the mind of God".

So when Albert Einstein developed E=mc2, then Einstein had fulfilled the promise of a simple formula that could encompass the brilliance of God.

When people wonder as to how many inbound links they might need to acquire in order to rank in the Top 4 of Google's search results or even the Top 10 of Google's SERPs, they are generally hoping that someone will be able to give them a numeric answer, so that they know whether they can afford to undertake the process or not.

I understand the WHY of the question, but there is no canned answer that will work for everyone.

Remember, your competitor may be asking the same question and undertaking the same processes as you are, trying to accomplish the same goal.

No one can truly begin to understand the answer to this question, until one has take the time to do an Inbound Link Comparison Analysis of all of your competitors in the Top 10 spots of Google's SERPs.

You need to look at the Top 10 listings in Google for a particular keyword.

You need to do backlink checks for all ten URLs in Google's search listings, and you need to check those numbers across a variety of sources, including Google, Yahoo and any other tool you can find to do a check. (Google and Yahoo both tend to understate the actual link counts. While Yahoo will show you more than what Google does, they also show a number of "no consequence" links in their results.)

You need to look at the quality of a few of the pages that offer links to the URLs in the search results.

This is not an easy process to undertake. I have done it before, but the best you can hope for is a "snapshot" of what is out there, and therefore, what you need to accomplish.

Note: If Wikipedia turns up in your search query, few people with small budgets will ever be able to dislodge Wikipedia in the search results. What they make up for in a small number of inbound links, they more than make up for with links from dozens or hundreds of PR4, PR5 and PR6 pages. Wikipedia is the king of Internal Linking, and they use that to a great degree to rank extraordinarily high in Google's search listings.

Your analysis should seek to uncover how many links a page has to it.

As a general rule of thumb, Google will show you less than 1% of the existing number of links for a web page. Yahoo will sometimes show closer to 5% of the existing number of links for a web page, but they will not show you the highest quality of those links.

So, as you strive to gain a "snapshot" picture of the playing field, you want to take Google's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 100. Then you want to take Yahoo's Inbound Links number and multiply that by at least 20, then cut the number in half to acknowledge the number of worthless crap links they have in their database. Once you have achieved these two numbers, then I tend to call the truth "somewhere in the middle".

With your "somewhere in the middle" number in hand, then you need to look at the quality of links to a few of those search listings, to get an idea of whether those links exist on higher quality pages or simply junk pages.

If those links are on junk pages, then the goal could be achieved by just working the numbers. But if there are a lot of high PageRank pages in the mix, then whatever number is in your hand, should be multiplied, perhaps 100-fold, to overcome the quality of pages that link to your competitors.

If you get the idea that my simple formula leads to a complicated answer, then you are right.

All of the numbers that I have included in my sample formula are based on rough speculation, as the "snapshot" offers you your best hope of understanding the challenge in front of you.

While the number of inbound links may be relatively easy to determine, the link quality is a factor that is really hard to pin down.

If you determine that you only need 300 inbound links to rank with the big boys, you may be right.

Your 300 inbound links number should also be quantified against the number of links that Google will count worthy, so you may need 1200 links to get 300 links that Google will deem worthy. This calculation depends more on the "quality of your content", rather than the "quantity of your content".

When all is said and done and your 300 Google-worthy links have not yet put you on page one, then you know that the quality of the links pointing at your competitors is greater than the quality of the links pointing to you.

If you were hoping for an easy answer, I am sorry that I could not help you with that.

But with this explanation of the challenge, you may be better prepared to answer the big question, the question that is really on your mind:

=== Are my hopes of achieving good rankings in Google within my reach?

I tend to throw "worry" to the wind and just start working. I don't worry if I can afford to do it or not. I simply start doing, and I know that in one month, one year or five, I will have built enough value in my website that my competitors are going to be the ones who are trying to figure out if they can unseat me!

About the Author:
Bill Platt has provided SEO services since 2004. In 2009, he transformed his SEO service, into one that helps people defeat negative search results in Google. By improving the rank of positive website reviews in the search results, negative search listings begin to disappear from the public eye. If you would like to learn more about how Bill's Reputation Management SEO service can help your business, visit: http://911reputation.com/ Bill has also owned http://thePhantomWriters.com/ since 2001.

Read more of Bill Platt's articles.

Web Analytics and Your Website - What You Need to Know

2009-11-08T09:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario

When it comes to the web, information is king. Indeed, the web itself is information, a massive collection of articles, videos, blogs, news stories and photographs trying to convey a message to various audiences scattered around the world. The big sensation over the last year has been Twitter, a system built around condensing information to a mere 140 characters and broadcasting it out to interested users with a minimum of frills and features.

YouTube, a site where literally anybody can upload their videos for the appreciation of others, became the fourth most popular site on the Internet in less than a year. Compare that to newspapers and television, which both have been experiencing decreasing viewership in recent years. People need, want, and will seek out every conceivable sort of information, and the Internet is the place to find it.

Who Wants To Know?

Information isn't just of use to the casual browser or dedicated auction enthusiast, however. Equally and increasingly interested are the very people posting content to the many pages on the web. Who is visiting which pages? How much traffic is your site getting, and how does it measure up against traffic going to similar sites? What has changed since you put up the big new advertising system last year? Necessity being the mother of invention, this increasing craving for varied and precise forms of information has led to the steady growth of a field called Web Analytics.

What Are You Looking At?

Put simply, Web Analytics is a system of study dedicated to collecting, measuring, and reporting on web and Internet data. This general idea breaks down further into two broad disciplines. The first is on-site analytics, which concerns itself with the journey of each user to a website, and is of primary concern to the owners of that site. It records information ranging from a record of which pages are being visited to a comparison of which pages garner more purchases from visitors. Off-site analytics focuses on information on the Internet as a whole, such as what websites more people are visiting, and what sites are being talked about most frequently. Both methods seek to answer the key question for any website operator - what are people looking at?

But What Does It All Mean?

Proper Web Analytics goes a step further than simple data collection, however. It also concerns itself with interpretation of the data in a context that allows the site owner to take appropriate steps. Let's use the advertising campaign mentioned earlier as an example. Simple web measurement would be the collection of how many hits and purchases the site gathered before and after the campaign. A serious analytic comparison would explain how quickly purchases picked up after the change, what products and portions of the site drew more traffic as a result, and which pages remained unaffected. In short, web measurement is the gathering of the data; Web Analytics is the comparison and interpretation of that data.

The importance of the analytics field to the modern site owner can be observed in the sheer volume of material available on the subject. Sites offer free programs allowing users to set their own metrics, and others can be purchased, offering extra features and a professional interface. Hardcover and electronic format books have been published dealing with the material, and people have formed associations for the purpose of standardizing Web Analytics methodology and terms.

There is even a Web Analytics conference, the E-metrics summit, held in Santa Barbara, California and London, England each year. Going even further, there are listed job offerings in the field that offer salaries approaching $100,000 a year. Clearly this is not a passing fad, but a serious, vital step for any website interested not just in drawing an audience, but keeping it.

It's All About Information

Of course this all begs the question - how does a user get started. Moreover, to what degree should they seek to implement Web Analytic tools and techniques? Perhaps a bit counter-intuitively, the quest for information begins with information. Site owners know what they want to accomplish with their sites, be it promoting a specific product or generating an audience for geopolitical discussions in a casual atmosphere. This information is the best place to start because it allows the user to begin understanding what information will help them pursue their goal.

For example, if a page is intended to promote an e-book series, then the user wants to know what information will help them do that promotion. They can then look for analytic tools that will tell them what pages are more successful at selling e-books, and what techniques are less successful.

Taking the time to sit down and think through the purpose that analytic information is ultimately intended to accomplish will make the search easier, and more fruitful from the beginning. With this basic framework established, the next step is the web itself. A simple web search on 'Web Analytics' or 'Web Analytics for beginners' will return a substantial amount of information. From there users can locate articles, videos, and e-books that will help them make the decisions they need to make their websites successful.

About the Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/

Read more of Enzo F. Cesario's articles.

Social Media and SEO Myths

2009-11-08T05:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

I was reading this book the other day about the death of advertising.

It was a book written by a web 2.0 search engine fan and he was saying there was going to be a death of advertising and everything would be done via search engines, social media, etc. going forward.

Now that's partly true.

Things have shifted.

Twenty years ago the media was dominated by television and newspapers.

And that was the only way to get your name out there on a mass level.

And that's certainly all changed.

But I was thinking the other day about some of my larger clients.

There's an 80 / 20 rule in business that... 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients.

Now I haven't crunched my numbers enough to know if this is absolutely true in my case, but here's what I've noticed about four of my top clients which generate a large percentage of my business.

One was generated by a referral.

And three were generated by picking up the phone or sending these guys letters / emails directly to get them on board.

And NOT because they suddenly fell across me online via search engines, blogs, social media, etc.

The message: Don't fall for all the hype.

If you know who your target market is then go after them.

Don't just rely on search.

Because with search you cannot control who you attract.

Sure, you can control via keyword.

But you cannot say I want a business who is turning over a minimum of a million dollars a year in the manufacturing industry for instance.

You can with direct mail.

Of course, you need to use the strategies you'll find in http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/cashflow to make sure you do it right and hit the nail on the head.

But once again, as with my last email you need to zig when they zag and not just follow along blindly according to what everyone else is saying and doing.

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is an advertising copywriting expert and the author of Cash-Flow Advertising. To gain access to all of his copywriting tips on how to get more customers via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter, simply head on over to his web site at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Follow @scottbywater on Twitter.

Curing Versus Healing

2009-11-08T00:00:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

On Thursday night, I had some really bad back pain. So on Friday I went to my chiropractor.

No big deal she said... cracked me a few times... and sent me on my way with the thoughts...

"Just come more often to get your maintenance."

Now while I was there I picked up an article about healing and curing.

And here are their definitions as laid out by Natural Wisdom Australia

"Curing" involves removing symptoms, treating a part of the body, or controlling a process.

"Healing" involves helping people to become more whole and function at a higher level.

The problem with most businesses that I see is that they only do something when they need a cure (just like me with the chiropractor).

For instance, when they are short on customers they decide they need to advertise.

Or when they have a slow month they call in a consultant.

Or whatever.

It's all emergency based marketing.

But why not decide today to heal your business so that the emergencies don't pop up all of the time?

Why not make your business more whole so you can function at a higher level?

Why not set up some systems today which will ensure you'll NEVER have to worry about where your next lead is coming from.

It could be a flyer.

It could be a lead generation web site.

It could be an advertisement.

It could be a telemarketing system to follow up existing customers.

It could be a strategy to get bigger customers.

It could be a social networking strategy.

But do it now. Because just like I had to suffer through pain because I didn't focus on healing my back and staying on top of things before I needed to... if you don't take action and develop a lead generation strategy which virtually guarantees your phone will be ringing all of the time... your business is going to suffer some pain as well.

About the Author:
For quick results, you'll want to get your hands on this leading direct response copywriter's ebook "7 Ways To Get More Customers" at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/ Scott Bywater shows you how to get all the customers you need in just 60 days. This popular ebook has been downloaded by over 8,247 business owners over the past five years. Packed with information, this ebook will show you copywriting and marketing strategies which could have you getting new clients within just a couple of days.

Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.

Teach To Learn

2009-11-05T14:15:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

Years ago, when I was in my teens I flicked through a book by Stephen Covey that you have probably heard of.

It's called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People."

That was a long time ago and I must go and revisit that book.

However there is one idea I learnt that I believe applies to virtually every business.

The best way to learn something is to teach something.

Unfortunately, most people don't start teaching anything until they believe they are an expert. As a result, they hinder their progress.

So why does the concept of "teach to learn" work so well.

It's really quite simple.

When you teach, you are forced to think about what you know... to crystallize your knowledge... to answer your unanswered questions.

You get questions thrown back at you... and this really internalizes the knowledge.

So let's see how this could apply to the average person in business.

For instance, if you're a chiropractor or health practitioner.

Here's what I would do to implement the "teach to learn" concept and turn it into a profit.

I'd start a regular newsletter.

An offline newsletter once a month and an online newsletter once a month so your readers end up with a newsletter every couple of weeks.

And as a part of that newsletter I would include research and information on how chiropractic has been able to help with a number of ailments.

Everything from back pain to headaches to the common cold.

In doing so, I would dig up information on that topic... I would be forced to think about what really matters to my readers... and it would give me time to internalize what I knew and how I could better help my patients.

It would also put money in the bank.

Think about it: you would be "in the face" of your most interested prospects - your clients - encouraging them to come into your practice more and more often.

This would also stimulate more referrals.

The newsletter would be passed around (mail) or forwarded on (email).

You could use that content and throw it up on a blog somewhere to encourage traffic from the search engines.

And you'd learn a heck of a lot at the same time.

So if you want to learn more - teach more.

If you want to be respected as an authority in your field and have prospective customers chasing you rather than the other way around - teach more.

And if you want to make greater profits - then teach more.

Now there is no easier way than creating more customers from your teachings than learning how to create killer emails. And that's the topic I cover on lesson #18 of http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/

I show you how to write them... which auto responders to look at... how to get more names onto your list... and much, much more.

About the Author:
As a direct response copywriter, Scott Bywater strives to educate business owners on how to generate more leads, get more of the "right type" of customers, differentiate themselves from their competition, and convert their leads into sales via his underground and "outside of the box" strategies. You can get his copywriting and marketing tips delivered to your inbox via his eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Read more of Scott Bywater's articles.

Are You Fighting The Secret Formula?

2009-11-03T22:00:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Kim Duke

Those who know me - know I'm in love with airplanes and science. (Yes - your Sales Diva is secretly a nerd)

I "grew-up" in a little red and white Cessna 120 airplane. My father trained for his pilot's license when I was 11 years old and for years I was the only one who would fly with him!

Flying with my dad was one of my favorite things to do (and still is!)

One of the lessons he taught me about flying is that an airplane uses almost 60% of its fuel for take-off.

Just those few minutes of going down the run-way and lifting up into the air uses the most energy. But once the plane is air-borne it is able to use minimal fuel to successfully stay in the air.

Are You Fighting The Secret Formula?

Now let's tap into my crazy science nerd side.

W. Edwards Deming is the American statistician who spent over 50 years on statistical study. He realized that for every process there is a beginning and an end. (OK - no laughing here - there's more!)

His contribution is considered historically so important that U.S. News and World Report called him "one of the hidden turning points in history".

He discovered when you focus on the first 15% of the process and get it correct (its initial conditions), you ensure at least 85% of your desired outcome.

"By focusing on the FIRST 15% of ANYTHING, the remaining 85% will effortlessly follow."

My dad and Mr. Deming are from the same school of thought.

What Would My Dad Or W. Edwards Deming Think Of You?

Right now you're letting things you're beginning draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag out.

You're spending all your time making figure 8 laps on the runway!

Are you investing ENOUGH of your time, energy and money into the first 15% of a project, customer or your business?

I just saw the look that crossed your face (it's my super-science-geek-glasses)...and I know you're probably NOT creating a POWERFUL 15%.

Hmmm.

And you're also wondering why you're having wimpy and weinery results?

Remember - THE FIRST 15% is the powerful stuff:

understanding WHO, WHY and WHAT is important

knowing what is THE END RESULT you want to experience

creating a strategic and powerful plan for marketing and sales

getting help in the areas that quite frankly you suck at

get the drift?

My Diva Dare?

NOW IS THE TIME. Get your 15% Formula FLYING!!!

Love from your Bossy Sales Diva, Wanna-Be Pilot and Scientist,

Kim

About the Author:
Kim Duke is an unconventional, sassy and savvy sales expert that shows women small biz owners and entrepreneurs sizzling sales tips on how to increase sales in a fun, easy, stress-free way! Get the FREE report "The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make" at http://salesdivas.com/Ezine-signup.php

Read more of Kim Duke's articles.

Sell Yourself Like A Papaya Tree

2009-11-03T04:45:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

Before we go any further, I want you to take a look at the image below...

http://img24.yfrog.com/i/c1sv.jpg/

What you can see is a photo of the papaya fruit which I enjoyed last weekend.

But why on earth would I take a photo of a papaya fruit?

It's really quite simple. The papaya fruit got me thinking about a few things.

You see, in the middle of that luscious piece of fruit there are literally dozens of little seeds.

But they all started from one tiny little seed. In fact, the whole papaya tree which contains hundreds of papaya fruit which contain hundreds of seeds, all started from one tiny little seed.

It's really quite mind blowing, isn't it.

One seed creates a tree. One tree creates hundreds of papaya's. And those papaya's go on to create hundreds of trees.

But let's consider something else.

Probably 99% of those seeds fail to germinate... get washed away by the rain... die before they live their full potential.

And isn't the marketing world the same?

You have to send hundreds of letters in many cases to get a response.

You have to talk to a number of people to generate a sale.

Hundreds of people need to click on your google adwords to get a handful of people to your site... and many people need to see your site before a sale or quote is generated.

But here's something to keep in mind.

You cannot force a seed to germinate.

It either does or it doesn't.

And you cannot force someone to purchase your product or service.

They either will or they won't.

You can nurture a seed. You can give it the environment it needs to grow, the same way as you nurture a client.

But you cannot force.

However you can decide to place more seeds.

And when you join http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com I'll show you over a dozen ways to plant thousands of seeds including fax marketing, newspaper advertising, social media, article marketing, the "frame" mailer to get big clients, public relations, affiliate programs, joint ventures and much, much more.

Remember, the more seeds you plant and the better you are at planting them, the more abundant your harvest will be...

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a successful direct response copywriter and heads up Copywriting That Sells, a direct response advertising firm. Want to learn how to get more customers - then get your hands on his popular 17 page ebook "7 ways To Increase Your Turnover... No Matter What The State Of The Economy." It's been downloaded by over 8,247 business owners over the past five years and you can get your hands on it now at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.

List Building - 5 Steps To Generate Viral Traffic To Your Website

2009-11-01T09:30:00.001-06:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Alan Cheng

If you can create viral traffic then you've won the battle for traffic generation. Driving traffic is a continuous task, so viral traffic which grows on its own is a dream for all online business owners. But not many online business owners know or even try to implement it. Here are 5 steps to creating viral traffic so that your traffic building efforts produces the most amount of visitors and subscribers.

1. Create A Squeeze Page

Get a landing page which does nothing but offer some free gifts in exchange for the visitor's email. This is where you start to build your list.

Hire a good graphics designer and come up with attractive gifts such as valuable reports and/or free software.

2. Create A Report To Sell

Your next task is to create a report which you're going to sell. Again, make sure the graphics are eye-catching and pay a good graphics designer to create your website.

Your report has to look fantastic and the information needs to be good. Do the required research and put as much information as possible into this report.

With your website, sell the report for $97. This is a steep price for a report but your objective is not to sell many copies of it. Do the necessary promotion and get the word out about your report. And don't forget to put links in the report to your website.

3. Free Gift

When people sign up to your list via your squeeze page, send them to a page where you will offer your $97 report as a gift. To claim the gift, the subscriber needs to refer at least 3 of their friends to your squeeze page.

Now when your subscribers see that your gift is worth $97 and that you are currently selling it for that price, it will drive conversions through the roof.

No one can resist a true free gift that is currently selling for $97. This can help you generate viral traffic. Your subscribers' friends might sign up to your list and repeat the whole process by referring their friends to your squeeze page.

4. Email To List

Now while your squeeze page is building your list virally, you can create a report and continue to send it to your list for free. Of course, they would have to refer 3 or more of their friends to download the free gift.

Using this technique you are training your list to refer their friends in order to get your free reports. You are also testing to see which kind of offers create the best responses.

5. Contest

When you know which type of offers send you the most amount of referrals, you can create a contest and announce it to your list.

For the contest you will need to provide something which is perceived to be a high priced item otherwise it won't work. The best type of offers are video training with personal coaching from you based on the offer with the most responses.

Offer your prize to 3 winners only. Since you are offering personal coaching and video training, you can set a high price for the prize. Pricing it at $1,000 is not unreasonable.

To win the contest, your list needs to send you traffic to your squeeze page. The top 3 who sends the most subscribers will win the $1000 prize. This is very attractive.

Once they spread the news by telling people about your contest, more and more people will join your list and promote the contest.. This is the viral effect you're looking for. You can even issue a press release to inform more people about your contest.

Carrying out these 5 steps will ensure unstoppable viral traffic to your website. It needs planning and setting up the system for it to work and creation of the reports, but you are sure to get an avalanche of traffic. Using this viral traffic to get people subscribed to your list, you can promote your information products to them and push those sales figures through the roof.

About the Author:
For more tips on how to promote your online business and increase sales, visit information product creation. To hire professionals to create your own best selling information products, visit http://www.eliteghostwriters.com/infoproducts.html - Alan Cheng, Elite Ghostwriters.

Read more of Alan Cheng's articles.

The Ultimate Security

2009-10-29T18:45:00.001-05:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Scott Bywater

I can remember times when I didn't feel very secure.

For instance, when I was dead broke after finishing up with the hairdressing salon and didn't have enough money to eat.

Or when I looked around at the people on the street and wondered "will that be me before too long."

Or when I went away for a retreat to a little town called Kiama and didn't know if I was going to be able to afford the accomodation (because I had no money in my bank account to afford the rent - which was only $20 a night. Thankfully somebody paid me within this time and I could).

There's no feeling quite like being on the edge. And trust me, it's not the sort of feeling I would ever want again.

In fact, I don't think it could ever happen again.

Why?

Because now I know without a doubt I have the ability to produce.

And that's the only real security there is.

After all, let's face it.

Your money can disappear overnight (it's happened to thousands of people before and will happen again).

Your house can be knocked down in a heartbeat (my parents knew this only too well when they lost everything in Cyclone Tracy).

And things can change in your industry which can leave your business obsolete (think of the big train companies from a century ago)

But if you've got the ability to produce... to market... to sell...to hustle... then you don't need to worry because you know in your heart that no matter what happens... no matter what disaster hits (they do and they will again)... your security lies in the knowledge you hold in your own mind... and your ability to take action on it.

That's why you should move heaven and earth to get your hands on http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com/

Because knowledge (and your ability to act on it) really is THE ULTIMATE SECURITY.

About the Author:
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C writing. Mr Bywater is the author of Cash-Flow Advertising and More Customers Made Easy. You can gain access to his copywriting and marketing tips via his entertaining and eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

Read more Articles written by Scott Bywater.

How Is Your Reputation Holding Up In Google's Search Results?

2009-10-29T14:45:00.001-05:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Bill Platt

You know, if there are listings in Google's search results that are hurting your business, you might think that there is nothing you can do about that. But let me assure you that given the will and the desire, there is plenty you can do about those search engine results that may be hurting your business.

So many people look at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a game of influencing the keywords that are important to their business, but they don't realize that SEO can also be used to diminish the negatives in the search results.

Are You Losing Business As Result Of A Bad Review In Google?

Remember that guy who bought your product 3 years ago, and he did not follow the instructions for use, and then complained about how your product let him down? He could be hurting your business right now.

How do you measure the sales that your business is losing, because some guy complained on some website about how your product or service is "crap".

A Real World Example

Ah... I remember when I was selling TV's for a living.

There was this fellow who came into the store and bought a 52-inch projection screen TV. We had a bonded delivery crew on hand to help people get their purchases home, but although this guy had just spent $2400 on a television set, he decided that he did not want to pay $40 for delivery of his new TV set. I bet you can see where this story is going...

So, we loaded his new TV in the back of his pickup, and he proceeded to tie down his TV in the back of his pickup truck.

He thanked us for his TV and started the drive home.

45 minutes later, our most recent happy customer pulled into the parking lot, toting a big-screen TV box.

As we went to meet him at the door, we could hear the glass falling as the box moved across the floor.

He was pissed! And to our surprise, we were at fault!

You might be asking yourself why we were at fault. That is a good question, one I even posed at the time.

We were at fault, because we did not offer free delivery!

A gust of wind had caught his box, snapping the twine that he had used to tie it down, blowing his $2400 Phillips Big-Screen TV onto the highway.

He said it was our fault, because we should have given him free delivery. Never mind that we had already given him a $300 discount on the purchase of his TV.

We had offered him bonded delivery, but he refused, and now it was our fault that his TV was broken.

The store where we worked was one of those chains that keep all of the power to make things right at the home office. We could not simply exchange his TV, without permission from our superiors. If we had authorized the exchange with the guy, without the District Manager's permission, the company would have taken the cost of the Television out of the salesperson's and the manager's paycheck.

I was the assistant manager, and I was NOT going to pay for this guy's broken television. The company did not pay me enough to fix this problem for them, out of my own pocket.

We called the DM. Of course, even though we worked until 10 at night, the DM went home at 6pm. So, we kept dialing his cell phone number, until he answered the phone. ;-)

He was pissed, but that was okay. We were already dealing with "pissed", so we did not mind two people pissed at the same time.

Thank God I was not the manager in charge that night. Thank God for small favors...

Our District Manager said the guy was tough out of luck. I am glad I don't work for those clowns anymore.

I agree that it should not have been our responsibility, but surely we could find a solution for this guy. After all, he just spent $2400 with us.

Nope. The District Manager said No, then he said No, and he said No again.

So, the DM hung up telling us not to call him again that evening. And we were left with the poor guy who had just signed a two-year finance contract on a TV that was busted to hell.

Yes, I bet the guy pays for delivery next time. But the story does not end here...

It Wasn't Your Fault, But It Is Your Problem...

The story now moves online. It moves into the newspaper. It moves onto our sales floor for more than a week. It goes ballistic...

The customer went home that night, and turned to the power of the Internet with his complaint. A few days later, he followed his Internet complaints with a paid advert in the local newspaper. Our store was getting skewered.

The guy was in the store every day, throwing a tantrum. And he was spending his money and his time to skewer us for letting him make a foolish decision.

It just worked out well for him. On about his tenth trip to the store, throwing his daily tantrum in front of people who were looking to buy a TV, he just happened to arrive on a day that the DM was in the building. Ah... A new face behind the counter. The customer picked out the new face in the building as being someone over us. And wham, he let the District Manager have it, with both barrels...

Persistence paid off in this case.

He overwhelmed the District Manager with his complaints.

The District Manager broke down and did only what the District Manager could do for our customer. He used his privileged status to type in the appropriate commands into the computer and make things right for this guy.

In the end, we got him a new television for the price of delivery to his house.

The store ate the cost of the new television. (I ended up paying a portion of the TV anyway, because the bookkeeping department deducted the price of the television from the sales sheets for the month, so some of my monthly bonus was lost when that man's television was cut from the store's profits.)

The victory that we received was that the guy was not in the store every day scaring away our customers.

But that victory came only after we took a serious hit in our Reputation Management. Every person that guy talked to for the ten days after his purchase, up until he got his replacement, knew that he had a bad experience with us. What is more, everyone who read his paid advert in the newspaper knew that he had a problem with our store. Even more, who knows how long his complaint survived online...

You know what they say, "What is posted online, stays online."

I left my job at that store in 2005. That store closed in 2008.

I am not going to say that the store closed on account of that guy's complaints. But I am willing to say that the store was hurt by the guy's complaints. He did manage to drive a lot of prospective customers out of our store, during his daily rants. (I just checked and could not find his complaints online anymore.)

I am willing to bet that the store closed due to the recession. It closed about the same time that Circuit City bit the dust.

I think this story clearly illustrates that a problem does not have to be your fault, in order for your business to pay a high price, as a result of the problem.

Does Applebee's Really Suck?

To help illustrate the extent of this problem, I just typed into Google the name of my favorite restaurant, Applebee's, the name of my town, and the word "sucks".

I saw dozens of Google search results that were in effect saying that my favorite restaurant "sucks". Many of them went to describe this restaurant as having the "worst food ever."

Wow!

Now to be sure, restaurants everywhere suffer from this treatment. And the big name brand restaurants can survive, because their large customer base has a different opinion.

But what if you are a local restaurant or an obscure Internet company?

As an permanent online fixture, I tend to be jaded about the complaints I read about others. But I have to admit, while one or two complaints will not sway me, several complaints in the search results will even cause "me" to hesitate.

Can you afford for jaded internet marketers like myself to hesitate?

You can bet that if we "jaded internet marketers" are hesitating to purchase what you sell, those "who are not internet marketers by profession" are running away from you!

Fixing The Problem...

You are already aware that by utilizing SEO techniques that you can help your website rank better for some keywords in Google and the other search engines.

But did you know that you can also create a wealth of positive reviews for your business on a variety of web pages, and to get those positive reviews to rank higher in the search engines than the negative reviews?

This is how we help our customers.

We use our SEO expertise to get the positive reviews of our client's website to outrank the negative reviews of our client's website.

If we get enough positive reviews to occupy the top of the search results for the target keywords, then those negative reviews of our client's website will be buried on page two, three, four, five or six of Google's search results.

If people will NEVER SEE the negative reviews of your website, product or service, then as far as most people are aware, there ARE NOT ANY negative reviews. If there are no negatives about your business, then everything must be positive.

You are in control of your business' reputation online, if only you are willing take the reins and force the negatives down in Google's search results.

We know that not everything in the search results is true or honest. After all, the guy with the broken TV was blaming us for his bad judgment. We know that you may not deserve what is in Google's search results that is affecting your online reputation in a negative way.

If you don't let us help you get the negatives out of the sight of your prospective customers, then do it yourself or hire another company to do it for you. Because as long as those negative reviews exist in Google's search results, there is a good chance that someone is going to let those negative comments prevent them from buying from you!

About the Author:
Bill Platt has provided SEO services since 2004. In 2009, he transformed his SEO service, into one that helps people defeat negative search results in Google. By improving the rank of positive website reviews in the search results, negative search listings begin to disappear from the public eye. If you would like to learn more about how Bill's Reputation Management SEO service can help your business, visit: http://911reputation.com/ Bill has also owned http://thePhantomWriters.com/ since 2001.

Read more of Bill Platt's articles.

How to Use a Good Domain Name Suggestion Tool

2009-10-28T21:30:00.001-05:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu

Domain name is an important part of your online business. Without a good and meaningful domain name, you can never expect to make your business a success. You can choose a good domain name by using a number of online domain-name suggestion tools. Here are some simple tips to choosing a domain name by using one of the domain-name suggestion utilities.

Choose your theme: Theme and subject of the domain name form an important part of a domain name. You may wish to decide on the main theme of your web site. Once you choose the theme of the web site, pick a domain name that relates and works well with the main theme. Let us say that you are dealing with selling flowers online. Then, you may wish to pick up a domain that reflects this glower selling theme. For example, choosing a theme enriched domain name like onlineflowerselling.com will work very good.

Find the domain name: Experts prefer and recommend .com as your preferred domain name. Most successful online entrepreneurs like to find a domain name based on the keywords. These keywords always relate to the main theme of the web site. If you are selling red flowers, then you must choose domain keywords that reflect the flower-selling theme. For example, you can choose a keyword like red flowers, online flowers or virtual flowers.

If you do not own a domain name then you can make use of a number of online domain tools to find your name of choice. Before buying a domain name, you may also wish to use a keyword search tool to check the availability of good keywords. Let us say that you want to find keywords that relate to orchid flowers. Then, you will need to find all keywords that connect to orchid flowers and online sales of orchid flowers. This means that your keywords will be a combination of themes like orchid flowers that you want to sell online to your virtual customers. For example, you can choose keywords like online orchid flowers.

Tip: Most popular keyword search tools are:

http://www.keywordtracker.com and

http://www.keyword.adwords.com

Now that you have your preferred keywords, you can use free online domain name tools like:

http://www.nameboy.com/

http://www.domaininformer.com/tools

Enter your keywords plus domain extension in the search bar and find out the availability of the domain names. If it is available, then you can place an order for it almost immediately as someone may pick up that name before you.

Registering domains: You can register your domain name only when it is available. To find whether the domain name of your choice is available or not, you can make use of a free online utility called Whois database. Just enter the keywords Whois on the search-engine address field and enter the web portal. Now, you can type the domain name of your choice in the Whois search data entry box and hit Find button. Now, the database will inform whether the domain name is available or not. If it is available, you can buy the name immediately by paying the required registration fees.

About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain names business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

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Government Grant Writing: Doing It Yourself

2009-10-28T21:15:00.001-05:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Brendon Turner

Chances are, if you're looking for a grant to start up your small business or not-for-profit organization, you don't have the money to hire grant writers. A few will work with the promise of payment once the grant money comes in, but these are few and far between. The alternative? Do the government grant writing yourself.

Benefits of DIY Government Grant Writing

You'll find that there are a number of reasons to learn how to apply for grants yourself. Obviously, you can save quite a bit of money during the startup period when most businesses are looking to save money. Often, it's best for the business owner or one of the partners to take on as much of the grunt work as possible until the funding comes through. This will allow you to spend nothing, apart from time.

In addition, you can tailor each application to the government grant that you are applying for. With grant writers, this would be extra. Doing the writing yourself lets you make changes quickly and easily, based on which funding option you are doing the grant proposal for.

How to Write a Grant Proposal

There's a reason grant writers are expensive. It can be difficult to figure out how to write a great proposal if you don't know what you're doing. There are many areas that need to be covered, including budgets, timelines and project descriptions. It can be very confusing at first glance, but it is also very important that you include all the information needed or you could lose out on a chance to get grant money for your business or organization.

The best way to ensure that you are doing everything correctly is to get some help. Government grant writing isn't like writing an article or a letter, you need to include very specific, very detailed information so the decision makers have everything they need in order to choose you to receive the money. Most people prefer to keep their tips for success a secret, but you can still learn how to write a successful proposal and get the most out of your application.

Looking at sample applications can be a huge help and will let you style your own paperwork after something that has already been successful. While you certainly don't want to copy, you should get a feel for what is required when it comes to government grants. Writing your own proposals can save you a lot of time and money, so it is certainly worth looking into.

About the Author:
If you need more help with government grants writing, then you should check out Government Grants Source. The site features a full database of government grants, as well as tutorials and samples to help you write the best proposal possible. Written by Brendon Turner for http://www.governmentgrantsource.net/

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My Super-Effective Article Writing Formula

2009-10-27T20:45:00.001-05:00

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Willie Crawford

Here's the formula that I use to quickly write informative articles that get results. For many of the articles that I write my goal is to get visitors to a website where they take some action related to the topic of the article. Often the action that they take is to buy some product that I recommend.

Here is the formula that I use to write articles almost in an assembly line fashion. The reason that I write so many articles is that in some niches you need dozens, even hundreds of articles, to break through the clutter.

I begin with keyword research. You want to know what keyword phrases your ideal customers are using when searching online. They come online searching for solutions to their problems, and when they come across your articles offering a solution, they become raving fans.

To do keyword research, I often use the "Google External Keyword Tool." You can find it by googling that term. This tool shows you how many searches are made on a given term in a month, plus how many webpages there are out there already targeting that phrase. The tool also suggests related terms that you might want to target. You can use this tool to compile a list of suitable keywords and then download your research results in an Excel spreadsheet.

In looking at keywords, what you're trying to identify, in addition to search volume, is "What problems are these searchers try to solve." People come online looking for solutions to their problems. You identify those problems and then let them know (via your articles) that you have the perfect solution.

In crafting my article titles, I use my keywords but also work in a promised benefit. My titles promise to show them the solution to a nagging problem. When they see that title listed in the search engines, this is what entices them to click through to your target site.

In crafting the body of my articles, I use the "problem, agitate, solution" formula. I describe the problem to let the reader know that I understand their problems. I then go into excruciating details explaining the problem, and how it's not going to get any better unless they do something about it. Finally, I point out the obvious solution, which is my recommended product.

Sometimes I only point them to a website to read more about the problem. On that website, they'll also find my recommended solution. This is a less-threatening, soft-sell approach.

When I do my keyword research, I sometimes identify hundreds of related keywords that are being searched on a lot. At the same time, I identify several different painful problems (or variations of the same problem). This is what allows me to write articles in almost an assembly line fashion.

After the articles are written, I use an automated submission service to submit them to the top article directories. I use automated submissions because otherwise I'd spend countless hours submitting each article (not a very good use of our time).

In the resource box of these articles, I point readers to a target site. Where permitted I use anchor text in the links in these resource boxes. That anchor text is generally the keyword that I'm targeting (the same keyword that I used in my title).

I also post these articles to my blogs or maybe to a static page on one of my sites.

Since I like to leverage my time, I also turn many of my articles into videos, and podcasts. I generally create the videos by putting the main points of the articles on PowerPoint slides. Then I read the article as I go through the slides - recording then using Camtasia (screen capture software).

Alternatively, I sometimes simply turn the text of an article into a PDF. Then I scroll down my computer screen reading the article, and again, recording it using Camtasia.

To create the podcast you can use recording software probably already on your computer, or you can download one many free pieces of software such as Audacity. Simply read the article as you record it. I generally save it as an MP3.

Submit the videos to video sharing sites, and submit the audio to podcast sites. I use an automated submission service for this, submitting to numerous sites!

Here's one final tactic that I use to get my articles to rank higher for a target keyword and get noticed more readily in the search engines. I look for ways to create external links pointing to my article in one location - generally my main blog. I do this by bookmarking the blog post that contains the article. This is perhaps the easiest way to give the article a search engine boost.

There you have it, my super-effective article writing formula. It generates a steady stream of high quality website traffic for me, and a steady stream of orders too. Feel free to use it.

About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing online for 13 years, and used article marketing most of that time (writing over 1500 articles). His favorite tools for automatically distributing his articles, videos, podcasts, and press releases is the automated submission site: http://EasyPushButtonTraffic.com/

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