Pants on the Ground: What Makes a Video Go Viral Part II

In the last post I talked about the phenomenon Pants on the Ground and other successful viral videos. While he’s on minute 14 of his 15 minutes of fame, Larry Platt got so much press that he now has many more business opportunities. While you may not have the platform that launched Larry Platt’s viral video, you certainly have the same potential for your business.

So where do you start?

Start with actually creating videos!

The key is to produce videos on your products & services and on your area of expertise.  Ideas and concepts for viral videos start with your outcome. Your outcome should be to add value,  solve problems, and communicate your ideas and concepts. When you create something of value the marketplace will decide if it’s going to go viral or not.  But it starts with you creating the videos.  So focus less on making them go viral, and more on getting the experience creating videos that add value.

Here are a few more considerations to help you harness the power of viral videos to build and promote your business.

Create how-to videos that showcase your expertise. This will serve as a free teaser to how you can help people.  And, if you do a good job, you will turn prospects who found your video useful into potential customers who are willing to purchase your products or services.

Create a blog post and turn it into a video. Use your blog posting basically as a script to create a short 1-2 minute video. Often, it’s easier for people to watch a short video than spend time reading a blog posting. If it’s on a topic people find relevant, useful, and is something they haven’t heard a million times, they will forward it on to their friends. At the end of the video, mention your website or how people can get more information about you or your services.

Remember, a key component is to tie in a very subtle outro scene to the end of the video that includes your company name and website. This will not only get your name out there, but it will send traffic back to your company website. If  it’s too blatant of a promo then it won’t get forwarded and thus won’t go viral.

In the world of Web 2.0, when there are countless tools you can use to promote your business for virtually no cost, it is imperative that you start exploring new ways to get your name out to targeted prospects. Creating videos is a good start. Don’t think you can’t do this because you don’t have the American Idol exposure. Think about your target market. Viral within your market might only need a few thousand views to have the same impact.

Take action today: Go create videos.

My next post will focus on how to leverage your YouTube channel to get targeted exposure for your videos.  In the meantime… How else have  you seen videos used to successfully promote your business?

Last Tuesday, “General” Larry Platt was just another 62-year-old from Atlanta. But on Wednesday, American Idol aired Larry’s tryout performance of his original song, “Pants on the Ground.”

By Thursday, the video went viral and now has more than 500,000 views on multiple accounts on YouTube.

His song is a trending topic on Twitter, his lyrics are on hundreds of Facebook statuses, and he is being interviewed by top T.V. and radio shows around the country. Even Brett Favre was caught doing his best Larry Platt impression. All of this came from the power of a viral video.

So, what is a viral video?  Here is a quick peek at the concepts of successful viral videos.

• Timely. If there is a trending topic in the news, people will be searching for information about it everywhere – including YouTube and other video sharing sites. For example, right now you could create a video that relates to the NFL Playoffs somehow and it would get more hits just because more people would be searching for that topic. Find a way to post a video that you can tie to a topic in the news.

• Relevant. If your video seems to speak straight to a particular audience, they will share it with their friends because they can relate to it. For example, one of our clients, Judson Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” is one of the top viewed YouTube videos of all time.

  Click here to view the embedded video.

  By dancing to well-known songs from each decade beginning in the 1950s through today, he related to a wide range of audiences.  Another example is The Dove Real Beauty campaign, which resonated with women – daughters, mothers, and grandmothers – around the globe and became a successful viral campaign because it sent a positive message about the sensitive subject of the perception of beauty.

• Humorous, stupid or shocking. If a video instills a “haha” moment or a “wow” moment, people will not only watch it again and again themselves, but they will want to share it with others. Most of us have seen “Charlie Bit Me” where we can’t help but laugh at the two British brothers’ hilarious interaction. Or the video of Miss South Carolina bumbling through her answer at the Miss Teen USA pageant. Or when we watched in shock as the Pope was tackled by someone in the crowd at his Christmas mass. Make a video that steps outside the box and make people laugh or shocks them (either because it is outrageous or stupid) and your video will go viral.

• Celebrity figure. If a celebrity endorses something, creates a video, or does something that is caught on camera, people will watch. While getting a Hollywood celebrity to be in a short video for you might be near impossible, you can find celebrities in your particular field that can use their well-known names to get more hits on your video.

Viral videos play on the fact that we want to share the feeling we get from the video with others. If it’s funny, stupid or crazy we forward it to the people we think will appreciate it for being funny, stupid, or crazy.   Many of the most popular viral videos were never designed as promotional viral videos.

The key for you as a business owner or marketing professional is to tie in a very subtle outro scene to the end of the video that includes your website.   If it’s too blatant of a promo then it won’t get forwarded and thus won’t go viral.

Ideas are everywhere, but there are no guarantees that your video will go viral. Watch out for companies that say they can guarantee that your video will go viral because human behavior isn’t 100% predictable.  Using a firm like Prime Concepts or a few others that help produce online videos can help with concepts and production quality, but the results are measured in the marketplace.

In future posts we’ll explore how you can harness the power of this virtually free publicity for your business.  Until then….

What are your favorite viral videos and why?

Twitter is everywhere.  New Twitter applications, additions, and syndication tools have made communicating your value and creating relationships amazingly simple.

Simple, but not necessarily easy. I’m sure that most of you already have a Twitter account, but are you leveraging it?  I only tweet a couple of times a day and I’m not a twitter fanatic, but certainly see the value in growing your followers.   Randy Gage, a colleague “@Randy_Gage” has really leveraged Twitter. He sent out a tweet and within an hour he had 150,000 people visit his Prosperity Blog.

Here are a few tips to help you leverage Twitter as a professional.

10 Tips for Leveraging Twitter

1. Create a custom background image and set up your Twitter Profile properly in the settings tab. Your bio information is vital when people are making a decision to follow you or not. Tell people what you do and how you help or work with others.
2. Focus on adding value and topical relevant tweets. Don’t make it all about you and your company and don’t post the same type of update over and over. Post useful and helpful information that others will see has value.
3. Don’t tweet that you’re at Starbucks, because unless you’re famous (and I’m not talking about just in your own mind) nobody cares.
4. Respond with a direct message when someone sends you a personal direct tweet.
5. Retweet other tweets  you think are interesting. Not only is it beneficial and flattering to the person you are retweeting, but it is another way of sending your followers relevant, helpful and valuable advice and information. Just remember to add your own voice as well.
6. Make sure you share a variety of information in your tweets. Talk about your business, but balance it out with tweets that will help people get to know you as a person.
7. Get a desktop or smartphone application to help you manage your Twitter account. If you are serious about social media marketing and follow more than 100 people, you’ll need an app likeTweetDeck .  I use Tweetdeck for my laptop computer and for my Iphone I use Tweetie. Twitter Apps have many benefits, including ways to organize people, messages, and other information that might otherwise be overwhelming. The wide variety of apps available today assures there is one that is right for you and your purposes.
8. Follow people. As you follow more people, more people will follow you. That’s just the way it goes. People are interested in Twitter Friends – those they can follow and who will follow them back. There are services that will let you automatically follow those who follow you. Check out Socialtoo or socialoomph. Also, services like www.Twellow.com, the yellow pages of Twitter, are a great place to find people to follow.
9. Don’t send “Auto Thank You” direct messages to people. The only thing they are good at is annoying people. It also gives many people a reason to UNfollow you because you appear more like a robot than a real person.
10. Join in Twitter conversations with others by sending replies to interesting posts, or even a direct e-mail or message.

Post your Twitter Tips and comments below… You know how important “link-backs” are…

I’d bet that many of you would classify your efforts with Social Networking as “social NOT working.”

It’s NOT working until you engage in conversations, spread your expertise, and most importantly “add value.” With hundreds of social media sites out there, it’s hard to maintain focus and really add value and stay active on every site.

So, start by focusing your efforts on these top five social media sites.  Here is a brief overview.

1. YouTube.com

This is the most popular video content sharing site. If you’re new to YouTube, go get your channel, which is to say go sign up for your account  – your account name is your channel name so select it wisely. It’s better to have a keyword phrase or your name than it is to have your name with a number or something obscure. For example, I have a few channels, but my main channel is www.youtube.com/primeconcepts (go subscribe now).   I also have www.youtube.com/fordsaeks, but too many people spell my name wrong so I send the traffic to the Prime Concepts channel. There are several other popular video sharing sites each with their own theme, but master YouTube first.  Then you can leverage your efforts on other video sharing sites, using sites such as www.TubeMogul.comfor starters. Share value-added content and watch your business grow.

More on Youtube marketing on future postings…

2. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular “social community type” site.I’m sure that most of you reading this have your Facebook account by now. If not, join the 350 million people currently using Facebook and get with the program. Set up a Facebook Fan Page and join groups that focus around your subjects of interest. Start by visiting, listening and exploring. It’s about participation, community, and networking. Set your privacy settings accordingly and don’t abuse your friends list with constant promotions about your latest product or event. You’ll monetize your efforts once you participate in guiding connection and encouraging relevant dialogue.

3.LinkedIn

Another important type of social media site is focused around professional networking. www.LinkedIn.com is a great business development tool with it’s own unique advantages. Again, get your account, set up your profile and invest in creating a network of professionals that can help you make new contacts. Sure, you can add your buddies and coworkers, but you should think beyond that to the types of clients you want to reach. For example, one of my clients wanted to reach the CEO of a top name brand company – traditional methods had failed. I sent a Linkedin invitation to connect and within 15 minutes was accepted into this CEO’s personal network, was able to start a dialogue that is now leading to a multi-million dollar proposal. Go to your profile now and make sure its updated and create new connections.

4. Your Blog

You have one… right?  If not, why not?  Preferably you have a wordpress blog as part of your regular website because of the popularity and the many add-ons that are available for syndication and ease of use. If you can e-mail, you can blog.  The key is to use multiple forms of content, from text to audio and video, which inspire thought, encourage comments and link backs to your blog. Your blog also has huge search engine optimization benefits if you title, tag and post valuable content.  It’s better to post shorter targeted posts more regularly than long posts monthly.  They become great content management systems (CMS) that you can manage without the high costs of web developers.

5. Twitter

Then there is the  micro-blogging site www.Twitter.com. Sure, you probably have an account, but how effective has it been for you? A great resource is the book by Joel Comm Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
”

If you build your follower list and tweet something your followers can use at least once a day, you will quickly establish your position as an expert and the go-to person for advice and information in your field.

Post your favorite SMM site and why?   Or let me know what your biggest question is about Social Networking and I’ll address it on future posts.

Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn are just a few of many Social Media Web sites that are quickly growing in size and popularity.  Most likely you or someone in your family has an account on one or all of these sites. But, just like in the real world, not everyone wants to be your friend online. I think this short shocking video makes my point…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click to the link below to read more and post your comments

Now while that video may be disturbing to some people, the point is that you need to use caution when using the Social Media Networks.

This is not to say you should not participate on the Social Media sites, you just need to learn to be safe online.  Now, thanks to an IT security professional who made it his mission to make the Internet safe by 10/10/10, there is a Web site that can help you take a few simple steps to make yourself safer online.

Families, children and Internet users in general now have the opportunity to learn to be safer online with the free Internet safety tips and tricks found on http://www.learntobesafeonline.com. This site offers simple, short how-to videos that everyone can understand. Each tutorial has information for both Apple Mac users and Windows users on topics such as: Facebook Safety, Anti-Virus Tips, Twitter Safety, LinkedIn Safety and Wireless WiFi Security.

The sole purpose of this web site is to protect Internet users from the small number of people making the Internet an increasingly dangerous place for everyone else. The “Learn to be Safe Online” Web site is a meaningful tool for all Internet users who want to protect themselves, their families and their information. The philosophy behind “Learn to Be Safe Online” is that since we all use the Internet, it should be a safe place to work, learn and play.

Take a few minutes out of your day to watch a couple of the videos found on http://www.learntobesafeonline.com. If you learn even one tip you can use to protect yourself or your family, your time was well spent.

500,000 million people on facebook… you, your friends and your prospects and clients.  Not only should you us caution with your Facebook profile, but you should make sure that you aren’t using the same passwords for all of your website access. Video makes the point…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Okay, now go and make sure your online passwords are unique and secure.   Then get back to your marketing efforts!

Learn more about how to protect yourself online at www.Learntobesafeonline.com

90 Ways to Attract Customers with Magnetic Copy

90 Ways to Grab hold of Your Customers’ Emotions and Move them to Take Immediate Action

90 ways to Relate to your Customers so Well You Freak Them Out

90 ways to Seduce Prospective Customers and Get them to Go On a Second Date

90 ways to Use Emotional Charm to Sweep Customers Off Their Feet

90 ways to Break Down the Wall Between You and Your Prospective Customers

90 Ways to Slay the Emotional Dragon and Win the Heart of Your Customers

90 Ways to Hook Your Prospective Customers Using Emotions as Bait

Clients are always asking me, “How do you get customers to buy more?”

My answer:
You must connect with them on an emotional level. People make purchases based on their emotions, and once you have created an emotional bond with a customer you increase chances of getting repeat purchases from that person. If you tell a prospect your product or service will make her so attractive that nobody – man or woman – who passes by will be able to stop themselves from staring at her in awe and amazement (or with eyes full of envy) you will turn that prospect into a customer. Then, if you deliver enough added value to that customer, she will come back again and again and will become a loyal customer who will even refer her friends to you.

So how do you provoke a desired emotion in a prospective customer and get them to take action? You must make sure your copy addresses certain motivational buying triggers. I made a list of 90 motivational triggers. You’ll notice that all product/service benefits fall into one of these categories. I’m sure there are many more motivational triggers that need to be added to my list, so let me ask you: For what other reasons do you think people make purchases?

1. Satisfy Curiosity
2. Make Money
3. Save Time
4. Avoid Effort
5. Achieve Comfort
6. Enjoy Health
7. Be Popular
8. Gain Pleasure
9. Enhance Enjoyment
10. Feel Clean
11. Be Praised and Admired
12. Be In Style
13. Satisfy an Appetite
14. Own Beautiful Possessions
15. Attract the Opposite Sex
16. Be Independent
17. Emulate Others
18. Take Advantage of Opportunities
19. Get a Surprise
20. Be Successful
21. Make Work Easier
22. Gain Prestige
23. Be Sociable
24. Express Creativity
25. Be Efficient
26. Protect Oneself and Family
27. Protect the Future of a Family
28. Be a Good Parent
29. Be Liked
30. Be Loved
31. Express a Personality
32. Be In Fashion
33. Avoid Embarrassment
34. Fulfill a Fantasy
35. Be Up To Date
36. Own Attractive Things
37. Collect Valuable Things
38. Satisfy the Ego
39. Be First At Something
40. Enjoy Exotic Tastes
41. Live In a Clean Atmosphere
42. Be Strong
43. Be Healthy
44. Renew Vigor and Energy
45. Get Rid Of Aches and Pains
46. Find New and Rare Things
47. Be More Beautiful
48. Win the Affection of Others
49. Satisfy Sexual Desires
50. Bring Back Pleasant Memories
51. Be Lucky
52. Live Longer
53. Feel Important
54. Gain Knowledge
55. Be Recognized As an Authority
56. Enhance Leisure
57. Save Money
58. Have Security in Old Age
59. Overcome Obstacles
60. Do Things Well
61. Get a Better Job
62. Be Your Own Boss
63. Gain Social Acceptance
64. Keep Up With The Jones
65. Appreciate Beauty
66. Be Proud Of Possessions
67. Resist the Domination of Others
68. Relieve Boredom
69. Gain Self-Respect
70. Win Acclaim
71. Win Advancement
72. Seek Adventure
73. Satisfy Ambition
74. Be Among the Leaders
75. Gain Confidence
76. Escape Drudgery
77. Gain Freedom from Worry
78. Get On the Bandwagon
79. Get Something for Nothing
80. Escape Shame
81. Avoid Effort
82. Protect Reputation
83. One-Up Others
84. Replace the Obsolete
85. Add Fun to Life
86. Work Less
87. Relax
88. Avoid Criticism
89. Avoid Physical Pain
90. Avoid Trouble

Like I said, I’m sure there are many more motivational triggers, and as an experienced marketer I’m always open to feedback.  So, I hope you can now go review your copy, see what motivational triggers you have used (or should have used), and let me know what you think so I can add your ideas to my list. Post your additions in the comments box below.

Keywords Drive Traffic.

If you ever attended one of my Internet Marketing Seminars then you know that “Keywords Drive Traffic” is my online marketing mantra.  This short blog post is focused around the importance of using your keywords (and keyword phrases) for social media marketing.

This starts with understanding that keywords drive traffic, but with social media marketing it’s not the typical usage of driving  traffic to get people to buy a product or service.

In fact, if that’s all you’re trying to do with social media networking than you are approaching social media with the wrong perspective and will waste a ton of time.

Social Media Markeing is all about relationships, adding value, joining the conversation and getting and giving feedback.

With Social Media the words you use in your profiles, account names, tags, blog titles & descriptions, user groups, and other posts all help you expand your digital footprint.

The top 5 Social Media sites that I recommend you focus your efforts are  Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn and Your Blog.  There are thousands of others and depending on your niche or focus area, there may be a few others that you want to leverage, but how many more in-boxes and accounts do you really need to manage?

Okay… first thing about keywords is that you should be focusing on keyword phrases of at least 2 to 5 words. Most people search for at least 3 or more words so they get better search results.  So when you are on the user account settings screen in twitter, facebook and linked in, and youtube, make sure you take the time to completely fill out your profile and use keywords so that your account will get properly cataloged and make it easier for people to connect with you.

When you post a video to YouTube (subscribe to my YouTube Channel www.Youtube.com/primeconcepts for other internet marketing videos), make sure you work your keywords into the video title and video descriptions… don’t try to manipulate the listing, just use compelling copy and work in your keywords.   Tags are critically important too… and tags are just keywords to help users find related content.  In YouTube make sure you put quotes around your tags when you have multiple words. For example, if I use a tag with my name Ford Saeks, and don’t use quotes, the site engines see FORD as a single word, and I don’t sell cars or need unwanted traffic,  so use “quotes for multiple words” to make the keyword phrase tag the search element.

On Twitter, make sure you go to the settings screen and fill out your Name, URL and Bio line.  Especially if you have a more common name. That way, when others are searching to find YOU, they can identify which twitter account to follow.

When you make tweets, and use keywords, you’ll attract readers that are searching for or following the same topics.  Same goes for Facebook and Linkedin, you need to revisit your profiles and update them with keywords so other people can find and connect with you.  And of course, when you blog, you should work in your keywords into your titles

Jot down your top 25 to 50 keyword phrases. Keep the list handy during your Social media networking. And most importantly, Always write for the site visitor FIRST, and then for the search engines. If you have great content, share it, and engage in conversations you’ll be well on your way to monetizing your Social Media Marketing Efforts.

What do you think?  Post your comments below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video about is a segment from a show about Creating Your Online Money-Machine… a.k.a., your website.   If you want to see more videos like this one, go to my YouTube Channel and subscribe to the channel:  www.Youtube.com/primeconcepts

Keep the Graphic Designer and Web Programmers in Check.

It picks up with Secret # 7. Your web designer shouldn’t be in control of the marketing process

• Identify your specific outcome for each area and page of your website.  What do you want the visitor to do?  Fill out a form, subscribe, call, click a specific link, download something, or make a purchase?
  

• Remember that you’re the marketer, regardless of your formal title.   You need to control the sales processes.  Don’t lose navigation ease for special effects. Please avoid a circus look with too many fonts, sizes and colors. Remember to construct the site with clear and redundant navigation. That means adding the main navigation choices to the top and relevant navigation at the bottom of the page.

• Add a site map for the search engines and visitors.  A site map is a directory listing of your pages listed on a pages for easy access.  Make sure your web designer checks the visual layout and menus on a PC / MAC with different browsers.

• Check your site on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Google’s new browser Chrome.  Also, some new java-type menu programs work great on one type of browser and are all messed up on a different type of browsers.
  

• Before you hire any web design firm, or other vendor for that matter do you do diligence and check out their references.  Review samples of their work too! If you don’t see clear marketing messages and actions steps find someone else.  You can check out my client testimonials here.
  

Secret # 8: Use your Stats!  Set up your analytic tracking methods and calculate your visitor value?

This is also know as Value-Per-Visitor (VPV) Take your sales Sales $ dollars for a given period, usually a month and then divide by the number of visitors to your site = VPV (Example: $1000 / 5000 = .20)

How much is each one of your site visitors worth? This will also help you determine how much you can spend in PPC too.  Not to oversimplify, but if your visitor value is only .30 cents, then you wouldn’t want to bid higher than that or you’d be losing money.

For most of you watching this short clip, the point is for you to identify and calculate your sites performance benchmarks.

Do you know how many people visit your site?

What is your average conversion rate? Are people joining or unsubscribing from your lists.  How long are they staying on your site? You can learn a great deal from your site because it tracks everything. Check your site statistics Ask your webmaster. This helps you identify areas for improvement on your site so you can turn more clicks into customers.

We use Google Analytics. Its free and quite powerful. It tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. The new Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online too.

When you pay attention to your stats and track your results you can then Write better pay-per-click ads (AdWords campaigns), strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. And the best part is that its free!

Lets Review the concepts from this 4-part video series:
(Blog Readers… subscribe to my Youtube Channel at www.Youtube.com/primeconcepts to watch other short videos on Internet Marketing.)

1. Get clear on your outcome and purpose for your site (Add value, make a profit)

2. Get more domain names.

3. Design with marketing in mind

4. Create your top 50 Keywords

5. Help the Search Engines find you. SEM / SEO

6. Build your Database

7. Keep the Graphic Designer in check

8. Use your Stats and calculate your value-per-visitor VPV

I hope you’re excited about all the ways you now have to increase your websites performance. Each ONE of the ideas I’ve shared with you today can make you a lot of money if you take the time to implement them.

Remember, whether you’re the an Entrepreneur, CEO, Marketing Director, or Staff Member everyone on the team plays an important role in being sure all of your marketing efforts Add Value and Make a Profit.  Connect with me, Ford Saeks on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

Click here to view the embedded video.

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in…if you selling online or offline you can only stay in business if you’re making a profit. That profit comes from either increasing sales or reducing your expenses…

This blog Video is about both, because when you make your marketing materials more effective — you’ll increase your bottom line.

Did you watch the video part 1 of How to Design Effective Marketing Materials? If not, you may want to check it out and then continue with this post.

I’m a big believer in systems, formulas and concepts… anything that’s proven to produce positive results. Here is a basic formula that you probably have heard of… or at least are familiar with if you’ve ever read any good sales material.

It’s called the AIDA Formula.

AIDA is an acronym for the formula used in creating powerful and effective marketing communications, sales letters, and is widely used in advertising too.

A – Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer. Stand out!

I – Interest: raise customer interest by demonstrating features, advantages, and benefits.

D – Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that it will satisfy their needs.

A – Action: lead customers towards taking a specific and measurable action.

Gather up a few samples of your marketing materials or view your website and ask yourself these questions:

1. What’s the PURPOSE for the specific marketing Piece or web page? Again, the AIDA formula applies to your website, print materials and Radio or TV advertising too!
   1. Is it to provide information & support the sale? – Is it to help prospects gain knowledge? Or…
   2. Is it to get the prospect to take immediate action? – For selling & promotion?
2. Is there an attention getting headline? Sub-head?
3. Is there a clear Benefit Message?
4. Who is Your Target Audience?
5. Is it designed with Your Prospect in Mind?
6. How would you score this piece on effectiveness from 1 to 5 stars with 5 being very effective-and 1 being boring and a cure for insomnia?
7. Always ask yourself: “Does this convey the message I want my reader to get?”

Now, make a note of this Action Step: Review all of your materials and see if they follow the AIDA formula, and then identify your super stars! You might be surprised by what you find when you look at your materials through the AIDA formula. This exercise will help you identify which pieces are designed well, and which ones need to be re-designed.

Of course the best measurement for any marketing materials is the response it generates. But when you’re planning your designs you’ll have a head start when you follow the AIDA formula.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s see what you should do when planning new marketing materials? Our goal is to follow the AIDA method. Remember, regardless of your role in the process, if you’re the CEO, Marketing Director or staff member, it’s important for you to understand and use these strategies even if you’re only using desktop publishing or creating more elaborate materials.

Plan ahead by answering the 5 W’s… This is very important.

Get focused on:

Who are you designing to? Who is the target prospect?

What do you want them to know or do?

Why should they care? Why should they pay attention?

Where can they get more info?

When should they respond or take action?

It’s helpful if you actually create a Word Document or template with the 5W’s… Who, What, Why, Where, and When? This will help you and/or your designer understand the purpose of the piece.

Now that you’ve have an understanding of AIDA and the 5W’s, I’d like to explore the two main parts that make up every marketing piece or advertisement… The first part is crafting a compelling message-writing the copy (the words you’re going to use to communicate value). The second part is the layout & design.

Subscribe to this marketing blog’s RSS feed in the upper right hand corner to be notifed of future blog postings where we’ll explore more on how to design effective marketing materials. And of course, post your feedback below!

I’ll reveal strategies for designing attention getting marketing materials that will motivate your customers to take action!

Whether you’re an actual designer, the CEO, Marketing Director, Entrepreneur or on the team, I’ve got success strategies for every stage in the development process. I am going to assume you already know who you target markets are, and have a clear understanding of your products and services… If not, that’s the first thing to put on your list of action steps.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is only one reason to create marketing materials… to get your prospects to take action.

This blog posting and video comes with a little warning… because I’m not known for sugar coating my marketing advice. My philosophy is “add value-make a profit” and I want to give you insights that can make a positive impact in all of your marketing efforts… without worrying about your ego or office politics. So if you’re feelings are easily hurt when someone gives you constructive feedback… you may want to read a different blog posting. But if you are ready to get better results-come along as we explore how to improve your results.

I’d like you to make a list of the marketing materials and methods that you’re using now:

Here are a just a few ideas to get your list started:

• Websites
• Ezines
• Banners
• Blogs
• Auto-responders
• Thank you Pages
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Sales letters
• Direct Mail
• Postcards
• Sales letters
• Newsletters
• Catalogs
• Presentation folders
• Media kits
• Signage
• Point-of-Purchase displays
• Product Packaging
• Advertisements in different forms, like radio, tv and print, And so on.

Why do you think most marketing materials don’t get the results you expect?

Well, let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar?

It’s Tuesday morning and you’re gathered around your conference table with your marketing staff, (which might be just you) and your goal is to create a new marketing brochure for one of your new products or services. So you start by spreading out all of your competitors marketing materials to get your ideas flowing.

You read the headline on their brochure, “Full line of Services” so you jot down “Complete line of Services” on your note pad. Next you look at their stock photos and graphics and think, we’ve got something similar to that we can use and away you go! You finish with a nice looking piece… copied after your competitors, with no way of knowing if the competition’s marketing piece was actually effective.

Or maybe, you’re lucky enough to hire an ad agency to help you with the design. Wonderful, they should be experienced to help you create a masterpiece. You give them your objectives and ideas. They create the collateral materials for you. You pay them well for their services. Everyone’s happy. Or are they?

The customer might not be so happy. Why? Because the typical ad agency is in the business of creating “image” type advertising pieces that makes the company look good-often times without effective marketing messages or specific action steps. So they design your piece with a big picture of your building, your logo, or your company president/CEO. Heck, maybe all three.

The problem is that the customer doesn’t really care about your building, logo or even the CEO-they care about what’s in it for them. They want the benefits of your products and services. They want to be informed, entertained and educated. They want solutions to their specific wants and needs.

I heard it all before… “My agency has won several awards”-but awards don’t sell products-marketing messages do. And if the person in charge of the creative hasn’t spent their own money learning the hard way or isn’t experienced in marketing tactics, then you’re doomed to the crap that’s filling up most land fills.

Copycat marketing hurts you and your customer.

Lastly, you cannot measure the performance of your marketing piece or website by how much you spend on it. It’s not what it costs; it’s the response it generates and the profit that it produces that makes it worth it.

So, now that you have your list and materials… go through them through the eyes of the prospect. Ask yourself if you have a compelling headline, sub-headline, attractive offer, social proof, testimonials, and specific measurable action step? Rate them from 1 to 10 with 10 being best. Then strive to improve your results.

Do have examples of great marketing materials or sites? Post a comment below with a link and tell me why you think it worked or didn’t work?

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In this video segment we’ll look at what kinds of things that might be blocking your creativity.

The Three things that can get in your way and block your creativity are:

• Your Perceptions
• Your Emotions
• Your Culture & Environment

Perceptions. – What things MEAN to you?

Like…. Stereotypes. Or having a Limited Vision Or being set in your ways with Habits that might keep you stuck in old patterns. What about your perception of Tradition VS. Change? Are traditions keeping you stuck?

Or your Emotions - How do you FEEL?

Does it bother you to look like a fool? Do you fear taking risks? Are you afraid make a mistake or fail? Real problem solving and idea creation is messy.

When you change your thoughts and change your actions and you’ll get better results.

Cultural & Environmental Blocks might be…. Other People’s Opinions… Lack of cooperation and trust among colleagues or co-workers. And then there’s Distractions – phone calls, and easy intrusions. All of these things can block your creativity…

Have you ever had a big idea that you didn’t take action on… Maybe it was your Perceptions or emotions that got in your way… Well, it almost happened to me…

In 1986, I invented a product line that was used to store bicycles inside your home or apartment… Maybe you’ve seen them in the Sky Mall Magazines on airplanes, in Sharper Image, sporting goods stores or other specialty catalogs…. The main line was hand-crafted from solid Oak and was a tension-mount system that went from Floor-to-Ceiling, to hold 2 bikes in a limited space, protecting your bikes and your home.

In the beginning, I tried several different ways to get the product to market. It was a tough first year and I thought about quitting many times. I can assure you that my own perceptions, emotions and my environment got in the way more than just a few times… but through creativity and innovation, and using the mindset tools we’re going to be exploring today, I was able to sell over 28 million dollars worth of product in just a few short years…

I’ve used these same tools, again and again to help clients differentiate themselves in a competitive market; to launch innovative publicity campaigns; to build websites and online marketing strategies that created virtual money-machines; to design new advertising concepts, and improve many other areas of their businesses, even beyond the marketing department. These are proven tools that YOU can start to apply immediately…

Think about your business… Products… or Services… Are you truly doing everything you can to find, attract and keep your customers?

Are you allowing self-imposed limitations to hold you back? It’s time to breakthrough those limitations, use your resources, and expand your creativity. You deserve it!

Wow, Might seem like a lot to think about, but actually, it’s all about your B.S…

You remember… Your Belief System (from Marketing Mindset Video 1) that can either get your way or launch you to success.

(continue reading… this part isn’t on the video clop… Enjoy!)

I’ve used the tools I’m about to share with you to help organizations in many different industries around the globe achieve amazing improvements in their marketing results and you can use them too.

You may be familiar with some of these techniques, but I’m sure you’ll have a new appreciation for them as they apply to your marketing strategies!

Have you ever heard of Idea-mapping or Mind-Mapping? It’s one of my favorite creativity tools! Idea Mapping is a simple technique you can use to capture and organize your thoughts and Ideas visually on one page.

Idea Maps are especially helpful for Brainstorming to help you think up new and creative ideas more quickly and easily. Here’s how you get started…

Take out a blank piece of paper with out lines. You want it without the lines because the lines can restrict the natural flow of your thoughts. Turn the paper landscape… with the long side of the paper at the top.

Next, in the center of the page, draw an image or print the words that represent your main theme, concept or topic that you want to brainstorm. For example, you might start with “ideas for New products” or “How to sell product X”…

State it in the form of a question… who, how, what, why?… you decide. Allow plenty of white space for the rest of the map. I like to have a few colored pens available too because color stimulates the brain and helps captures attention.

At first, your Idea maps might be pretty simple branches with lines and a few words and that’s okay… As you practice, you’ll become more creative and you’ll find this to be a fast way to capture and generate new ideas. This will also help you create new connections between ideas and concepts.

A picture really is worth a 1000 words! It stimulates the brain to think up new associations, it focuses the thoughts and it results in much better recall of the content at a later date. So draw pictures to represent your ideas. They can be simple stick figures, sketches, symbols…what ever makes sense to you. The brain works by association so by connecting the main branches to the central topic, the brain links those elements together.

The main branch words and images stimulate other thoughts and associations. They allow the random flow of your thoughts as you add other levels of thought. So make the central lines from the center thicker, curved and organic (like the branch of a tree attached to the trunk) to help organize your sub-themes.

Start to add a second level of thought. These words and/or images are linked to the main branch that triggered them. Add more branches and levels of thought as ideas come to you. Feel free to jump from branch to branch as the mood strikes you.

Remember, You can use:

• Pictures
• Line drawings
• Patterns
• Symbols
• Shapes, boxes, circles
• Colors, etc…

I encourage you to use this new tool. Use it in meetings, sales presentations, and of course when you are planning your marketing strategies. While I started out drawing most of my idea-maps, now I also us mind-mapping software called “MindManager from www.mindjet.com. There are several others too, but don’t think that you need to get software… Start right away using paper and pen to open your mind and expand your creativity. I’m sure that you’ll quickly see how using idea mapping can help you and your team!

I’ve explained how Idea mapping can work for brainstorming… and I’m sure that most of you are already familiar with the concept of brainstorming…but just to make sure, here is a quick review of the rules for GROUP BRAINSTORMING:

• Set a time frame… generally the shorter the better… like 15 to 30 minutes max!
• The Goal is to collect as many ideas as possible from all participants with no criticisms or judgments made while ideas are being generated.
• All ideas are welcome no matter how silly or far out they seem. Be creative. The more ideas the better because at this point you don’t know what might work.
• Absolutely no discussions during the brainstorming session. Talking about the ideas will take place after brainstorming session is complete.
• Do not criticize or judge the other people’s ideas. Seriously….Don’t even groan, frown, or laugh. If you do… you’ll hamper the creative process.
• Write all ideas on a flipchart or white board so the whole group can easily see them.

Here’s a great tip! If you’re in an organization that’s had trouble with brainstorming, either because of certain people, egos or office politics, or have trouble in getting a large list of ideas, then I suggest you send out a memo before the meeting with the main brainstorming topic or question?

Ask them to print their ideas on paper as a requirement to the meeting, or you can use post-it notes during the session, so people can participate anonymously.

Let’s talk about making your final selections.

• When all the ideas have been recorded–combine ideas as much as possible,
• Next, Vote to select the best 3 to 5 ideas.

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far…

That it’s your mindset that determines the actions you’ll take.

Without action… you can’t improve your results. Why improving your creativity helps your mindset as well as your business. We discussed removing the mental blocks that get in your way… like certain perceptions, emotions and your environment. And then how to use “idea-mapping” and brainstorming basics to stimulate your mind!

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Is your B.S. getting in the way of your marketing success?

Think about your role in the marketing process?

Are you an Executive, Marketing Director, Entrepreneur, business owner, or sales person? … Regardless, “The Profit Rich Marketing Show” will help you increase your sales and profits!

Here are some Keys get you on track.

Check your (BS). Belief System. Is your BS supporting you or getting in your way?

What about your Self-Talk… That constant voice in your head… Is it mostly optimistic or pessimistic?

You’ll also want to Overcome F.U.D.(Fear, uncertainty and doubt-that can keep you stuck-in-a-rut of inaction or analysis paralysis.

My mindset as a marketer started at age 15 when I started my first business. It was a painting company and you can imagine the challenges I faced, especially since I was earning minimum wage, living on my own in the “projects-paying $17 a month for government housing.

I still remember my first customer lead. A prospect called asking for a quote to paint the interior of their home…I was so excited… whoo hoo!

One little problem. I didn’t even own a paint brush!

So I went to the local paint store and asked for help from the manager. I said “if you help me, I’ll buy all my paint and supplies from you forever.” At first, he was reluctant and didn’t take me seriously. I suppose I wasn’t the model businessman. Age 15… long hair… army jacket. He went over to the shelf and opened a can of paint, dipped a new brush and then started spackling me with paint.. He said, “If you want to be a painter-you’ll have to look like one!” He gave me a clipboard, calculator and instructions. I was set…or at least I thought I was…

I drove to the prospect’s house, walked up to the door and was about to knock… when that little voice in my head said, “Hey, what are you doing? You don’t have the skills, experience… You aren’t old enough, Smart enough…”

That self-talk wasn’t helping much. Then my other voice kicked in! “What have you got to lose? Go for it !” So I knocked on the door.

A man answered and we went through his house room by room, with him telling me what he wanted. “Oil based here. Semi-gloss there, Fix the cracks in the ceilings, Glaze the windows…”

My mind was racing… “Oh my god, What am I doing now”-but I just wrote it all down. I told the man I’d have to go back to my office to prepare the quote and that I’d be back in 30 minutes. My Office… Right.. J

I returned to the paint store and the manager helped me prepare the quote. Back to the prospects house I went. Walked up to the door again and just as I was ready to knock… that little voice said, “just go home… forget about it…” F. U. D!

Something possessed my hand, and I knocked! The door opened and this time the man’s wife was home too. Great!

She took one look at me and stepped behind right her husband.

I handed him the quote and said…, “The total for the painting job is $1,025. I need 50% up front… and 50% on completion”

There was the longest pause in my life. He took a look at me, took a look at the quote, and said, “Do you have any experience?” Being a street-smart kid, I replied “Here’s how we work… if you’re not 100% satisfied with the work we perform, then you don’t have pay!”

The wife said, “Honey… Write the boy the check!… And he did!”

I got to my car and sat there staring at this check for $525. That was more than I earned in a month… and I’d done it in about an hour. I thought, This is so cool! I’ve got to learn more about marketing and making money! By the end of the first year, I was making $35,000 with three crews with an average age 40 years old. This was 1976 – That was a lot of money for a teenager!

The main point is that it’s not your circumstances, experience, marketplace, competition, or products that determine you’re overall marketing success…. It’s your mindset!

This brings us to the next point…

There’s really no such thing as Money Problems… only a lack of ideas. If you want to increase your profits, then increase your creativity to generate more money-making ideas. Subscribe to the RSS feed to be automatically notified for Part 2.

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The Three Critical Elements of a Success Direct Mail Campaign

Let’s explore the three critical elements in every direct mail campaign.

They are: the LIST, the OFFER, and the CREATIVE.

Think of it as the WHO, the WHAT, and the HOW. Don’t worry, we’ll go to into depth with each one. Without a doubt the LIST is the most critical. Please write that down. The LIST is your single most powerful and most important element for direct mail. If you are going to be profitable with direct mail you must make certain that the right audience gets your message.

For example, don’t waste your time mailing me anything on cooking. I’ve grown up on my own, eating out a majority of my life. When I built my house I asked if they could leave out the kitchen because I don’t use it. The architect thought I was joking. The only thing I cook is if it says, unwrap and rotate every 30-seconds. So no matter how creative your package, I’m still not interested in anything related to cooking offers.

On the other hand, YOU CAN send me anything related to outdoor activities. I love hiking, camping, cycling and sailing, so offers related to those activities will definitely catch my attention. If I send my innovative and outstanding package to you on a topic you are not interested in, you won’t open or read it. But if I send you a mediocre mailing with an average offer on a subject that you love, there’s a good chance you’ll read it and possibly respond.

You can send an okay offer to a great list and make money, but even the best offer to the wrong list will fail.

Think about marketing LISTS in two categories. First is your in-house list. Your in-house list should be made up of responses from your outbound marketing, website, contact management system, past leads and customers. These are people that are qualified prospects that have either requested more information or have already purchased from you. They are contacts that you already own and can mail to when you want. This is your in-house database that should be set up to track relevant variables, like complete contact information, demographics, purchase history, last contact and last sale date. How frequently do they order, and how much have they spent with you are important questions to know when you’re creating offers for your in-house list.

Make a note right now to create a backup of your list. Protect your customer database as one of your most important assets. There are way too many horror stories I could tell you of customers who failed to follow this advice, only to have their list stolen by a disgruntled employee or corrupted from poor list management. Yes, you have to manage your lists. If you’re the type of company that has multiple database lists in various software systems, make it a priority to get them organized so you can use them. You need to clean your lists to maintain list accuracy.

As your database ages, you will be wasting valuable marketing dollars by mailing to bad addresses or outdated contacts. Typically, 3% a month move, retire or die. That means a 1-yr old list is only 75% accurate, and a 3-yr old list is only 50% accurate. And to capture discounted postage rates, the Post Office requires you clean your list using National Change of Address services, also known as N.C.O.A. and C.A.S.S. certification. Another way to help clean your list is to mail First Class with the mail piece marked with Address Service Requested. Undeliverable mail will then be forwarded or returned to you so you can correct or delete bad contacts.

The second category of lists is a RENTED LIST. These come in every imaginable size, source and criteria available allowing you to pin-point new prospects. There are list brokers that can help you identify the most responsive prospect lists for your mail campaign. Typically, you rent a list for a one-time mailing, with any contacts that respond to your offer being added to your in-house list, thus becoming yours to market to again and again.

One of the best sources for finding a reputable list broker is the Standard Rate and Data Service’s (S.R.D.S) direct mail book, which can be found online or at your local library. A list broker will help you find a list that will meet your criteria with minimal waste. Subscribe to the RSS Feeds to be notified of new posts. Use the link in the upper right corner!

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How to use Direct Mail to reach targeted prospects and get them to take action to buy your products and services.

I was at my desk when my new assistant brought me a stack of the day’s mail. She said, Don’t you want me sort this out for you so you don’t have to waste your time with the junk mail? I said, no thanks… I’ll like to look through it all. Why you may wonder? Because I know that new marketing ideas are found everywhere… especially in direct mail pieces. Sure, I sort my mail over the waste basket like everyone else. One stack for keepers and one for the trash, except my sorting process is a bit different. I keep the regular business correspondence & interesting mail pieces. I pay attention to the design and marketing messages of the mail pieces that catch my eye.

To me it’s not Junk Mail… It’s Idea Mail.

I like to study them for ideas. Ideas I can model to find new concepts that can be adapted to projects I might be working on. Key word– adapted–not copied. I look for interesting headlines, teaser copy, and creative designs. Companies spend millions on direct mail because it works… While a vast majority of it may end up in the trash, it’s your job to make sure that if you’re going to use direct mail, you do it effectively… otherwise you’re just killing trees and filling up landfills… and worse…wasting a lot of money.

I’ve worked with several clients and students of my marketing boot-camps that say direct mail doesn’t work. It certainly does work, but you need to follow the rules that we’re going to explore today. I use direct mail in conjunction with a multitude of other marketing methods to generate leads and sales. Recent statistics show that even with increases in postage and paper costs, marketers are continuing to spend over 70 billion, that’s billion with a B, on direct mail.

This blog posting is about making your direct mail efforts profitable.

First, a few clarifications are in order. The terms, direct marketing, direct-response and direct mail are easily confused by many people… even experienced marketers. So, to clarify, direct marketing typically refers to marketing efforts directed at the end-user when a retailer or distributor is in the middle. Direct-response advertising is any advertising method (print, broadcast or direct mail packages) that invites the recipient to contact you directly. with a specific call-to-action. Direct mail uses the mail service to deliver your sales piece directly to the mailbox of your prospect. I specialize in direct-response marketing because it allows me to solicit direct responses, hence the name, which is specific and measurable. By measuring the results, I can tweak the process until it’s profitable… thus creating a virtual lead-generating cash machine.

By the end of this show, you’ll never look at direct mail quite the same way again. You’ll be armed with the secrets of successful mailings that you can use to grow your profits. My goal is to help you increase your response rates, lower your cost per qualified lead and make you more money. If you’re using direct mail, do you know your response rates? Do you know how much you’re spending to generate a lead from the number of pieces that you’re mailing? Without measuring the costs, responses and profitability of the mailings you cannot insure your success.

Oh, one more quick clarification. Direct Mail is really categorized in two types. Internet-direct Mail (sent via EMAIL) and Traditional Direct Mail sent through the post office or shipping company.

Today, our focus is on traditional direct mail, but many of the strategies apply to both methods. Direct mail offers unique advantages over other media. You can selectively target a list of customers within your market. It can be personalized to your prospects allowing you to provide detailed information required to motivate them to take action. It can help you build a database with valuable information to help your sales efforts. It’s flexible because you can send small or large amount of marketing messages in a variety of printed formats, including letters, postcards and brochures. And as I’ve mentioned it’s measurable allowing you to quantify the results.

Think about your goals for direct mail… You may want to drive traffic into a retail store… Or generate traffic to a web site. Maybe you want to build your database, improve customer service or build relationships through special offers? Certainly you have products or services that can benefit from power of direct mail.

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How to Get Free Publicity

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Publicity as you know comes in many communication forms, from traditional print, tv, and radio to the power of the internet. My outcome is to re-ignite your passion and purpose for creating FREE and low cost publicity to increase your market share!

Traditional Media Relations is a sophisticated process with its own protocol, etiquette and rules. Savvy marketers know how to navigate those waters to build those relationships and reach their target audience through the power of publicity efforts. You can do it too!

Let’s review the key elements of a publicity plan.

Start by developing a clear understanding of your target audience? Who are they? What do they read, watch or listen to? Define their demographics, lifestyle and life stage? Next, make a list of your core messages and ideas. For example the PROBLEMS, SOLUTIONS, and TOPICS related to your products & services. What problems can you help them solve? Keep in mind, that to create an effective press release, it must be of value and not a self-absorbed promotion. Ask yourself, what message you want to give them and why should they care? How can you entertain and inform them at the same time? Finally, dedicate time each week to your publicity efforts. It’s one of the best ways to improve your positioning, and grow your business.

Recently we launched the ProfitRichMarketing.com membership site. It’s a website that’s focused on all things related to marketing to help you grow your business. We wanted to drive traffic, generate leads, gain subscribers and get higher rankings in the search engines so that our prospects could find us. when they are searching for specific keyword terms. The process started by creating the publicity plan and answering the questions we discussed earlier. Our goal was to reach business owners, marketing directors, entrepreneurs, sales people and anyone else who wanted to learn how to promote and use marketing methods effectively. We knew that our prospects weren’t searching to join a content membership site, but that they would be searching for solutions, for tips, tactics, strategies and techniques related to understanding marketing, sales, promotion and publicity.

Then we created press releases and articles in a format that was newsworthy and filled them with keyword rich search terms; included hyperlinks back to us; and a byline about our company. Please understand, simply creating compelling content isn’t enough…it still has to reach interested readers.

The most effective way to publish your media release is to simultaneously place it on your own web site and send it to the press release distribution services. I’m sure you understand the concept of posting it to your site… just get your webmaster to create a section on your site with clear navigation and links with the keywords, titles and topics of your press releases. Warning: this next tip is a bit technical… You can go the extra mile and create an RSS feed on your site using a RSS feed generator script too. That makes it easy for your site visitors to get YOUR content dynamically… automatically to their site, blog or RSS reader… if they subscribe to your RSS Chanel feed. We don’t have enough time to go into the depths of RSS in this episode. For now, just make sure you post your releases on your web site and get your webmaster to research and implement RSS feeds.

Next, you’ll want to utilize Press Release Distribution Services. Keep in mind that they fall into two categories, each with their own benefits. There are distribution services that specialize in getting your releases out to lots of different Internet sites. This helps you reach thousands of people almost instantly because listings get automatically sent to Google News, Yahoo News and others. Your search-engine rankings improve too when you include hyperlinks back to your site from your releases because in-bound links are a weighted component of the search-engine rankings algorithms. And the other type of distribution service focuses on getting your release into the hands of broadcast and print reporters. While some services claim to do both, usually you’ll have to use more than one service and track the results. While I don’t endorse any particular service, you can find them popular services on Google or Yahoo by searching for *News Release Services*

I hope you’re taking great notes and have already compiled a list of publicity action steps you’re going to take. Subscribe to the RSS Feed on follow me, Ford Saeks on Twitter at: www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

Whiz-kid goes from Rags to Riches and Makes Millions with Bike Rack Idea!… was the headline in The Globe Magazine in 1988. That was just one of literally hundreds of articles and stories that were generated from my publicity efforts for my sporting goods company.

Now the GLOBE wasn’t my first choice for my entrepreneurial story when I was working to increase exposure and sales using press releases. It started with me sending press releases about my products to local papers, then trade publications, and went on to include national & international magazines, including USA Today, Entrepreneur, Success, Popular Science and many others.

“Using the Power of Publicity to Increase Sales”

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Those media efforts launched and helped the success of my business grow into a multi-million dollar company. Those releases gave my products millions of dollars worth in free advertising, outstanding third-party endorsements, squashed the competition, created a ton of sales leads…. and they positioned my products in the eyes of my prospects & customers.

Since then, I’ve harnessed the power of publicity to promote all kinds of products and services in more industries than I can count. Now I use publicity efforts to promote my Direct & Internet Marketing services, along with efforts to promote my client’s products that lead to millions in sales each year. It’s much easier than most people may think. There are hundreds of magazines starving for content, but it has to be of value or forget it, not to mention the millions of internet sites craving for new content.

When was the last time YOU sent out a press release? What’s YOUR opinion of media releases? Do you have a Media Section of your website? Learning how to craft and use press releases is extremely valuable for your promotional efforts…. and we’re going to look at how YOU can do it better too! The impact, reach and power of publicity have never been greater. You’re ability to get your stories published and read is much easier than ever before. Using publicity strategies with the power of the internet can give you a competitive edge, and increase your sales. Publicity is a valuable component of any company that wants a competitive edge.

For the purposes of today’s show, when I refer to either a press or media release, I’m referring to the same thing. Sure, if you want to get nit-picky a *Press* release is sent to print publications and a media release is sent to TV, Radio, and internet sites, but for today… the outcome is the same… to send a news worthy article or story that is something of value to a group of listeners, viewers or readers… and that includes your prospects searching the internet.

Just a few years ago, if you wanted to benefit from sending out press releases you had to identify media outlets, attempt to entice overworked and underpaid reporters, publishers or editors to pick up your story. It could be a long and arduous process. Even if you hired a PR Firm, you still were stuck with them targeting journalists and media outlets to select your stories. Today, you can benefit from online media sources that post and distribute your releases to millions instantly… We’re going to explore the strategies that you can use to become a publicity powerhouse!

You still want to include a strategy to get printed in traditional publications and viewed through media sources, but now you can use the power of the internet to do it faster and more effectively. Keep in mind, a poorly written, self-promotional press release will be just as useless in any medium… so you need to understand how the process works best to benefit from it.

It’s important to note that not all of the rules have changed for getting free publicity. The benefits remain virtually the same. You’re leveraging the resources of other media sources to reach your target market for much less money than advertising. The main difference from then to now is that before you had little to no control over what stories and how much of the story actually got published, but now thanks to online PR Services, your press release automatically becomes web content, which means it has a much better chance at automatically becoming news, and more importantly helping your prospects find you.

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A great way to drive home the importance of having a marketing plan is to imagine you’re sitting in your dream car, but with one little caveat… the windows are all painted black and there are no gauges. You push the pedal to floor and zoom, zoom, away you go! What do you think is going to happen next? Certainly, you’re going to crash-not a pretty picture.

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Are you surprised to know that many businesses operate their marketing efforts similar to this scenario?

They send out a few postcard campaigns and direct mailings, invest in a website, make a few signs and counter displays-oh yeah-and don’t forget about the pretty brochures with a picture of their building, their logo and tons of content with no action steps.

I’m not trying to sound cynical, but I hate to see good money being tossed down the drain because there isn’t even a basic marketing plan in place. Or maybe there’s a plan, but it’s being implemented without, testing, tracking or benchmarks for improvement.

When Was The Last Time You Reviewed Your Plan? I’m sure it’s a part of your regular operations, right? Generally speaking, developing a marketing plan is undertaken as part of the yearly planning process. It should also be used when you want to introduce new products & services; enter new markets; opening a new location, or when you’re using new strategy to fix an existing problem.

Use this outline to ensure success at your next planning meeting. It’s a Five Step Marketing Plan.

Step 1: Purpose & Mission (“Where do you want to go?”)

Create a summary of your market position & goals. Write out a clear statement of the purpose of your business, your chief product or service along with the problems that you help solve that other people will pay to make go away?

If I asked your employees what your company mission is, what would they say? It might be a good action step for you to take? You may be surprised with the answers you get.

I’m not talking about some 150 word mission statement that’s on a plaque in your office. I am taking about a clear vision and focus that can be explained and repeated easily. The shorter the better.

Step 2: Situational Analysis (“Where are you now? What’s working and what needs to be improved?”) Here’s are the major parts of step 2:

Do Your Research to gain a competitive edge.

Product Analysis – What stage in the product life cycle are your products? New, Growing, Mature, Declining?

Target Market Analysis – Profile your customers using Demographics – Statistics; and Psychographics – Behaviors.

Customer Analysis – Find out how customers react to your quality & price; service & delivery; image & brand-everything that influences their purchasing decision. To discover what they think just ask them. Make personal calls or send surveys via e-mail or postcards.

Distribution Analysis – What are your channels of distribution? Retail, Wholesale, Internet direct, Distributors, Sales Rep network, Mass Merchants?

Competitor Analysis – There are direct and indirect competitors. Direct is an actual competitor that offers the same solution. An Indirect competitor is something that competes for your same dollars. For example, if you sell copiers an indirect competitor might be new office furniture.

SWOT Analysis – Of course, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Industry Analysis – How to you rate against others in your industry? Above or below average?

External Environment and Trends – Consider Market Factors, Political factors, Legal Factors, Economic Factors, Technological Factors? Social and Cultural Factors?

Financial Analysis – Are you making a profit? What are your primary financial ratios telling you? Can you identify any trends?

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far: Use the 4-Question System to measure performance of your promotions. And we’re in the middle of the 5-step Marketing Plan, Step one: Purpose & Mission. Step two was your Situation Analysis.

Follow me on Twitter.com at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

It’s long been said that “if you cannot measure it-you cannot manage it.” Nowhere is this more true than with direct and internet marketing campaigns, where the necessity of examining what works and what doesn’t directly influences the bottom-line.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In today’s competitive marketplace-it’s critical that you make the most of your marketing efforts. A great way to accomplish this is with a solid marketing plan, combined with a marketing calendar. It sounds like common sense, but some things that are simple aren’t always easy-however, they can be with the right strategy.

If you’re like most of the businesses we work with you want to grow your business? Maybe you want to introduce a new product or service? Or differentiate yourself from the competition… or maybe you just want to sell more to your current and new customers…

Well, you’re watching the right show. Grab your note pad and pen and let’s get started!

I’ve used a four-step system to measure performance & generate millions of dollars sales. It starts with a basic understanding of these four questions.

First question: 1. What does it cost you to reach your prospects?

Second question: 2. How many of these prospects get converted into customers?

The third question is: 3. “What’s the up-front profit on the first sale?

And the forth question is 4. “What’s the long-term value of the customer/client?”

Can you answer those questions about your business? Take them into consideration as you implement new marketing strategies.

To apply this system, select a specific promotion and then track your results!

For example, if you send a postcard mailing to 2,500 prospects and the mailing cost is $ .65 each, then the answer to question #1 is $1,625 dollars. That’s (2,500 x .65).

If you get 50 new customers from the mailing, then you know how many leads were converted and have the answer to question #2. Take the 50 Customers divided by the 2500 prospects and you get a conversion rate of 2% percent. That’s (50 / 2500 = .02 or 2%)

If you earn $100 on the first transaction-you raised $5,000, that’s (50 customers x 100 each=5,000) and you have the answer to question #3. This also let’s you calculate gross profit on that mailing. Take the $5,000 revenue MINUS the expense of $1,625 and that leaves you with a profit of $ 3,375 dollars.

Next, consider the long-term value of gaining a new 50 customers. Question #4 is the most important question. Sometimes you may lose money or just break-even on the actual promotion, but in the long-run with referrals and repeat sales, you can be very profitable.

Sure there are other considerations too, like the overlap of other promotions, different time frames and the synergistic effect of your other marketing efforts. Don’t let the math scare you. The point is to make sure that your marketing efforts are producing profitable results.

“No one plans to fail… but many fail to plan” Face it. Having a marketing plan saves you money, saves you time, keeps you focused, and says that you’re serious about your business. “Planning without action is futile… Action without planning is FATAL”

Is your business acting without a marketing plan? Do you feel overwhelmed, over-worked, or frustrated trying to get it all done? Well, a marketing plan won’t solve ALL of your problems, but it will help your organization increase the chances of success.

A marketing plan is a road map detailing the route you’ll take to get your business noticed by potential clients. By following a properly crafted plan, you’ll know what to do and why you re doing it, while avoiding some of the mistakes that can cost you money and future growth.

Subscribe to the RSS feed or follow me, Ford Saeks on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

Click here to view the embedded video.

How to increase targeted traffic to your website and sell more products and services.

On our Internet Marketing Video Part 1 (see other blog posting) we were talking about getting into the mind of your prospects… and the Four-stages of the buying process.

Here’s the first stage:*  Your prospects need to recognize they have a “Problem“ - to become aware of need or desire! Sometimes, as marketers, we need to help them see the problem… we need to give them the headache…and then sell them the pain-reliever.

* Next is the “Information research & comparison shopping phase” -  You can help guide your prospects through this phase by using free articles, specials landing pages, and content devoted to help them along.

* And the third stage is the actual Purchase -You must make it easy for your customers to purchase from you-especially online.

* And finally, there’s the forth stage in the buying process– the Post-Purchase Evaluation-Are they Satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase?  Prospects ask themselves “have I made the right decision?”   You can reduce their concerns by offering: guarantees, warrantees, and testimonials, along with after sales communications.

So Let’s say I am in the market for new energy efficient car… how about a hybrid car… But I don’t want a little whimpy car… I want an SUV…and a Luxury SUV….

Think about the types of keywords that I might type in the search-engine?

“Hybrid car” …, “Luxury Hybrid SUV”…  “How Hybrids Work?”… “Hybrid SUV Performance Ratings” and so on…  If you’re selling these models you’ll want to have content and keywords on your site that matches my search engine inquiries.

Keep in mind that your customers could visit you at several different stages of the buying process or just jump to the sale.  Use caution on your assumptions.  Let the market tell you what’s working… If what you’re doing now isn’t working-that’s a clear sign you need to CHANGE.

As an action step, think about the problems that your products and services solve.  Are you making the fatal mistake that your prospects will just figure out the benefits you offer.  Are you making too many assumptions about your prospects decision making process?  Remember, stage one is your prospects need to know they have a problem that you can solve… and that problem may be positioned as a desire too, but it should be clear to your prospects that they’ve reached the best source for their wants and desires when they reach your website.

I’d like you to map out on paper the content you feel that YOUR prospects would need in the “research & comparison” phase.  If you have several products, then you’ll need to repeat it for each one.  What questions do they have about your products or services and make sure you provide the answers or a way to get those answers on your site.   You may want them to fill out an online assessment form, download a special report….  Or create a comparison of features or products chart… or maybe have them fill-out a request form.

Next, go through your Purchase process, step by step and see if you can improve or simplify it.  This episode is about driving traffic…and if you’re site’s easy to purchase from, it will enhance the customers buying experience and make it more likely that they’ll spend money with you and tell their friends and associates.

To help you increase your rankings in the search engines and for future Pay-per-Click advertising planning, make a list of the keywords you think your prospects would type into their favorite search engine at each phase of the buying process..  from research through to the purchase.  Use a spreadsheet to help you organize and sort them for future use.

Before you invest in Pay-per-click and other efforts to drive traffic to your site, you must make sure your site is designed properly.  You certainly don’t want to waste your efforts driving traffic to a website that sucks!   Please don’t confuse Sucks… with ugly.   Sometimes websites that you think would never sell anything, like one long scrolling page selling only one product…with three different color fonts and a big “buy now” at the bottom outsell the fancy sites with all of the bells and whistles.  Your website is only effective if it quickly moves the visitor from the inquiry stage to becoming a qualified lead or by making a purchase.

My measurement of a website is by the profit it generates and that’s how you should evaluate your site too. (read more below.. this isn’t on the video clip)

Look at your site through the eyes of a marketer and the mind of the prospect.

Now let’s explore how to use that information to get more traffic.

The question I get asked the most when talking about increasing site traffic is
“How do we get higher rankings in the search engines?” – for free, not using Pay-per-Click to help position rankings.

Higher rankings means more traffic because your prospects can find you easier.   While we could go on for days about how to get higher “organic or natural” ranking placements, let’s look at the key factors that you can benefit from right away…

First, you need to understand that the search-engines responsibility is to provide the searcher the best “user-experience” by providing them with the most relevant search results. related to the users SEARCH TERMS. Your job is to help the search engines catalog your site content so your site listing is displayed high in the rankings for those keyword searches.   Each major search engine uses complicated algorithms and techniques to create their listings and its changing all of the time, but let’s look at the main things that you can do to that seem to be constant in the ranking process.

Having a large amount of relevant CONTENT about your products, services and solutions.  The more content, and fresh content you have related to the main search terms and stages of the buying processes you’ve identified, the more likely the search engines are to raise your rankings.

For example, if you’ve identified the top ten keywords that you think your prospects would use to find you–you then will want to create at least one web page dedicated to that keyword term.  On one of my sites I sell a program for information marketers, (experts who speak, train and consult)… the program is called The Internet Profit Kit, and I have special landing pages with article content related to the keywords that I know my prospects will be searching for… and then at the bottom of the page is the promotion for the product.  It’s a win-win for everyone.

With many search engines, the information displayed on search results page comes from two places: the HTML <title tag> and the <meta-description tag> if you have one, or it selects text from the landing page for the description.  What Is a Title Tag? This is the list of words that show at the top bar of your web browser.   The title tag has been–and probably will always be–one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings.   In fact, fixing just the title tags of your pages can often generate quick and appreciable differences to your search rankings.  And because the words in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page… changing them usually results in more clickthroughs to your site.

Title tags are definitely one of the most important factors as far as the algorithmic weight given to them by search engines; they are equally as important as your visible text on the page and the hyperlinks pointing to your pages – perhaps even more so.

Each page should have a unique page title and description meta-tag.   A common question is “Do Company Names Belong in the Title Tag?”…  I’d say YES! Of course, but this doesn’t mean that you should put “just” your company name in the title tag.   You also want to add a good descriptive keyword phrase too… something that will help compel the prospect to click on your listing.   You’d be surprised how many sites just use “HOME PAGE” as the title, or worse they don’t use anything and it shows untitled page… or they use the exact same words on each page of their site.  When you do that, you make it hard for the search engines to know what each page is about that lowers your rankings for sure!

Your Title Tags Should Contain Specific Keyword Phrases that match the content on the particular page.

For example, if your company is **ACME Incorporated** a Specialty Glassware company in California, you shouldn’t place ONLY the words **ACME Incorporated.** in your title tag, but instead use something like… ** ACME Incorporated Specialty Glassware – Bar Glassware, California **  Be sure to do your keyword research to find the best phrases!  You would need to be even more specific if you prefer to work with people only in the Los Angeles area.  In that case, use keywords such as **Los Angeles Specialty Glassware** in your title tag or maybe **Specialty Glassware – Bar Glassware – Los Angeles**

How your listing appears on the SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS PAGE (SERP) is a critical aspect of you improving traffic.  After all, if you have high search engine rankings but your targeted buyers aren’t clicking through, it won’t do you much good.  Write compelling titles tags and description tags so that your prospects select you over the competition.   Just Search your top keywords and see what the competition is using for page titles and descriptions.   If you’re not the person who actually works on the site, you still need to communicate exactly what you want and make sure that your web designer understands these critical elements.

Oh, yeah… How many words should you use in the title tag?  Google will display up to 66 characters of a title tag, cropping it to complete words.   Yahoo! has an absolute cutoff in presenting titles of exactly 120 characters, which is substantially longer and gives you much more room to present longer titles.  The best strategy for creating a long title is to make sure that the title works for both Google and Yahoo.

The Description tag is very important too.  When your page listing comes up in the search results, the contents of your META description tag are displayed right below the title of your page.  If no description tag is found, the search engine attempts to create a description for you and often fails to describe your page properly.  Make your description meta tags short but informative.   If you can trim them to less than 14 words that give enough information to compel the user visit your site.

Don’t make yourself crazy trying to create the perfect title and description tag, as there’s just no such thing.  The best thing to do would be to test different ones and see which rank higher and which convert better.

That’s all I have time for today… subscribe to the Blog RSS feed and enter your comments below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Increase Sales with Internet Marketing Speaker Ford Saeks

It was 8:00 o’clock on a Thursday morning. I arrived at my office to find my email-inbox filled with orders worth over $70,000 dollars…  It was a great way to start my day!

Earlier that week, I’d launched my Marketing Mentorship program by sending out a 3-part email series to my customer list.   The first email mentioned that something big was coming soon-that was the teaser…  The second email sent one day after that…  was the reminder message…, and the third email, was the actual sales letter with links to the special landing page.

Now, I’d experienced this type of success and even better ones many times before… for generating sales leads;  growing ezine subscriber lists;  and selling a wide variety of products and services, with prices ranging from 9.00 to $90,000 dollars. “Make money while you sleep”….they said… “Grow your business exponentially by leveraging the power the Internet… they said… And I listened!”

Now-there were many voices-some good-and some full of hot air… but through testing and tracking… and testing again, I was able to formulate and perfect many methods to get more visitors to our sites.

I’ve been marketing on the internet now for over a decade… My company, Prime Concepts Group owns and operates over 100 websites for our products & services, and many more for our clients around the globe… and if there’s one thing I’ve learned… be careful of anyone who claims to know everything about the internet, or internet marketing, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, or any subject for that matter…  The culture and behavior of internet users, along with the search engines are constantly in flux and you’ll want to adapt or you’ll get left behind.

Even experienced Internet Marketers-like me-are quick to tell you to test everything in the sales process; track the responses you get: and measure the conversions and everything you do to make sure it’s effective!  Even in this fast changing environment, there are proven Internet marketing strategies that have worked repeatedly to produce profitable results… and that’s what today’s show is all about!

Oh… and just in case your curious… this isn’t a blog posting about technology… it’s about communication and adding value…

The ideas and concepts I’ll be sharing can be used by the novice, the techie, and the corporate executive.   They apply to entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations and for not-for-profit organizations… A couple things for sure, you don’t have to be a techno-geek to understand everything… but you will want to take good notes!

The next suggestion is to split your notes into two categories… one half for “Aah-Haa moments” and the other half for “Action Steps“.  That way, when you review them you’ll have a clear plan of action!  Are you ready?  Let’s go!

Think about your last big purchase…  Did you use the internet-either for research or to buy something?  What was the last thing you purchased from a website?   What are your favorite sites–and why?  Make a list of the top five that you visit and after watching the video above, go visit them through the mind of an “Internet Marketer”   I’ll let you know what to look for…

The next important concept is to “get inside the mind of your prospects.” Get to know their behavior and habits.  How do they buy?    What factors influence their buying decision?  Over the years, I’ve worked with entrepreneurs, small businesses and major corporations to improve their sales and profits.  Through that experience, it was common for some of them to under utilize the main stages of the buying process.   Keep in mind that the actual purchase is just ONE stage.

Sure… this concept of *stages* applies to all types of selling, but especially for the web–where you’ll most likely need CONTENT to address each stage in the buying process.  This not only helps your site visitor have an improved experience, but it also helps the search engines catalog you as a good reference.

Subscribe to the Blog RSS Feed to be notified for Part 2 and check out www.InternetProfitKit.com for more resources on using Internet Marketing to Grow Your Business

First, the buzz was all about having a website, then came email marketing, instant messaging and blogging followed by MySpace and now thousands of Social Media & Networking Sites.

With all of the Social Media Sites growing exponentially, I’m frequently asked if they can really help build a business… Yes, they can. Sure you have to take the time to learn the unique nuances of each site, their purpose and how the community interacts, but Social Networking is here to stay and is only going to get bigger.

I’ve focused more on Youtube, FaceBook, and LinkedIN, but lately, all of the buzz has been about www.Twitter.com

I set my account up months ago but didn’t Tweet (post) much at all. Today, after presenting for the Publicity Society of America (PRSA) at their national convention I was amazed how many people were talking about how they were using Twitter effectively. View it at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

So tonight I updated my Twitter profile, created a custom page background, posted a few Tweets, linked a few favorites and downloaded a small application to my Iphone.

I searched for my name “Ford Saeks” and found several people that had tweeted (sorry, I’m not used to that term yet) with quotes from my presentation. From there, I found more blog postings about me too. What a great way to stay connected to your customers and more importantly your “brand”. (watch Twitter Video >>)

Twitter feeds help you keep your customers, prospects and suspects engaged and up to date too. It’s not a replacement for a blog or your site, but it gives savvy marketers and thought leaders another way to stay connected and build their brand.

So, for those of you already Twitter experts, I compliment you on your efforts. For the rest of you, start now, but to get a quick explanation on how to use twitter watch this Youtube Video. It explains Twitter in Plain English…

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o]

On Twitter? Follow me at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts Also, tell me what you think? Post a comment on this blog below.

One of the ways you can improve your relationship with your clients and customers is to create information based products.  While this is a common method of making money for professional speakers, authors, trainers and consultants, it also can be applied to all types of businesses.

Regardless of YOUR particular type of business or industry there are informational products that you could create and either sell or give away that positions YOU and YOUR business as the expert resource.  The key is to identify the type of information that your target prospects and customers want to know more about and then create a product that answers those questions.  If you think about it, you probably could come up with many different titles and types of products, but if you’re starting out with information products then pay close attention to these basic tips:

1.  Select the best information product type for how YOUR prospects want to consume the information.  For example, as an Internet Marketer I create video and interactive information products with active links.  For a health club, you might want to create a booklet or special report that showcases certain exercises and also promotes your business.  There are hundreds of combinations and types of information products that you can select.  The two main information marketing product categories are physicalproducts, like books, cds, DVDs and Digitalproducts, like MP3 downloads, Audio podcasts, video-casts, and formatted .PDF documents.   You can easily turn any newsletter, special report, tip sheet, top 10 list or white paper into a .PDF informational product.  Digital products are easy to create, cost you virtually nothing to distribute, and are highly effective and profitable.

2. Create a compelling headline, subhead and benefit product description.  You can checkout our titles in the product store on this site, but the key for you is to select a title and description that is benefit oriented. Remember, benefits attract attention and features support the benefits. You need both, but benefits come first.

3. Price it according to the perceived value.  Information products should not be priced as “cost plus” or “competitive pricing”… they should be “priced for perceived value” that you create in the mind of the prospect. They are buying the solutions to their questions or problems, not the paper, plastic, CD or digital file.  The real issue is what your information is worth to the customer?  A book filled with rah-rah clichés is overpriced at $10.  A CD album that shows someone how to make an extra $200,000 a year in their business is a bargain at $500. 

4. Promote them in all of your sales and marketing efforts.  Again, they are NOT designed to replace your core products and services. They are used to position you and your business as the expert resource and preferred vendor of choice.  People want to do business with companies that they know and trust.  Offering informational products goes a long way to improving that trust because you are helping them solve their questions and concerns.  Add them to your website as bonuses. Give them away at trade shows. Use them on sales calls. Include them in your other advertising.  Just think of the many ways you can use information products to increase your sales and build a better connection and relationship with your target market.  Be creative and take action.

As you develop your information products, keep all of this in mind.  Make sure you offer real-world value that people can use immediately.  They will come back to you again and again. 

Check back again soon for more Information Marketing Product Development Tips. 

Do you have a question or comment?  Take a second and post it below and I’ll be sure to address it on this blog.

Using Relevant Keywords is the Most Important Element to Increase Your Site Traffic

Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines.  It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.

The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.

Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content.  Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic.   Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.

Here are a few tips for keyword success:

1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.

Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract.  Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.

2. Do your research.

Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now.  We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.

You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales.  Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits.  The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions.  The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.

Two of my favortite Keyword tools are:

Google Keyword Tool Sandbox:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

and the WordTracker Free Keyword Tool

There are several other sources for keyword research and they all offer specific advantages and benefits. WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool and  Google’s Sandbox Tool will keep you busy for a while and help you create a nice list of keywords.

3. Use your Keywords on your website content, blog headlines and postings, articles, media releases, and social media website profiles.

Remember, keywords… sorry scratch that… The right keywords, meaning most relevant keywords that your prospects would type into a search engine are what you want in your content.  This includes the content on your website and any content that you place on other people’s website.

For exampke, if you have your company profile or products listed on directory sites or association listings you want to include relevant keywords.  If you have a blog then your blog headlines and blog postings or comments you place on other people’s blogs should include relevant keywords.  If you are using Social Media Marketing Websites — like FaceBook, Linkedin, YouTube, MySpace, and many others to grow your business — then you need to include your relevant keywords in your profiles and postings.

Make certain that your webmaster understands the proper SEO elements necessary for top rankings so you can take advantage of your keywords.  Or hire an SEO Specialist like me, Ford Saeks, to help you and your organization dramatically improve your search engine rankings and make more money. There are 7 critical places you must place your keywords to get top rankings.  One of the best places on your site is the PAGE TITLE and it must be unique on every page.

I explore over 10 other keyword research and SEO strategies going into much more detail on finding the best keywords, including the seven critical places you must use your keywords to increase your targeted site traffic on Keyword Secrets: 60-Minutes to Simple Keyword Success Audio.

Also, WordTracker offers a 7-day free trial and 7 free keyword videos and a Keyword Basic’s Guide that you and your webmaster will find extremely helpful.  I guarantee it!  

Start Now. Add a comment below on this blog posting with your top keywords and put a link to your website.  This will give you an in-bound link that also helps your site rankings.

Think you’re secure when you’re traveling with your laptop using hotspots and wireless internet? Think again…

I just watched this Wireless Hacking Demonstration by IT Security Consultant, Mike Foster as he shows how easily your personal data and wireless traffic can be stolen even with a firewall, virus protection and spyware installed.

Watch the two videos now…  The second video is the Mike’s demo showing the Laptop wireless hacking demo. You don’t need to be technical to understand how scary this is if you are traveling… and it can even happen at your business. His new book “The Secure CEO explains how to protect your computer and network in plain english. Get it today and get secure! You’ve been warned… so don’t call me when you lose your vital computer data.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How Safe Is Your Computer Data from Internet Hackers? Watch The Demo Below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The Secure CEO: How to Protect Your Computer Systems, Your Company, and Your Job” Packs Plain-English Security Solutions for Executives

Viruses… hackers… malware… identity theft… security breaches… it’s enough to make any CEO’s head spin. In order to remain competitive and profitable these days, it’s absolutely imperative that you—and your organization—take control of your IT issues before they take control of you!

In his new book “The Secure CEO,” Vital Systems Security Review Specialist Mike Foster combines his considerable Internet technology experience with his innate understanding of the latest business and security technologies. The result is “The Secure CEO,” the definitive IT handbook for CEOs and key executives. And best of all, it’s written in easy-to-follow “plain English” that readers can understand, regardless of their technological background.

Foster’s premise is that although CEOs may ‘think’ their networks and company information are safe from prying eyes, more often than not they are not. In his book Foster asks critical questions key executives need to consider, such as:

• Are you sure your network isn’t running illegal programs that have been remotely installed by criminals in other countries without your knowledge?
• Is your IT team so under-trained or over-whelmed that daily “fires” keep them from performing critical security tasks?
• Are unclear communication and negative personality types adversely affecting your IT department?

“The Secure CEO” gives you the bottom line answers you need to effectively analyze your current use of Internet technology. Readers will uncover strategies to minimize IT security breaches, tactics for keeping their companies safer, and proven “best practices” to implement to help keep systems secure in the future.

http://www.keepmynetworksafe.com/secure-ceo.html