Monday, December 29, 2008

Online Marketing Tips For Newbies - What is the Very BEST Advice For Internet Marketing Beginners?

In this article we are going to talk ONLY to online marketing newbies. People who are JUST getting started, who have BIG dreams but only a little bit of actual experience on the front lines and thorny trenches of the online entrepreneurial battle zone. The simple truth is making money online is REALLY easy.....but finding a proven and profitable path, along with some good old fashioned honest advice is not.

Fact: Most of the internet marketers who are SELLING their stuff right now, don't even really USE the strategies they're promoting to make their money. Instead, where they REALLY profit is from selling you on the IDEA of using their tactics, which you'll pay them for, USUALLY through your nose, not theirs..:-)

So with that in mind, I'm going to give you some REAL advice you can USE, along with a strategy you can implement IMMEDIATELY and largely for free, so you can get a taste of the internet marketing mind set, and lifestyle to boot.

The advice comes first: keep it simple - and DON'T overcomplicate things to the point where they become confusing. Einstein said something years ago which is VERY true about making a living online, and I paraphrase, but - " any fool can overcomplicate a simple process to the point where it APPEARS more difficult than it really is, whereas true genius lies in embracing simplicity and it's resulting success".

The strategy is this: Concentrate on FREE traffic. I use article marketing as a HUGE component of my own business, and it allows me, in large part to dominate just about ANY market I choose in ways that would cost tens of thousands of dollars if I was paying for traffic. Article marketing is largely free to execute, is IMMEDIATE in terms of it's impact, and can literally be implemented by ANYONE.....regardless of their experience or income level out of the gate.

Follow these 2 simple precepts, and you WILL succeed where others fail, of that I am certain..:-)

Internet Marketing Tips - How to Create a 'Future Proof' Internet Marketing Business

Several years ago, you could slap up a half-decent sales page or website, send traffic to it, and you will make money almost inevitably. However, times have changed. Competition has really sprung up in many major niches. Now, most of the competition are from people who are clueless about how to run a proper business, so you don't have to worry too much about them. They might drive up pay per click costs but they won't be a long-term threat.

These days, though, people have almost infinitely more choices. Compare the supermarket of today to that of 30 years ago. There are literally dozens of choices for ham you could choose from, when there were only a few all those years ago. People have more choices these days, and it is up to you to make sure they choose you.

It is the same for the pay per click search engines. It used to be that you could rank easily for any competitive keyword and get tons of traffic at a low-cost. That's not the case these days. Trying to rank on the first page of a highly popular keyword is almost tantamount to throwing money away. So the key is to go for those long-tail keywords that have decent amounts of traffic, but not too much competition.

So what is takeaway from this? The takeaway is that you have to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you make the biggest connection with your target audience, and form a strong relationship with them, you will stand out from the crowd.

Internet Marketing - What's New For 2009?

Internet Marketing is also referred to as web marketing, online marketing or e-marketing is the marketing of products or services over the internet.

Internet Marketing brings together the creative and technical aspects of the internet, including design, development, advertising and sales. It is not limited to building and promoting a website nor does it mean just placing ads on different websites.

A sophisticated definition will be drawing up a comprehensive plan or strategy that marries your business goals and sales goals with your website(s) function and appearance but focusing on your targeted market(s) using advertising, media and design.

What ever that means; is not as important as finding out first what's new in 2009 so you can be ahead of the pack is what you must thinking right now.

Just when you think the Internet Marketing Niche is saturated then out comes something so unique and yet so basic that it appeals to the wants and needs of many.

Something really unique that promises to take this niche by storm is launching in January 2009. It makes use of cutting edge technology.

Like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and Skype after a few years we will be wondering how we survived before its advent.

This complete system helps you build your internet business by offering a complete suite of communication tools that you use in your business regularly.

The plus is all the applications are web based. This means you can use them from anywhere in the world provided you have access to an internet connection. Our lives just got better and simpler!

With the meeting tool alone you can meet 100s of entrepreneurs anytime, anywhere by phone or web conference. You can hold high powered training sessions with interactive screen sharing and whiteboarding.

How would you like to be able to meet face to face with customers and prospects from all over the world to build relationships and credibility from the comfort of your home?

Keyword Optimization in Website Content

In search engine optimization keyword optimization is extremely important to construct website content. Prior to it you should make list of what keywords and phrases has to be put in the content. These keywords are search terms that are used by users to locate your website. Another important term in SEO is 'keyword density'; it signifies the percentage of keywords that has to be used in a web page. However its percentage differs from one search engine to another. The normal range of keyword density is 3-7% for important keywords.

The number of time any keyword/phrase is shown in a web page is known as keyword frequency. More number of times a keyword appears in a web page, chances of it getting crawled by search engine spiders increases. Usually the keyword or phrase that is used repeatedly in a web page is the most important one. Try to avoid using it again and again so that the system is not abused.

Keywords can be categorized into two forms- primary keywords and secondary keywords. Primary keywords are the main keywords that put more emphasis on from search engine perspective. Whereas secondary keywords have lesser importance than primary ones and are used for marketing of primary keywords.

Finding the right and good keywords is the topmost priority for any website owner. Hire an SEO expert to help you out in this job if you are new to it and don't know professional aspects of search engine optimization. Consult with your friends or people that do regular net surfing on the internet, and know what type of keywords people use for searching products and services.

Search for your competitors, the keyword Meta tags it would facilitate forming the list of keyword optimization. You must have up-to-date list of the products and services provided by your website to the customers. In case the products/services being offered have any technical or complicated name, choose a simpler or general term/name for it.

Placement of keywords play vital role in keyword optimization. They can be placed in paragraphs, image alt tags, heading tags, bulleted lists and so on. You may consider making any definite words in bolder font or italicize it.

The content should be high on readability statistics. It has to be meaningful with proper use of targeted keywords and key phrases. Do not create the content that is only search engine centric but should be user-friendly.

How to Select Search Engine Keywords

Search engines are by far the best way to drive potential customers to your websites. But to drive those potential customers to your site you need to provide them with signs to direct them to your site. To do this you need to select some carefully chosen keywords.

Finding the right keywords and you can have tons of traffic pouring into your website. However, if you're keywords are too general or has too much competition then your number of visitors that make it to your site can decrease dramatically.

No matter how good your website or your product is, without having great keywords that you have chosen with great precision, then your website or product will be of no use. Your keywords play a very high role in your marketing strategy.

The best way to find the right keywords is to look at it from the view of your customers. Otherwise, it can be hard to be objective if you are looking at it from the business side. You need to be able to think like your customers.

A good way to start of is to actually ask your customers. Ask for words and phrases from as many potential customers as you can. You will quite possibly find that many of the words or phrases that your customers come up with will be words and phrases that you hadn't even thought of yourself.

Once you have a list of keywords and phrases from your customers, and then add your own keywords to the list. Then once you have your completed list you will need to evaluate your keywords.

The reason you need to sit down and evaluate your list is to narrow down the list to a reasonably small number of keywords and phrases that will be likely to direct the highest number of good quality visitors to your site. Having lots of traffic coming through your website is no good if the quality of the visitors is not high. With low quality visitors you are not likely to make many sales. You need to have good quality, targeted visitors who are much more likely to make a purchase.

Popularity is one of the ways to evaluate your keywords. The more popular the keyword then the more often you will have potential customers typing that keyword into the search engine.

However popular keywords may also have a great deal of competition so your website may rank quite lowly for that keyword and will therefore not receive that many visitors.

Popularity is good, but it isn't enough. You also need your keywords to be specific. The more specific your keyword is to your product, then the more likely that a potential customer can find your site. Also the more specific your keyword is then the more likely that your potential customer is a good quality, targeted customer.

The last factor to take into account when evaluation your keywords is motivation. Once again you will need to think like your customer. Try to think about what it is that would motivate someone to search for your product and what keywords they would search for. You don't want a ton of visitors that are just browsing and very unlikely to purchase, so stay away from keywords that you think will attract browsers. Use good motivational keywords that will attract the customers that know what they are looking for and have already decided what they want, now they just need to make they purchase. This is the motivation that you are looking for and that will give you targeted visitors and many sales.

Once you have your keywords selected, you will need to continue to evaluate your keywords. If you aren't seeing the results you want then re-evaluate and possibly choose some new keywords. Trends are always changing and so to is the way people talk or the lingo they use, so always keep that in mind and keep updated with your keywords and phrases.

Search Engine Optimization - The Key to Your Success Online

Search engine Optimization (SEO) has revolutionized the way web based companies use marketing. SEO is a way to attract more visitors to your site and create a greater awareness on the World Wide Web. Obviously, the higher up on a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) list the better chance of increased visitors to your site.

The basic way SEO works is the search engine uses crawlers (programs that scan the internet) that look for keywords. For example, if someone types in, "used baby clothes" the search engine will send out crawlers, scanning millions of websites in a second for the key words "baby, clothes." The more accessible and search engine friendly the website is the better chance it will return the site in the top ten to twenty five on the results.

Websites that ignore the need for SEO go unnoticed and are difficult for people to find. Many online business owners aren't aware of the incredible benefit and need for SEO on their site. SEO is the most affordable and easiest way to attract new visitors. It doesn't cost anything and it has the potential to send your website to the top of the charts.

One of the most important aspects of SEO is to develop user friendly content that actually assist search engines in discovering your site. The content of your SEO should be easy to read, conversational and enjoyable. One mistake many people make when writing SEO is they try to fill the article with keywords to point that it is overwhelming and quite annoying. You'll want to stay away from over stuffing the article and make clean and understandable. By providing interesting articles you invite visitors to become regulars and continue to visit your site for education and information on the topic you're selling.

Placing the particular keywords someone may look for in the right location will also increase your chances of getting noticed by search engines. It's important to place the keyword in the first sentence and last sentence of the first and last paragraph. This will help the crawlers of search engines find your site easier.

Webcam Secrets to Becoming Famous by Morning

Lonely Girl 15 - the story of Bree, a teenage girl (16) video blogging about her life from her bedroom.

Starting off with seemingly normal video posts about various 'normal' teenage issues, the storyline soon started to diverge.

Talk of strange occult links and the disappearance of her parents, lonleygirl Bree, had her audience hooked with a combination of titillation and intrigue. This soon was led by skepticism and investigation.

The Lonelygirl15 series ran four to five video blogs a week for a little over two years. In that time the video series boasted in excess of 110 million views, a popular MySpace page and numerous copycat video posts.

It was later discovered that, what was thought to be a real diary of a 16 year old girl, was actually revealed to be a fictional series created by three amateur filmmakers and a 20 year old New Zealand born actress named Jessica Rose.

Rather than being outraged and turned off the audience was hungry for more. That resulted in the spin-off series "KateModern" which aired on Bebo.

So what was it about Lonleygirl15 that made it so popular? Was it just a fluke or was it carefully planned and implemented marketing strategy?

As it turned out, it was point number two. Whether the creators had an exit plan at the beginning of the venture I am unsure but they definitely profited with product placements and an injection of $5million dollars in venture capital.

And the secret to lonelygirls success? Let's make a list (and being Christmas time, we'll check it twice ;):

1. The allure of looking in on a pretty sixteen year old girls bedroom had to be high for a number of viewers. Let's face it, sex sells.

2. The initial storyline created empathy with young teens and discovery for those of other ages.

3. Once the storyline started to morph into bizarre and unusual twists it captured viewers and started discussion.

4. The hype created by whether lonleygirl15 was real or not even drew media coverage and speculation.

Once dissected you see that Lonleygirl15 had all the traits of a well thought up and executed marketing plan. An initial point of attraction (pretty girl), familiarity (to create empathy) and a twist.

A model that anyone can copy (and numerous people have) to generate personal or business publicity.

So put on your thinking cap and you too can soon be Famous By Morning!