Advertising and Marketing blog

Like any industry, Internet Marketing has its own special
marketing tools and methods. Many of these marketing tools
may already be familiar to you: autoresponders, SEO software,
link-building systems, content management programs,
affiliate software… and the list goes on.

However, Internet Marketing has other more effective,
non-traditional marketing tools every marketer should
know about if they want to reach their full potential as
online marketers. Some of these marketing tools come cleverly
disguised or camouflaged, with many surfers or customers
completely unaware that they’re receiving a sales-pitch.
Yet, these innocent and simple sales techniques are some
of the most effective marketing tools on the web.

For anyone involved in Internet Marketing or for anyone
wishing to become involved, a quick rundown of these
marketing tools may prove helpful. Here’s a brief list
and a few pointers on how to effectively use these
marketing tools.

1. Domain Name

Lets start at the very beginning. Your domain name should be
considered your first Internet marketing tool. Pick it right
and your domain name can also be your most effective marketing
tool. Get it wrong and it may spell game over.

Most marketers agree you should pick a short memorable
keyword-related domain name. For example, www.hotels.com,
it’s easy to remember/spell and it tells you exactly what
the site is about. Picking a domain directly related to the
keyword or keywords of your site will help greatly in obtaining
a high ranking for your site with the search engines. Not to
mention, it will be a great marketing and promotional tool,
telling your potential customers exactly what your site is
promoting and displaying.

On the other hand, some marketers suggest you opt for a short
jazzy name that can be easily remembered by your visitors.
Ebay, Google, Napster, Yahoo… regardless of which route you
take, make sure you examine all the marketing potential before
you pick your domain name. The right domain name can be one
of your most effective marketing tools on the world wide web.

Many experts also suggest you only set up a dedicated server
for your domain or domains. A dedicated server only carries
one domain. Most hosting companies (for economic reasons)
often share hosting servers, i.e. your domain is co-hosted
with hundreds of other domains on the same server. Since you
will be using the same IP address this may have dire consequences
if one of the domains is accused of spamming or some other
unscrupulous behavior. Even if you can’t afford a dedicated
server, it would be wise (for SEO purposes) to have a separate
IP address for each domain you own. Most hosting companies
provide this service for a small fee.

2. Keywords

Keywords, what surfers type into search engines to find what
they’re looking for, are the real building blocks of the web.
They are the single most important element in any online
marketing venture. Pick the right keywords and you’re in
business, pick the wrong keywords and again, it’s game over.

Therefore, you must have special keyword software or use some
online sites or services to help you pick the right keywords.
Many top marketers use WordTracker.com, GoodKeywords.com,
or the new Keyword Elite by Brad Callen. A superior keyword
research product will supply valuable information: number
of searches made each month, amount of competition and the
top sites targeting your keywords.

Remember, you must target the right keywords with your site
or online marketing. Targeted keywords draw targeted traffic
(customers) to your sites or products. The right keyword software
or program will have a direct correlation to the success
or failure of your online marketing efforts. So choose wisely!

3. Articles

Many marketers believe in and rely upon purely organic SEO
techniques for marketing their sites. One simple method of
organic SEO is writing and submitting keyword related
articles around the topic of your website with links back
to your site. As other sites display your articles you gain
valuable one-way links back to your site. Search engines then
follow all of these links and rank your site highly for the
keywords in these articles. For this reason the modest article
may prove to be the single most important marketing tool you
have in your arsenal.

As your site becomes highly ranked for these keywords, other
sites will want to link to your site in order to become
optimized for those same keywords… article keyword marketing
is one of the most effective Internet marketing tools at your
disposal. Used properly if can position your site in the search
engines and bring in all that highly prized targeted traffic.

Keep in mind, many Internet marketers have side-stepped the
whole SEO optimization process by going directly to search
engines and buying their traffic with PPC pay-per-click
advertising. Overture and Google Adwords program are good
examples of this method. Marketers bid on clicks to their
site’s keywords and bring in targeted customers. In
knowledgeable hands, PPC marketing is an extremely
effective and lucrative marketing tool.

4. Lists

The backbone of any Internet marketing system is the list.
It is another marketing tool you can’t do without. The list
is simply a large database of contacts, people who have
given you permission to email or contact them. These are
subscribers who have opted-in to your ezine or newsletter.
Most successful marketers keep countless different databases
for each product or topic they’re targeting with their marketing.

Ezines or newsletters are vital Internet Marketing tools that
no online business should ignore. It is essential you keep in
contact/touch with your past and future customers. You must
build an ongoing relationship and connection with your customers.

Besides your ezine or newsletter, many marketers also set up
lists of affiliates to help promote and sell their products.
Never underestimate the power of an affiliate system as an
effective marketing tool. It is the stuff Empires are made of!
Once a marketer has acquired a large list of loyal contacts
or affiliates — the flood waters open up. Opportunities for
JVs or Joint Ventures with other online marketers make for
serious cash flow.

5. Blogs And RSS Feeds

Blogging and RSS feeds have become essential marketing
tools for savvy online marketers. Online journals or blogs
are all the rage, especially in the marketing field. These
blogging systems such as WordPress are great content
management tools that will quickly build a content-rich
site, pulling in targeted traffic from the search engines.

Search engines are enamored with blogs and RSS feeds mainly
because blogs provide fresh content, the main lifeblood
of every good search engine. For this reason no site should be
without a blog and RSS feed, it will keep your content
regularly visited and indexed by the search engines. In
addition, all that information and content is a perfect tool
for drawing potential customers to your products and services.

Along with your domains, lists, keywords, and articles —
blogs are effective marketing tools that will play an
important role in the success of your online marketing.
In the right hands, these Internet marketing tools can
work magic on any company’s bottom line. They are some
of Internet Marketing’s most effective tools.

You don’t have to think outside of the box, you just have
to know what makes up the box!

—-
The author runs an Internet Marketing website featuring
all the latest marketing tools and techniques. Click
here to visit Internet Marketing Tools

Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if
this resource box stays attached. Anyone wishing to learn about
Internet Marketing and don’t want to spend a bundle should try
these: Free Internet Marketing Courses

Do you own a mobile auto detailing business or perhaps a mobile carwash? Do you have weekly and monthly customers? Do you go to both homes and offices to detail people’s cars while they’re at work or at home? Do your customers often refer you to other customers through word-of-mouth advertising and referrals? Have you noticed that you get the most amount of new customers when you do a little advertising and then the referral and word-of-mouth advertising works from there like a wildfire?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then perhaps direct mail and direct mail marketing coupon packages would be a good choice in your advertising campaigns. Direct mail marketing can be sent out to customers within a number of zip codes close to your very best customers and this means you will cluster your customers and routes close together.

By strategically planning your direct mail and direct-mail marketing coupon packages you can offer incentives and coupons to potential customers, which will entice them to call you and once you do you can kill them with great customer service and kindness. Direct-mail marketing works for the mobile detailer who is serious about their business and if that is you then perhaps you will consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Search engine marketing can be a complex and scary topic. Endless opportunities to advertise and market, constantly changing trends and technologies, and overly complex solutions all come with the territory. So, what you don’t need when you’re evaluating or creating your search engine marketing strategy is lengthy explanations about how different techniques work. Instead, seek out advisors who can guide you with simple explanations and techniques based on real results. That’s exactly what the following article is about. It’s a simple list of four things business owners can use in creating or evaluating their search engine marketing strategy.

1. Establish Your Internet Marketing Strategy Goal

Many consultants will tell you to set goals about what you want to achieve with your website. Forget it. Those are distractions from the real question you need to ask yourself, which is

“What is THE purpose of my website?”

Once you answer that question, all other aspects of search engine marketing strategy can be leveraged to help you achieve that purpose. Typically, people use their website for many different purposes. Regardless, you still need to answer this question. The focus you will get from it will help you create a more effective strategy.

Here are the top three most common answers to the question “What is THE purpose of my website?”

1. To sell things

2. To generate leads for my sales team

3. To educate my target audience

It can be this simple! Just decide which of the three answers above suits you best (or create your own) and then move on to step 2.

2. Establish a Search Engine Marketing Plan

There’s a reason why search engine marketing is so hot. It works. It consistent generates leads, sales, etc. at a lower cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale than traditional mediums like TV or direct mail advertising. It makes sense when you think about it: when people want to find something online, they go to Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. and search for it.

Search engine marketing is all about SHOWING UP when people search for what you sell, offer, or have on your website. There is a growing body of knowledge (books, articles, etc.) on how to do this. And like anything else, it has become over analyzed and too complex. To further complicate things, some search engine marketing techniques are ethical and legitimate, while some are not. The best approach is to create a search engine marketing plan that focuses on two aspects:

1. Search engine optimization – showing up in the “free” area of the search engine’s results

2. Pay-per click advertising – showing up in the “paid” area of the search engine’s results

For search engine optimization, first realize there is no “silver bullet.” There just isn’t a way to easily get ranked consistently high in the search engines. It is a combination of factors that always come down to one underlying truth: build your website according to web standards, with a focus on accessibility for all.

Just like search engine optimization, there is no “silver bullet” for pay-per click advertising, either. Instead, the formula for PPC success is in well-placed bids (what you will pay to have your ad show up) combined with meaningful landing pages (where people go when they click on your ad).

3. Conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The goal of search engine optimization is to make changes to your website to get higher rankings in search engines. Yet, search engine optimization is a confusing sector. On one hand, there are “snake oil salesmen” ready to get you a number 1 ranking with their latest trick. On the other hand, the things that actually do work are very simple, and frankly, just not very “sexy.”

The best strategy to take is a common-sense approach to SEO: develop standards for your website that ALL pages must adhere to. If you do this, and enforce it, you can then branch out to some of the other “niche” aspects of SEO.

Here’s a sample list of SEO standards to enforce on your website:

1. Write descriptive HTML page titles that really describe the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)

2. Write a summary sentence that really describes the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)

3. Write page content that is focused on

4. Write descriptive ALT text for all images that describes the concept the image illustrates and never use images for text

5. Build all pages to comply with current web standards observed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Only once your web pages comply with the above standards should you start more advanced SEO techniques, including keyword targeting, 301 redirects, link building (getting more links to your site), RSS news feeds, blogs, and SEO-specific metrics and tracking.

4. Leverage Pay-Per Click Advertising

Pay-per click advertising helps you get more traffic from search engines through advertising in search engine results. You pick terms that people search on. You bid a price per click on your ad that you are willing to pay. You ad shows up when someone searches on that term, and, if you’re lucky, they click on your ad and come to your website.

So, pay-per click advertising really boils down to 3 components:

1. Picking keywords to advertise on (i.e. target keywords)

2. Determining what to bid for those target keywords

3. Writing copy for the ads that show up when people search

Picking keywords is all about knowing what terms your customers, clients, etc. would use when searching for your product or service. There are several tools to help you generate ideas. The best tools also check to see how many searches-per-month your target keywords receive. You typically want to find keywords that generate a lot of searches every month, but are focused enough for your business. For example, a company that sells Keen high-performance outdoor sandals probably would be best served bidding on “keen sandals” versus “sandals” which could include searches for the all-inclusive resort, Sandals.

Determining what to bid for your keywords can be a highly-scientific process, sometimes managed by complex software and several key metrics. To keep it simple, let a tool like Google Adwords Traffic Estimator recommend to you what to bid at first. Start there, and start small. Your best bet is to lock-in a low daily budget limit until you are comfortable with the impressions your ads are getting, the flow of traffic from the ads to your website, and what those people do once they get to your website.

Writing ad copy comes down to writing a headline that people will click on, and creating compelling copy below that headline/link that will get people to click.

Headlines are best created by following what magazine covers do: focus on getting attention through eye-catching, short phrases. Using words like best (i.e. “Best Tips for a Summer Barbeque”), ultimate (i.e. “Ultimate National Park Vacations”) and number-based lists (i.e. “Top 5 Hybrid Cars for 2006″) have all been proven to work.

Writing effective ad copy below the title/link is really about reinforcing the term(s) search for. This means using the keywords in the ad copy, and starting the copy with an action verb.

By following the approach above, you can create or evaluate your search engine marketing strategy, focus on what matters most when executing your plans, and more effectively achieve your goals.

For more information and weekly tips on developing a search engine marketing strategy, visit Agility Web Marketing (http://www.agilitywebmarketing.com).