The News That Should Have Won
Facebook stole the show this week with news of its initial public offering. But the news that should have been the big news didn’t quite get the same press.
Google has acquired a handful of patents and pending patents having to do with fiber optic technology. What could they possibly do with those?
Seeing as how they’ve already announced plans to introduce a fiber optic network in Kansas City, this patent transfer should have been the biggest news of the day. It has the potential to make a huge difference in how the Internet works all over the world.
Kansas City will likely be the first municipality in the world to offer high speed Internet by fiber optic as a city service. And if Google is successful with its fiber optic service in Kansas City, then they will likely introduce the same service to other cities. Eventually, there could be high speed fiber optic Internet everywhere in the world, courtesy of Google.
But who will pay for that? There are any number of ways that fiber optic Internet could be paid for. Cities and municipalities could foot the bill for local citizens. Or they may turn around and charge a fee for services in the same way that local phone companies do today. In either of those cases, fiber optic Internet service could be considered a utility.
Another way it could work is as a free service from Google. Now why would Google offer free Internet access to the entire world?
If more people are online, shopping, building businesses, etc., that will lead to more click-throughs on Google’s paid ad networks. More advertisers means more revenues for Google over the long run.
I’m not saying any of these scenarios is the right one. They’re just possibilities. But I could see any of them playing out. The real news, however, is that high speed fiber optic Internet would benefit everyone – consumers, online marketers, and Google as Internet service provider.
In The Age Of Social Media
Internet marketing is an ever changing discipline. How to effectively market your business and manage your content today is nothing like it was ten years ago, or even five years ago. If you plan to do business online, then you’ve got to adapt to the changing landscape of online marketing. That means adjusting your aim and trying new things from time to time.
Social media has only been around a short while, but it’s undoubtedly the way to market your business online today. And I don’t mean in the usual way that most Internet marketers today think of as social media.
The big secret in this industry is that most Internet marketers are about five years behind the times. Yes, five years.
They’re still trying the hard sell. They’re still pretending like SEO is the holy grail of online marketing. And they’re still banking all their social media coin on social bookmarking. But that’s not what social media is all about.
What it is about is building relationships. It’s about attracting the type of person you want to do business with. Nothing more, nothing less.
When you employ a successful social media campaign, you’ll know in the gut that you’ve made the right connections. And many times that translates into positive SEO. But if that’s your end goal, then you’re doing it wrong.
Where Are Your Phone Calls Coming From?
Phone call tracking is one of the useful metrics for companies who want, and need, a phone number on their website. You’ve spent a lot of money on that website. Wouldn’t you like to know if it’s working for you?
With phone call tracking, you can track your incoming phone calls no matter where they come from. You’ll never miss another phone call. You can block the calls you don’t want to get. And you can calculate your ROI, record your phone calls, and track local as well as international calls. All at no additional cost to you.
Never wonder how effective your Internet marketing campaign was ever again. Whether you want to implement a PPC campaign, a social media campaign, or a video marketing campaign, you can track your incoming phone calls.
Inbound call tracking allows you to measure the results of your Internet marketing campaigns and determine if they are successful or not. If your marketing efforts succeed, then you can re-run them another time. Or learn from your mistakes.
Try inbound phone call tracking today. Use an 800 number and measure your total ROI so that your online marketing efforts can be more effective.
Comic Ditches Traditional Media
Here’s a story for you. Famous stand up comedian Louis CK ditches traditional media and decides to deliver his own comedy routines through his website for $5 per download. Either that is genius of the highest order or sheer folly. What do you think?
Here’s what I think: He’s paving a new path for others to follow. And they will.
In every field there are innovators. The innovators come first. They meet with mild success, or sometimes wild success, while others watch and learn. Then, the second wave hits. Others pick up where the innovators left off and take that success to a new level.
I think we’re entering a new era. Creators have realized they no longer need a publisher or a large benefactor to increase their market share and visibility. Louis CK built his reputation on the backs of large companies who gave him a platform. Now that he has his platform he can take it out on his own. And he’ll likely succeed because he’s creative, good with business and has attainable goals.
What about you? Can you take your business on its own? Can you innovate? Should you?
Entrepreneurs can learn from the creative geniuses among us. Internet marketing is changing the playing field. Have you noticed?
Is It Really All About SEO?
Online marketing is becoming less and less about SEO all the time. That doesn’t mean you should give up on SEO. What I’m really saying is that SEO is not the be all-end all of Internet marketing.
In the early days of online marketing, you had directories and search engines. There were these things called web rings, which on one uses any more. And there were display ads and articles, which was mostly about SEO. But that’s about it.
Around 1998, things began to change. Google was born. SEO took on greater prominence – for about five years.
In 2003, things began to change again. Blogs were becoming popular, social media was gaining ground, and PPC was big and strong. PPC was not about SEO It was about reaching your target market quickly and effectively. It still is.
But in the last couple of years we’ve seen the growth of mobile apps, QR codes, e-book readers, and a number of other emerging technologies that threaten to expand the Internet marketer’s reach outside of traditional online strategies like SEO, link building and social media. And I believe these opportunities are going to grow more prominent.
When it comes to online marketing, focus on what’s important for reaching your target market. SEO is important, but it’s one channel. Don’t get wrapped around a tree looking for the forest.
How To Do Content Marketing
Online marketers have recently begun using a different kind of language. It used to be that you’d hear a lot about link building, social media marketing, and the use of other terms to give a fragmented impression of Internet marketing strategies. But there is one term that draws all of these concepts together under one impressive term.
That one term is “content marketing.” So what is it?
Content marketing includes the full span of content that you produce to promote your brand. It begins with your own website content, but it doesn’t end there.
Beyond your own website you have your blog, your social media profiles, directory submissions, video content, links, articles, Knol pages, Squidoo lenses, guest blog posts and anything that involves promoting your content in hopes of drawing attention to it.
All content marketing is really about one thing – drawing attention to yourself. Anything you use that does that falls into the category of content marketing. That even includes press releases, forum content and comments on other people’s blogs.
So here’s the question you have to answer about your own content marketing efforts: Are all of your efforts consistent in terms of your message and brand? If not, what do you need to do to get it there?
Content marketing is as much as creating perceptions as it is anything else. What are you doing to make your content sell your business?
What’s Killing E-mail?
Here’s a question for you: What’s killing e-mail marketing?
Is it PPC? Search engine optimization? Video marketing? Social media?
Answer: None of the above! E-mail isn’t dying.
It’s fashionable to proclaim the death of old media when new media arrives. Those who remember the early advent of DVDs will remember how they were supposed to kill the movie theater. But the box office is still going strong and some of the biggest box office openings in history have occurred after DVDs.
The Internet hasn’t killed radio or TV. Search didn’t kill directories. Social media didn’t kill search. Nor will it, or anything else, kill e-mail marketing.
E-mail is a private space that people will allow you to enter if you’ve built their trust. You can use other media – search, social media, and videos – to build that trust. Then you use your website to get people to give your their private e-mail address, which you can then use to send them invitations and marketing messages that close the sale or seal the deal. E-mail is where the transaction is solidified.
E-mail marketing is far from dead. The best Internet marketers are using it to make their dough. You should too.
What Do You Give Away For Free?
Do you have free giveaways on your website? If not, why not?
Free giveaways, if you give it some thought, actually aren’t free. They do cost you money and you should get something of value in return. So what does that mean exactly?
Let’s say you own an auto body shop. You provide dent and pain repair and also perform basic automotive services like tire rotations, tune ups, oil changes, and fixing flats. What if you wanted to increase your business over the long term? What could you provide for free in exchange for something of value that you receive in return?
You could give away a free tune up in exchange for an e-mail address so that you could send out your weekly auto maintenance newsletter. Or you could give away a coupon for a fixing a flat tire free of charge when a new customer purchases a more expensive service like getting their vehicle painted. The coupon could be delivered by e-mail upon payment through your website when the new customer schedules their appointment.
There are all kinds of ways to make giving away free products and services work for you. You just have to think creatively. But the truth is, it works. And you should be doing what works.
Is Tumblr Worth Your Attention?
Professional Internet marketers are always on the lookout for new opportunities. But what constitutes an opportunity?
At one time, Facebook was seen as a college hangout. Then, almost all of a sudden it seems, it became a marketing powerhouse. Everyone had to do it. A similar story can be told about Twitter. It was an obscure location where only the elite geek patrol hung out and shared what they ate for lunch. Then someone figured out how to use it for marketing. Everyone had to try it.
Similar stories can be told of hundreds of other locations on the Web: Blogger, LinkedIn, MySpace (which is now a bit of a has-been), YouTube, Ning, and the list goes on. Well, now can add one more site to that list.
Tumblr has languished in relative obscurity for the past four years. But, according to comScore, in the last year it grew by 218%. But the majority of that is the 12-34 year old crowd. And the majority of that is in the 18-34 year old range.
In fact, comScore mentions that Tumblr outpaces the rest of the Internet in those age brackets. That tells me that if you have a product that you can market to those ages, then Tumblr could very well be the social marketplace to be.
Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now
The rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers had a popular song a while back titled “Give It Away.” The popular lyrical refrain went like this:
Give it away
Give it away
Give it away, now
If you’ve heard the song, then you know the melody.
The philosophy behind the lyrics was one of altruism. If you have something of value, give it away. Your efforts will come back to reward you. It’s a timeless principle that is at the heart of more than one religion. And it’s also an important principle for Internet marketers.
“Free” has become a sort of currency online. Many Internet marketers have gone on to great success giving away their precious gems for free. And you can do it too.
When you decide to use the power of “free” to your advantage, take something you’ve produced – something of value – and give it away for free. Ask for nothing in return. Except one thing. An e-mail address.
This works wonders and leads to great things. The thing you give away for free has to be truly valuable – at least in the eyes of the recipient. When your freebie has value, the recipient will be more than happy to share their contact information. You can then use that for marketing purposes well into the future. Try it, you’ll see the reward I’m sure.
You Go, StumbleUpon!
If you share your links on Facebook in hopes that you’ll drive more traffic to your website or blog, you might think more about StumbleUpon for that purpose. On the other hand, maybe not.
This is a rather lame analysis on the differences between Facebook and StumbleUpon, but Cynthia Boris is right on one point, at least. Facebook was not designed to be a link sharing site – StumbleUpon was. So what’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?
Look at this like this. These numbers represent an aggregate of users. StumbleUpon now drives 50% of social media traffic referral in the U.S. while Facebook dipped down below 42%. Guess what? Search engine traffic is still up around 60% of website referrals. When seen in that light, both StumbleUpon and Facebook pale in comparison.
Still, let’s get back to StumbleUpon and Facebook. SU has been a heavy driver of traffic for years. But most Internet marketers know that traffic doesn’t convert well. Facebook is better for branding. Plus, because of its social networking features, the ability to build brandable pages, and Facebook’s app development features, the largest social media website on the planet is much, much better for small business branding.
Besides that, you’ll have to do your own comparisons for your own website. Many website owners can use StumbleUpon very effectively. Others find great success with Facebook. Aggregate totals say nothing about your ability to leverage any particular social media website.
There’s nothing wrong with StumbleUpon touting its success. And there’s nothing wrong with being a little critical of it too. StumbleUpon is a good source of traffic if you keep in mind what it’s good for.
Traditional Marketing Still Works
While we are proponents of Internet marketing – pay per click advertising, social media, search engine marketing, video marketing, etc. – we still believe that there are traditional marketing tactics that still work. The question isn’t whether or not you should be using traditional marketing, but which traditional marketing tactics you should be using.
When it comes to looking up phone numbers and addresses, many people today will go online before consulting the traditional Yellow Pages. And a website, of course, is a wonderful thing to have for lots of reasons.
Traditional marketing collateral like business cards, brochures, billboards, and radio and television advertising are still very effective in reaching the right market. But often, the most effective off line marketers are marrying these tactics up with successful online marketing campaigns that include but not limited to
- PPC advertising
- Website development
- Video marketing
- E-mail marketing
- Search engine optimization
- and social media marketing
When you combine effective traditional marketing efforts with effective Internet marketing, you increase your own branding and marketing power exponentially.
Many TV advertisers, for instance, plug their websites and social media profiles in the ad. You can do the same in your radio spots and other offline marketing materials.
Don’t give up on traditional marketing just yet. Just add it to your online marketing efforts for greater effectiveness.
Why Self-Publishing Is The Shiznit
If you plan to do any Internet marketing at all, then the most important thing to keep in mind about your business is that you are first and foremost a publisher. A self-publisher, but a publisher nonetheless.
Why is it so important to consider yourself a self-publisher? Because when you think about it, publishers own and control the flow of information and information is the key to your business.
It doesn’t matter if you run a brick and mortar busines or an online-only business, if you are marketing online, then you are publishing information. Articles, blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook status updates, Facebook pages, social bookmarks with content summaries, answers to questions on the Q&A sites, the list goes on and on. It’s all content that you publish – whether on your own site or someone else’s.
While this is marketing and the intent is to drive traffic back to your website so that you can close sales, it’s also publishing. You’re in the information publishing business no matter what other business you consider yourself in.
When you think of yourself as a publisher, then you gain a lot more clout. You gain instant credibility. You can suddenly own and control the flow of content and information. If you aren’t doing that, then it’s controlling you.
5 Ways To Make E-mail Marketing Work For You
E-mail marketing has been around since the early days of the Internet. It was one of the first firmly established Internet marketing tactics and is still today one of the most effective ways to reach an audience and earn an income online. Here are 5 ways to make e-mail marketing work for you.
- Use your website to collect e-mail addresses. Give something away in exchange for your website visitors’ e-mail addresses, then mail them periodic offers for your products and services and affiliate products.
- Get your website visitors to subscribe to an ongoing newsletter or e-zine, which you mail weekly or monthly with unique content they cannot get anywhere else.
- Use your mailing list to promote your online website and blog content. When you post something new, send a note to your list and guide them to your new content.
- Provide an e-course for your site visitors. Use your website to sign up new members for a free or paid e-course.
- Send out coupons for your products and services to members of your e-mail list to encourage the purchase of more products and services.
These are not the only ways to use e-mail marketing effectively, but these 5 techniques are ways that successful online marketers have used e-mail marketing in the past. I’m sure you can come up with your own creative way to market to your list using e-mail.
How Direct Mail Is Dying
Direct mail marketers have enjoyed a long hey-day of success and profits thanks to the U.S. Postal Service. But Postmaster General Patrick Donahue is predicting that mail delivery will move to three days a week – within 15 years. That makes me wonder, how much will postage cost then? Probably over $1 per delivery.
With postage expected to go up to 45 cents at the end of this year, direct mail marketers can’t afford to cling to the paradigms of the past. It’s high time to move into the future.
And what is the future? Well, I think we can safely say it is now.
Internet marketing is here to stay, and it’s replacing the old paradigms. If you wait 15 years before you start on your plan for marketing online, then your business will be as dead as the U.S. postal service. You should be online right now, and you should be marketing your business online right now – even if you still use direct mail marketing.
Smart marketers measure the times as much as they measure their own efforts. It is clear that the U.S. postal service, and direct mail, are moving into the past. The question is, what are you going to do about it – for your business?
Need Blog Ideas? Try These
Every blogger at some point runs out of ideas and has to look for ways to spice up the blog machine. So how do you go about finding things to blog about? Matt McGee knows. He suggests:
- Delicious.com
- Question-based keyword research
- Look at your analytics (what are people reading most, and how are they finding your site?)
- Q&A websites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers
- Ask your readers
To be sure, there are more than five ways to find new blog ideas. In fact, there are hundreds of ways to generate ideas for content. Here are ten more ways to find new ideas for your blog content.
- Read other blogs in your niche and write about the same topics (be sure you don’t plagiarize or steal the content, and don’t take ideas from the same competitor every time
- Find an old post that was popular and write about the same topic from a different angle
- Visit a niche article directory; what are the most popular articles about?
- Use Google’s Wonder Wheel
- Where are your pay-per-click clicks coming from?
- Watch a few YouTube videos in your niche
- Current events – Is there something going on around the world that you can play off of?
- Your Twitter stream
- Use your RSS reader; scan the headlines till something pops out
As Matt says, there is always something to blog about. Just do it.
5 Things To Consider Before Starting An Internet Business
Internet businesses have become their own entity. Even if your online presence is an extension of your real world business, it would be wise to consider a separate business plan for your website. Here are 5 key things to think about before starting your Internet business.
- Branding – There is a lot that goes into branding a business. Even an online business. Should your domain name be keyword-based? Many branded online businesses aren’t (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, just to name a few). Nevertheless, it is important to think about how you will brand yourself online.
- Search engine marketing – This includes search engine optimization as well as your paid search options. How will you ensure your website receives its just deserts at the search engine table?
- Social media – You’ll have to think about incorporating social media into any new business you start online. That includes which social media websites you’ll use and how you’ll use them.
- Traffic conversion – Traffic conversion is more than simply driving traffic to your website, though it does include that. You must think about how you will drive traffic, what methods and techniques you’ll use to perform that function, including possibly video marketing techniques, and how you will convert that traffic once you get it to your website.
- Web design – Central to any Web business is your website design. In truth, all of the above considerations will be integrated into your website design. You might as well consider how each of the above initiatives will be included in your web design right from Day One.
Every business is unique. By the same token, every Web business is unique. You must consider each of these five initiatives for your business right from the start. Don’t settle for any cookie-cutter plans because your business is not a cookie.
Are You Learning Too Much Too Fast?
When businesses go online to learn how to participate in Internet marketing campaigns that work, there is usually a lot to think about, a lot of new information to take in for those business owners and managers. The problem is how to process it all.
What I always suggest is to take it a little bite at a time. You can’t learn everything in one day. You can’t become a master of every art in your lifetime. Don’t even try.
The key is to start with the basics. Study a little bit about web design before you do anything else. What are the best practices for web design for businesses of your size and in your industry? Study the competition to see what they are doing that you like and that you don’t like. Then analyze what is effective.
Remember, you are only studying the basics at first. At some point, you have to rely on the advice of experts because you are nowhere near that status yourself.
After you have learned the basics of web design, move on to another topic such as search engine optimization or pay per click advertising. Again, take the time to learn the basics before moving on to something else.
It takes time to truly learn how to successfully manage an Internet marketing camnpaign. It’s not going to happen overnight. With the proper guide, your business can achieve a little success and move on to greater success – one step at a time.
Is Internet Marketing Less Expensive?
Is Internet marketing less expensive than traditional marketing. It is in many cases, though not always.
In times when the economy is struggling, every small business wants to save money. That’s understandable. But what many small business owners end up doing is killing their marketing budgets, which leads to less business. You really don’t want to kill your marketing just when you need it most. So what’s the alternative?
How about redirecting that budget to online marketing where it can be easily tracked, controlled, and measured?
Television and radio advertising, long-running staples for most small businesses, are just not what they used to be. TV ads are expensive. Radio ads are not as much so, but your audience is limited. And newspapers ads are not as effective as they used to be. Internet marketing, however, offers several channels and marketing solutions for small businesses that are quite affordable – and effective.
For instance, PPC advertising allows you to set your own budget. You choose how much you are willing to pay for a lead, and you don’t pay for that lead until you receive it.
Even if you do use PPC advertising, your marketing budget could exceed that of your traditional marketing budget. The difference, however, is that it is easily trackable and you can measure your results a lot more effectively, not to mention that PPC advertising often leads to increased business on a scale that TV advertising can only envy.
So is Internet marketing less costly than traditional marketing? It depends on how you measure cost. In many ways, it is less costly and more effective.
4 Internet Marketing Tactics From 1991 That Still Work
Internet marketing has come a long way since 1991. I mean, the World Wide Web came into the light in 1990, which is when the first Web browser and the first website were built. Since then, pioneers have championed some powerful marketing tactics. The following four Internet marketing tactics were among the first channels ever used, and they are still just as effective today.
- Website Design – Naturally, we’ll begin with the granddaddy of all Internet marketing channels. Having your own website has become synonymous with Internet marketing. It just seems logical, therefore, that this should be at the top of the list.
- Article Marketing – From the time they built their first websites, pioneering Internet marketers started driving traffic to them with articles. Article marketing became one of the first very successful methods of marketing online – and it still works.
- E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing enjoys the status of being one of the most profitable Internet marketing channels ever. It was also one of the first ways that successful online marketers used to leverage a sustainable income.
- Forum Marketing – Forums were the first real social media tools. Early Internet marketers discovered how effective they were at driving traffic to websites. Despite all the rules in place at many forums today, you can still use them effectively for your marketing efforts.
While the new methods of Internet marketing – blogging, social media, Twitter, video marketing, mobile marketing, etc. – are effective too, these four primitive online marketing tactics are still just as effective as they ever were. Don’t leave them out.
The Three Internet Marketing Channels
Internet marketers generally talk about Internet marketing channels as if there are hundreds, or at least dozens. In reality, there are three primary channels with multiple legs holding them up. Learn those three primary online marketing channels and you can more easily manage your entire Internet marketing strategy more effectively.
Here are the three primary Internet marketing channels:
- Search engine marketing
- Social media marketing
- Paid advertising
All Internet marketing falls into one of these categories, and some may easily slip into more than one category.
For instance, pay per click advertising fits into the paid advertising category, but it can also be considered search engine marketing.
Under the search engine marketing umbrella, you’ll find these marketing subchannels: Onsite SEO, link building, local search, PPC, web design and development, and variations on these tactics.
In social media marketing, you have social networking, social bookmarking, video marketing, podcasting, forum marketing, blog marketing, and other variations of these.
For the paid marketing channels, you’ll see pay-per-click advertising, display advertising, PTC (pay to click), CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPA (cost per action), and variations on these channels.
If you analyze the reach of each of these types of online marketing and what they are capable of on their own, then you can select the best channels and subchannels for marketing your business.
Do You Worry Too Much?
An article at Marketing Pilgrim says that small business owners worry about obtaining new customers. In fact, they lay awake at night thinking about it.
Is that you? Do you lay awake at night worrying about where your next customer is coming from? Don’t. It could come from any number of sources – if you take action.
Prospecting for new clients takes time. And it is costly. More costly, in fact, than retaining the customers you already have. But if you don’t do it, what will happen? Many small businesses find out what happens when they are no longer providing a service after two to five years.
You can’t let worry freeze you. Running a small business is about taking action to attract new customers and keep the ones you have happy. Here are a few tactics that other small business owners have used to do just that:
- Built a website
- Employed search engine optimization on their website
- Drove traffic with pay per click advertising
- Produced online videos
- Engaged in e-mail marketing
- Spent time on social media
All of these tactics are effective if employed correctly. They’re not the only tactics that work, but they do work. They are much more effective than worrying. So stop worrying and start taking action.
What’s An Internet Marketing Plan Made Of?
I’m convinced, after years of being in this business, that an Internet marketing plan is something that every business would benefit from. In most cases, a company that has an established marketing budget can get more mileage from their marketing with less outlay if they transfer some of that budget into Internet marketing. But what does an Internet marketing plan consist of?
Of course, every business is different. Therefore, every Internet marketing plan will be different. The first step is to determine the needs of your market and approach those needs with an open mind.
Once we’ve established your priorities and the needs of your market, your Internet marketing plan could consist of any of the following special tactics:
- Pay per click marketing – PPC is a pay-as-you-go marketing tactic. You buy clicks and send them to your important landing pages. It’s very effective and costs are determined by how much you are willing to pay per click.
- Search engine optimization – SEO is the long-term tactic. We’ll help you rank your web pages in Google, Bing, and other search engines in order to attract the right customers.
- Social Media Optimization – SMO is a different kind of Internet marketing. It’s about building relationships through connections off of your website.
- Custom Web Design – Your website should be a reflection of your business and your values.
- Online Video Marketing – Online videos are the 21st century equivalent to 20th century TV advertising – only better.
When it comes to developing an Internet marketing plan, the strategies you use depend on your market, your business, and your goals. Talk to someone who has designed a custom Internet marketing plan more than a few times.
The 80%/20% Marketing Rule
You are likely familiar with the old 80/20 rule. 80% of your production comes from 20% of your employees, or money investments, or whatever. Well, online, there’s another 80/20 rule. It says that 80% of your website’s traffic comes from the search engines. The other 20% comes from other sources (direct, social media, etc.).
The actual number is more like 85/15, but let’s not count pennies. The point is, if most of your traffic is coming from search engines, then the majority of your budget should be in search engine marketing.
If you have $1,000 to spend on Internet marketing, you don’t want $800 of that going into social media when most of your traffic is going to come from the search engines. Instead, you should allocate 80% of that ($800) to pay-per-click advertising, blogging, and content creation. The remaining $200 can go into video marketing, social media, and other non-SEM activities.
This isn’t a matter of effectiveness. You can always test the waters and see if you get better results from video marketing, social media, or non-SEM marketing initiatives. If so, then by all means put more money into those channels. But you need to start with a base. That base is 80% search engine marketing and 20% other.
When you have a solid base from which to start your Internet marketing initiatives, it’s easier to track your results. You can set better goals and you can allocate your marketing budget appropriately.
Have You Caught On To These 4 IM Trends?
Some trends come and go. Some stick around. I think the following 4 Internet marketing trends may be keepers. At least for a little while. Have you discovered these trends yet?
- Blog Marketing – Blog marketing has been around for a long time now, but it took a little dip after Google killed inbound links. Nevertheless, it seems to be making a comeback, particularly for businesses that want to use it for marketing and branding purposes.
- Mobile Search – Mobile search is a trend that is sure to stick around. People not only read blogs and news with their mobile phones, but they update their social media accounts and make purchases.
- Local Search – All kinds of businesses are discovering local search. And unlike traditional SEO, you can be very powerful and effective on the local level within just a few weeks.
- Social Media Marketing – Facebook and Twitter are all the rage right now. You’d think they are passing phases, but they’re not. If you are running a business, social media is a must in today’s fast-paced marketplace.
Now is the time to hop on board these Internet marketing trends. Don’t just ride the waves until they hit the beach. Make them a part of your daily routine.
Who Created The Spam Market?
Spam is a big problem. There’s search engine spam, e-mail spam, social media spam, and canned spam (just kidding; checking to see if you’re really reading). :-)
I’ve read blog posts from SEOs and Internet marketers that essentially blame Google and its policies for search engine spam. I don’t think it’s a fair accusation. Who would you blame for e-mail spam? Or how about social media spam?
Whenever there is money to be made, there will be cheaters. Stock markets provide a way for people to invest money in hopes of getting a profitable return. Certain practices, like using insider information, are illegal and considered unethical. But people still practice them, and if they are caught they will pay the price.
Of course, spam is not illegal. But the search engines have policies in place to address spam in their indexes. Are they perfect? Do the search engine policies effectively control spam 100% of the time? No. But it’s not for lack of trying.
The real cause of spam is greed. Some people would rather risk future profits for the quick dollar now. That’s essentially the motivation behind every spam message you see – whether in your e-mail box, your search engine listings, or your social media walls. If you are a legitimate Internet marketer, however, you don’t want to get caught being a spammer. It can be a real reputation destroyer. Instead, focus on providing value and deliver on your promises.
Does Your Internet Marketing Firm Communicate?
Does your Internet marketing firm communicate what they are doing with your website or is all you get a bunch of silence? In other words, are they explaining what they are doing and why they are doing it?
The attitude among many Internet marketing companies is that clients don’t understand and don’t care about the nuts and bolts. But we believe it’s your website and you should know what’s happening with it. There should be no secrets between your marketing firm and your company. None.
When there is silence from your Internet marketing company, that’s a recipe for blackhat SEO to creep in. Blackhat SEO is search engine optimization strategies that are not approved by the search engines. You can scan the news headlines and see some high profile companies who have been stilted by their Internet marketing companies because those companies used blackhat techniques that got their clients in trouble. You don’t want to become another statistic.
Ask your Internet marketing company what tactics they use before you hire them. Get them to show you a step-by-step plan for your website before they go to work. And don’t approve anything that you aren’t 100% legitimate. Otherwise, you could see your Internet marketing strategy in jeopardy.
15 Questions For Your Internet Marketing Firm
Before you hire an Internet marketing firm, you should interview them. Find out what they do and how they do it. I’m not talking about quizzing them on their trade secrets. I’m talking about finding out if they are ethical in their business practices and if they really understand Internet marketing principles.
Here are 15 questions you should ask your Internet marketing firm before you do business with them.
- How do you budget Adwords to simultaneously maximize the number of clicks and minimize cost?
- How do you track and handle leads when they come in to your firm?
- How do you write your ad copy so people will fill out your contact form or call you?
- How do you decide what web sites to get links from?
- How do you get a new website indexed by Google and out of the “sandbox” in only two weeks instead the normal three month’s time?
- How important is it for your website to be WC3 Compliant?
- Is there a penalty for putting too many keywords in your meta-tags?
- What are the benefits of a “content management system?” What are the drawbacks?
- How do you know when to use a broad match, phrase match or exact match in a Google Adwords campaign?
- Will inbound “sitewide” links get your site banned?
- How do you find keywords that no competitor is bidding on, but that convert at half the cost and twice the frequency of conventional keywords?
- How do you measure conversions on specific sites on Adword’s content network?
- How do you bid keywords appropriately, knowing you will get fraudulent clicks?
- How do you set up a tracking phone number? Why should you?
- Where should a contact form be on a page? Which pages should have them?
When it comes to Internet marketing, not all firms are created equal. Do a little probing. How does the company do business? Does their style mesh with yours?
Good Marketing Begins With Research
The first step to any good marketing is research. But that can entail any number of things. Usually, it means
- Competitive intelligence
- Market research data
- Keyword research
- Industry background research
And that’s just a start. Take a look at one of our case studies to see how a success start with market research ended with a well thought out plan that made our client successful.
While research is important, going through the steps to learn about the competition, the competitive landscape of the playing field, and your own keyword research will not necessarily guarantee success. You’ll also have to implement your plan.
There are a lot of moving parts to an effective Internet marketing strategy. There are content development initiatives to oversee, paid search initiatives, social media opportunities to exploit, and some additional research along the way to uncover unseen opportunities that might arise during the course of a campaign.
When there is so much at stake for the future of a company, you cannot afford to hand your Internet marketing over to amateurs. You need a professional to manage the process from beginning to end.
First, do your research. Then, take what you find and mold it into a plan. Execute your plan aggressively and monitor. Internet marketing success is not an accident.
Are Deals And Group Deals The Next Big Marketing Fad?
There has been a lot said in recent months about the various group deal sites – particularly Groupon and Living Social. Bing have now entered the fray with Bing Deals, and while it is really no more than a deal aggregator, it will make finding a deal easier for consumers. However, what is important to note is that Bing is teaming with DealMap, and they deliver thousands of local deals every day.
For many marketers, promoting their businesses through these channels may deliver more sales than through what is now consider ‘traditional social media’ channels (how quick the Internet moves – two years ago we spoke of how social media was the ‘new’ marketing option – now it’s ‘traditional’). If you have been offering special deals through Twitter, for example, you may find that sites like DealMap offer an even bigger stream of sales.
It begs the question, is social media too saturated for this type of marketing? Or more importantly, do you need to change your marketing strategy to match the habits of consumers. It’s clear that consumers are starting to prefer sites like Groupon and DealMap when looking for special deals. With these services really working hard to target the mobile market, and with mobile devices getting smarter, it makes sense that consumers will access them in larger numbers.
Groupon, Living Social, and DealMap are not for every business. However, they do offer a simple method of targeting consumers in their environment. Consumers don’t necessarily visit Facebook or Twitter to find a good deal – instead, they visit those special deal sites. If you are into special deals, then you may want to consider checking those sites out. Internet marketing is continuing to evolve. You need to evolve with it. You will be promoting where the customers are wanting to be promoted to, and that doesn’t happen too often.