Blogging: Not a Set-and-Forget Venture

• Category: Blogging, Content, Marketing
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When you establish a blog for your website, it is not enough to implement the design, add some words to the various sections, and slap a few articles on the site for good measure. Those tactics will only work well if you are hoping to be ignored. However, since you likely have set up your blog to establish yourself as an expert in your niche business, you probably need to do some more work.

Blogging is an activity you can use as a springboard for your business and self-promotional actions. But it will only work if the work is done consistently and in a manner relevant to what people are looking for. You need to create new content as often as several times a day if you can manage it, or at least several times a week to keep the interest of your target audience.

Consistency instills the image of dedication and reliability. If people can come to rely on your blog for answers and information, they will likely come to rely on you for their purchases. They want to know that you truly know that you know what you are doing and it is through a blog where you can establish a relationship with the consumers who eventually will generate a profit.

You can not simply set up a blog and promptly forget it exists. Your blog is only as good as the amount of information you provide. Here are some tips to keep you moving onward and upwards to a successful blog:

Be Consistent

Blogging platforms will allow you to write and pre-post articles that can be scheduled throughout the week. If you do not have time to write something new every day, write in batches and post all the articles at one time to be posted throughout the week.

Be Relevant

While providing fresh content often is important, providing relevant information is also key to gaining interest. Consider what you enjoy reading about related to your business. If you are keep tabs in the news in your business market, you should have plenty of material to pass along to your own customers.

Mix It Up

Informative articles are great but don’t forget to add a personal touch to help readers get to know more about you. Add in some new product reviews related to your industry. Provide editorial articles that showcase your opinion about the industry. Accept guest posts from others who have something to say relating to your business. The more versatile you are, the better for the reader.

Be Interactive

It is never enough to write and post information on a blog. Look at the popularity and effectiveness of social media. You should be using your blog to relate to customers on a personal level. Read comments often and participate in discussions. Be appreciative of those who took the time to add insight to your blog. Most importantly, take what information that is being offered into serious consideration, as it may be the most valuable resource for understanding how you should be operating your business and learning what customers really want.

Are You Targeting the Right Target Market?

• Category: Marketing
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Online marketers who have the most success target a specific market. This means they have done the research needed to find out who is the most likely consumer of their products or services. No matter how great your product is, not everyone will need it or want it. Most products and services are only intended for a certain type of client.

An accountant who is afraid of heights isn’t likely to buy sky diving lessons, but he will be interested in software that makes filing tax returns easier. A 6-foot tall male pilot isn’t nearly as likely to be interested in the latest ballet slippers as is a petite female who has a penchant for dance, but he may be interested in learning about your new hang gliding lessons. Regardless of what you are selling, some people will fall into your target market and other people won’t. Your job is to determine who that target market is and how to find them.

One problem with drilling down to your target market is directly related to the cost of your services and products. Even if your target market needs exactly what you’re selling, they may not be able to afford it. For example, if you are selling a do-it-yourself “business-in-a-box” one step does it all home business kit that will help anyone start their own business in five easy steps, it’s easy to assume the perfect target market is stay-at-home moms who want to work from home. Unfortunately, if your product costs $1200, it’s quite likely many stay-at-home moms who want to work from home won’t be able to afford it. The cost of your product would automatically eliminate many single mothers and most stay home moms whose spouses are working for lower income wages. Yes, your product might be the answer to their dreams and it might even be able to take them into a whole new income bracket in just weeks or months, but if they can’t afford it in the first place, they aren’t your target market.

Your target market must be interested in your product, able to afford your product and know how to find your product. In order for them to find your product, you need to put it in front of them. How do you do that? Simple- go where they go! If you’re selling that business-in-a-box to stay-at-home moms with a significant amount of disposable income, where would you go to market to them? An advertisement on a website about building small engines would be a lousy choice for your marketing dollars. However, a website devoted to educational toys, home organizing and decorating or cooking for families could be a great place to spend some of your time and money marketing your products.

The key to online marketing is finding your target market and then bringing your product to them so they can find it. Convince your market your product is better than the other guy’s product and you have a sale!

Why Online Businesses Still Need to Market Offline

• Category: Marketing
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When you have a business with an online presence, it makes sense that you market your business in many different capacities online. However, when a business is operated solely online, people tend to forget that they should be doing more offline in the promotions department.

Marketing Offline Is Important

Your online business needs attention from all target markets. Consider that no everyone interested in your product or service is Internet savvy. You need to reach your target audience wherever they are. When you don’t operate out of a brick-and-mortar store front, it becomes important you reach out to people using other creative tactics.

Here are some tips to help you get your website in front of everyone:

Print Advertising

Depending on the nature of your business, you might find a place in print where you can advertise your online company. Perhaps there is a niche magazine or a newspaper where you can reach your target. Create an ad that summarizes what you are selling as well as the URL to your website. Use these advertisements to offer exclusive promotions and require that people reference the ad to gauge the attention the ads generates back to your website.

Create Business Promotional Materials

It is important to have materials on hand at all times to promote your online business. When you are out and about, it is essential you have the ability to network properly. Have business cards created that feature the URL and email address of your business. Be sure to carry them with you at all times because you never know who you will meet that can be an asset to your business. Create stationary and invoices that look professional and contain the URL and other contact information for your online business. Including a memorable logo that can help build your brand is also a good idea.

Send PR

Create professional press releases that include news about your company or events sponsored by your business. Even if you don’t cater to the local market, you should still submit regular press releases to the local newspapers because people do pay attention to what local people are doing and the personal aspect can generate a lot of buzz about your online business, especially from word-of-mouth referrals.

Giveaway Promotionals

There are a slew of companies that offer personalize merchandise that relates to a business niche or industry. These promotional products are great for giveaways at events and customers thank you gifts. Depending on the nature of your online business, you can find creative ways to display your website, logo, and tagline which help to brand your business.

Sponsorships

Opportunities to have your URL displayed on the radio, television, or advertising is effective way to market your business. Consider sponsoring the local Little League team or donating to an event. These actions can help spread the word about your online business.

Many of the offline advertising tactics can be costly but consider them an investment. Decide on a budget before starting out so you won’t overspend. It will also help you to be more selective when it comes to which offline marketing methods you want to employ for your online company.

SEO Terms You Need to Know

• Category: Marketing, SEO
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When you are just getting started in online marketing, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with all the terms flying around. There is plenty of free help available from hundreds of marketers, but until you understand the basic terminology you’re bound to feel overwhelmed. Here is a list of some of the common IM (Internet Marketing) terms and a brief description of what they mean.

• Internet Marketing- Using the Internet to sell products and services with a website, blog sales pages or other methods.
• SEO – Search Engine Optimization – SEO is a method of strategically placing certain keywords throughout your articles, websites, blog and other content so the search engines will find them and move your website listing to the top of the SERPs.
• SERPs – Search Engine Results Pages- The pages the search engines (like Google, Yahoo and MSN) use to list the results of a search
• Keywords – Keywords are the individual words and phrases that people use to search for your products or services
• PPC or Pay-Per-Click- This is a type of advertising where you are charged for the ad only when someone clicks on the link with their mouse.
• Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is when you sell someone else’s product by referring people to their website. Affiliates are paid a percentage of the sales price of each product they sell by referral. You can build an entire business on affiliate marketing, making money without ever having your own product.
• Article marketing- Article marketing involves promoting your website and products through writing informative articles about them and distributing them across the Internet, primarily through article directories.
• Article directories- Article directories are sites that house thousands of articles on thousands of topics. People can use the articles in directories for informational purposes only or as free content on their own sites. Articles in article directories contain a resource box with the name of the author and a link to their website.
• Social media- Social media includes sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as blogs and forums. People use social media sites to develop relationships with potential clients and prospects, increasing their sales by building trust through relationship.
• WordPress – WordPress is a popular software used for blogging. WordPress is free to use, although most marketers choose to host the blog on their own domain, which involves a monthly fee.
• Hosting- Hosting refers to providing storage of a website on the Internet. Hosting companies provide the ability to publish your website or blog on the Internet in exchange for a fee.
• Domain – Your domain is the name of your site- the www.yournamehere.com part of your website. The domain serves as the virtual address of your website.

Is a Pre-Made Website Right For You?

• Category: Website Design
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Starting out in any business with an online presence involves a lot of decision-making, specifically about technology which might seem overwhelming. For non-tech savvy people who want to hit the Internet fast, a pre-packaged website where you essentially just plug-in some facts and logos may seem ideal.

However, if you are looking to set up shop online and don’t want to invest the time or the money into hiring a web designer, you may want to think twice before taking a seemingly ‘easier’ route. A website that has been already made can be a quick way to get established but you really need to think about the long-term consequences that may result. If you are not planning out goals for growth and redevelopment, you might not see the trouble with pre-made website services.

Here are some things to consider about pre-made websites:

Site Design

If you have a vision about how you want things to look and how your company will be represented online, know that a pre-packaged website generally comes with templates you can not change. You might be limited to certain color schemes and the navigation abilities of the site. This may be suitable during the start up phase of the company, but consider that you may not be able to make changes down the road as your grow and get more familiar with your options and ideas.

Adding Web Content

One of the most important aspects of your website is its content. Some website templates will only allow so many pages of content for the entire website. If your website will be content driven and aims to provide fresh material for visitors, a template website design may limit your options. You may not be able to express what you want within a template. You will likely not be able to organize content in the manner you envision.

Ecommerce Solutions

If you plan to sell products online, you may find these types of websites do not accommodate your sales needs with the right tools. Processing credit card payments, security issues, tax calculations, and other necessities may not be part of your website package.

Data Collection

Websites should be designed to collect visitor data to help with marketing the company. Pre-made sites may not have the proper forms that you need to collect that information and many will not allow you to alter them for your own needs.

Video and Audio Content

Websites that are pre-packaged may allow you to upload some audio and video but there will likely be issues with coding requirements or size limits. Some sites will require yet another provider’s services to establish video/audio uploads.

While a prepackaged website can be good for beginners, it may not be long before you have to spend even more time and money to establish your own site, one which you have complete control over. These prepackaged sites generally cost a monthly amount and some may require a yearly commitment. Consider your long-term company goals before jumping ahead with a website.