ARE YOU DOING SEO? Yes or No?

Search engine optimization or SEO, is key and essential to any online business to really improve your bottom line. While the conception of SEO is that it is free traffic, to the contrary of what many business owners believe, it is quite expensive to rank for competitive keywords as it will take resources such as hire help (if not in-house or even if in-house you should hire a professional SEO for competitive keywords,) using the right tools for the job and so on. SEO can literally make your business overnight if you rank for the keyword that can bring qualified significant traffic to your website.

ARE YOU DOING PPC? Yes or No?

Pay-Per-Click or PPC marketing (also considered search engine marketing) is bidding on keywords to appear on the sponsored search of the search engines. While this can be both very expensive or very affordable (depending on the niche and how competitive it is) it is a great way to set your online business off for instant traffic. PPC is used by millions of businesses to drive traffic and generate sales/leads and in this particular process, a LANDING PAGE which has to be crafted in order to get the visitor to actually convert the action you need (a sale or generate a lead) must be optimized as much as possible. Google Adwords is currently the largest PPC network in the world giving your ads exposure to the Google search engine and all of its publishers which is in the MILLIONS.

ARE YOU DOING SOCIAL MEDIA? Yes or No?

Social Media Marketing has been king to many businesses are there has never been a channel where marketers have been so excited about in YEARS. Social media allows your business to directly connect with consumers in channels such as Facebook and Twitter. The social media component of your online marketing campaign can really vary and the landscape of social media has become so vast that this is something you can’t just do in one day or put an immediate strategy. You can start immediately though by:

A) Creating a Facebook Fan page for your business.
B) Creating a Twitter page to reach out to fans.

You should always link these channels on your website so visitors know your business is on FB and Twitter and can follow you.

ARE YOU USING VIDEO MARKETING? Yes or No?

Video marketing may still be under-used by many businesses as YouTube drives millions of users each day to watch videos on anything and everything! You can be surprised at the activity of what videos you upload can have. Some video hubs are:

-YouTube
-MetaCafe
-Vimeo

ARE YOU USING SHOPPING COMPARISON ENGINES?

Shopping comparison engines can be a great online marketing channel for internet retailers. There are some large ones that command good traffic and really boost your sales. These are typically used on a Pay-Per-Click basis. Some you should consider are:

-NexTag
-BizRate
-Shopzilla
-PriceGrabber
-Google Base (free)
-Bing Shopping (free)
-Shopping.com

ARE YOU USING AUCTION/SHOPPING WEBSITES? Yes or No?

To push more products, you don’t always have to keep pushing or marketing your website although I do consider that to the best possible place to spend your money and resources to grow your brand. Nevertheless, there are sites that can really push your business and sales to the next level, these are:

-eBay
-Amazon
-Overstock.com

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In this thread, some of the readers make some good arguments. I think both channels are very different and should be looked at in that matter, as different methods of marketing. If you want better conversions, I think search is still king. A search engine provides users for what they want by keywords. Facebook advertising is serving up ads of ‘interest’ to users that aren’t actively searching. Nevertheless, Facebook in time will develop into a platform where users will search, if Facebook gets it right. Maybe soon enough Facebook may also serve on a keyword search marketing basis.

-“According to the website a2sm.com, there are advantages and disadvantages to advertising with Face book. Some of the disadvantages are that users are not looking for a product or service when visiting the site, focus of users is not on ads, businesses cannot target ads properly because of the users purchasing cycle. However, the advantages are that advertising can be targets to specific markets, businesses can set up Fan Pages for free, provides communication with current and potential customers, news feed can spread ino on business…Taking this into consideration, it would probably depend on your goal in advertising and what you are advertising to decide whether to go with Facebook or Google.”

-“Adwords are not the answer they once were. I recently spoke with a company that used to spend $100,000 a month on Adwords but the bidding drove the price above the level of profitability. You must also be very careful in choosing your words. Invest in software that will give you some insight before buying words. For example, I teach business classes. When I tested the words “business classes” I found that the term is one of the most popular search terms for airline tickets. So I would have wasted my money using that term. With Facebook, you can somewhat control your target market. Google will put you where they think you belong but you can seek out your target market and quickly build a following of like minded people who will spread the word, IF, and it’s a big IF, you provide followers with information, tips and information they not only find useful but will also share with others. If you are constantly in sell mode Facebook will probably not work very well for you.”

Again, these channels should be looked at very differently when deciding where your ad dollars would be better invested.

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Although content is king for SEO, content is really king for everything. The way you’re going to dominate your niche is by distributing content all over the place. You don’t necessarily have to have the BEST content, but you have to have LOTS of content. You want to dominate your niche, don’t you? That’s just how you do it.

Content can mean everything for your online business.

Make sure you have the following in place as you build your online empire:

> Large website containing LOTS and LOTS of CONTENT.
> Blog
> Videos (YouTube, MetaCafe, etc.)
> Image Distribution (always save images with keywords)
> Article Distribution
> Social Media Channels (Facebook, Twitter)

The more content you put out, the more traffic you will bring in to your website. Put aside SEO for a minute. Create content for your visitors and create as much as you possibly can for your niche.

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Always start expanding your search query by clicking links on the left hand side of the search results where you will see a few options.

On top- related searches- you can see a bunch of good related keywords for your query which can REALLY REALLY help the keyword research process. You can say the same about Googles Wonderwheel which you wil also see that link on the left hand side.

Click on PAGE PREVIEWS and you’ll see images of the website and it also expands the description which you can see moreless the content of the site in a nutshell which can help you see what keywords it’s optimized for, an idea of kw density and more.

Mess around with the search results and you’ll be surprised how many ideas you can get for online marketing.

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Let’s face it, when planning out a real marketing strategy for your business, specially online, you have to have your short-term strategy and goals, and your long-term strategy and goals. Short-term is always aimed at quick traffic and conversions, long-term is more based on branding, user base, etc. Us online marketers deal with different channels on a daily basis such as promoting our businesses through Pay-Per-Click (Google, Yahoo, MSN) or SEO (Google, Yahoo, MSN) or Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter, etc. You may think every business is doing this, but that’s not the case, and if you ARE already doing this, and you’re ahead and if possible, you should push these channels even more and integrate them as much as possible.

The idea for this post came from an article today posted on MediaPost by Kaila Colbin titled, “Why An Integrated Strategy Will Always Outperform.”

“…My friend Richard Cardran is one of those people whose insights are like a mini-MBA every few minutes. Twitter’s fine, says Richard, as is Facebook, YouTube, and all the rest of them. Where they really start to get exciting, though, is where you interconnect everything, where you start to leverage the network effects made possible by having access to so many different channels for relatively little cost.

And just as the social media foundation paved the way for the traditional media coverage, and just as the results of the traditional media coverage were then embraced and supported by the social media infrastructure, search is supported by all your other marketing activities.”

I was reading the comments on this article which I really suggest you reading the entire piece, and a very interesting comment by a user:

“It’s great to see that you SM and SEO gangs are coming to see what we brand marketers have been saying for a long time. Multiple media, used correctly, will outperform any single media every time. Jay Levinson (the guy who invented the Marlboro man) has said for years that it takes 9-12 touches before anyone will act on your behalf; and that any one particular target market member might see 1/3 of your outreach attempts. So, the math is easy (even for us marketers!); it takes 27-36 outreaches before you touch anyone 9-12 times. Doing over multiple channels works better, IF the touches are branded strongly enough that each one is recognizable as coming from the advertiser–poorly branded touches don’t count. Now the the fan frenzy over SEM and SM seems to be dying down, we’ll see that these are simply new channels to be added to the other marketing tools in the toolkit; each tool has its appropriate uses, benefits, values, proper uses, etc.”

I think that comment is right on point. ALTHOUGH, I DISAGREE with SEM dying down, I don’t see that as the case, but we do see more attention toward other areas such as conversion marketing, affiliate marketing, etc.

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>>WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS TOPIC? COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST<<

1) Internet Marketing –– Jason Sadler, IWearYourShirt.com
So you’ve got a ton of friends on Facebook and a loyal Twitter following. Why not profit off them? Jason Sadler has found a way to capitalize on all the hype surrounding social media marketing. Three-hundred sixty-five days a year, Sadler serves as a live billboard for companies and charities on all the major social media sites. Sadler, who launched IWearYourShirt.com at the end of 2008, wears a shirt a day, and sells each calendar day according to its numerical value. On February 10, for example, a company would pay Sadler $10 to wear its shirt. He works from his home in Jacksonville, Florida, and leverages his social media following by blogging, tweeting, filming a live video show, and updating his Facebook photo, all while wearing the designated T-shirt of the day. And, yes, he will still wear your shirt to a wedding, or even if he’s sick in bed. Now that the idea has taken off, Sadler has hired a West Coast counterpart — with a whole new following — to expand the company’s marketing reach.





2) Online Advice –– Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth.com
In the past decade, the Web has become the go-to place for consumers to seek out advice and scope out the newest trends and deals. Sites like DailyCandy and Thrillist have been successful at monetizing this online community by publishing daily e-mail newsletters packed with exclusive information for subscribers. After operating Soapbxx, a Web consultancy, for 10 years (the past four of which have been home-based), Amanda Steinberg launched a second business from home last January to provide personal financial advice to women. Building off of the DailyCandy model, Steinberg’s DailyWorth publishes daily e-mail newsletters with tips and advice from financial experts, including MP Dunleavey, a former finance columnist for The New York Times. With 9,000 subscribers and counting, Steinberg simultaneously runs her start-up and Soapbxx from her home in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania, while playing mom to two young kids.

3) Insurance –– Chris Jordan, AtlantaInsuranceLive.com
Insurance may not be the most exciting field, but opportunities abound for businesses owners willing to break away from the traditional corporate model and add their own spin. That’s exactly what Chris Jordan did last March when he left his corporate insurance sales job and founded Atlanta Insurance Live, a home-based sole proprietorship that is built on the premise of interacting with clients virtually. Jordan maintains a video blog about insurance issues and chats live with customers through his website. He employs a casual style and remains transparent about his home-based status — as a new way to market his business and dispel the stigma of stuffy insurance agents in suits and ties, in order to attract a younger demographic. So far, it seems to be working, with a steadily growing customer base.

4) Personal Fitness –– Franklin Antoian, IBodyFit.com
As a personal trainer who held private sessions in people’s homes for many years, Franklin Antoian discovered a growing trend of people who didn’t want to trek to the gym. In 2006, he launched IBodyFit.com, a site that allows anyone to get the complete personal training experience online. Through the website, members get individualized attention from a personal trainer and have the ability to access online fitness classes and exercise videos. Trainers create customized workouts for clients and are fully available to them via phone, e-mail, and IM. Members can work out on their own time at home, or download their custom workouts to their iPod at a cost much lower than the average gym membership, which is an increasingly expendable luxury in a down economy. In 2009 alone, Antonian, who is based in Del Rey Beach, Florida, signed up 2,000 new members.

Online Content Aggregation –– Michael Sitarzewski, Callisto.fm
With so much content consumed on the Web these days, the door has opened for entrepreneurs who have found ways to not only catalogue some it, but to make it easier for users to consume the information. While plenty of sites existed for streaming TV shows, Michael Sitarzewski realized that there wasn’t anything comparable for listening to podcasts. So in 2008, at a podcaster conference, he pitched his idea for a site that would stream podcasts and organize all the content by channels, giving visitors a place to consume podcasts all in one place. Immediately, he had interest from developers, and within months, Callisto.fm was launched. The site now has 4,500 shows listed and operates primarily through ad revenue. Sitarzewski, who works from home and in places all over his hometown of Boulder, also runs Hypersites, another company he founded in 2001 that serves as a website development application for designers.