One of the best activities in your daily marketing routine that you can do is to make a new connection, or contact. This is also one of the most uncomfortable internet marketing activity. Several years ago, you could remain pretty much anonymous and still create a great deal of traffic, sales, and authority. With the new rules of social media, and networking, this is no longer the case.
In order to get the most out of your online business, make it a priority to meet a few new people each week. This is something that can greatly increase your marketing leverage without spending any more in your advertising budget to do it. Meeting new people will do a few things for you.
1. You broaden your network of business contacts and friends.
2. You receive recommendations for other people who can help you.
3. Your new contacts will now recommend you to their connections.
4. New joint ventures can happen overnight because of the contacts that you made.
5. You know that there are other people doing the same thing you are.
Make A New Contact Today!
Putting feet to your business is the only way that you will be able to compete in today’s incredibly fast paced online world. However, you must get over your fears of meeting new people. If you are one of those people who can instantly reach out to new people and strike up interesting conversations, that is great! But, if you are like me… then you need to make this a top priority on your to do list.
Make a new contact today. With social networking that is very easy to do. Open up any type of social networking account and you can make several new contacts on a daily basis. For me, there are three that work very well.
Twitter. Find new people, that you do not know, and introduce yourself by following them and using the @reply feature. Reply to something they wrote, or answer a question they asked. However, the key is to be a part of their stream.
Facebook. Another great way to meet a new person each day is with Facebook. You probably have several friends on your account now, but how much do you really interact with them? Send a message about their recent blog post, comment on a status, or recommend them in your update. Join a group and talk with people there, and interact on fan pages. The key is not to just collect “friends”, but to meet them and get to know them.
LinkedIn. The last of the sites is LinkedIn. This is mostly for business professionals, but anyone can take advantage of the site. Meet new people on a daily basis and get to know their business. You might need them some day.
Go Ahead, Make A New Contact!
Chances are, you are already involved on these sites. Use them today to make a contact that you can begin to cultivate, keep in touch with, and interact with.
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New Year’s Resolutions are a dime a dozen during the change from the old year to the new one. Of course, they are usually the same old ones. Lose weight, quit smoking, be more giving, be a better spouse, and on and on. One of the things that most resolutions have in common is that they are ill fated to last.
Why?
Mostly because there is no real commitment to it. It is just something that is made up on the spur of the moment to make sure you have done the “resolution” thing. Coming into 2010 I did not make any New Year’s Resolutions. Rather, I made New Year’s Commitments. These commitments are birthed out of desire and necessity. Instead of going into a long ramble about what I am doing, I thought I would put down the main points of the ten most important new year’s commitments that every internet marketer should make.
Internet Marketing Commitments For A New Year
1. Define your goal! Whatever you do, do not head into this new year without a sound, detailed goal on paper. Be as specific as you can be and plan out your entire year. This is not a list of things you would like to accomplish – more, it is a list of what you will accomplish. Many people think it is good enough to put down a wish list. What they would like to do, if they could. I believe there is much more power when you write a list of the things you will accomplish. Sure, it is still a wish list, but you have a different mindset about it.
2. Make A Schedule! Every successful internet marketer has a set schedule that they adhere to very rigidly. There will be times when you will have some distractions – this happens at any work site – but, you must have a schedule of when you work, what you plan to accomplish, what you do on specific days, and even when you will participate in social media and networking.
3. Make Social Media A Priority! Following on the heels of the last point, social media, and social networking, is the way that marketing it moving to at a very rapid pace. If you are already involved with social media marketing, that is great! But, you will have to step it up in order to keep your brand, your website, your services, your product, you yourself in front of the millions of eyes that are out there. The real important part is not to be just involved with Twitter or Facebook, but to expand your horizons with YouTube, and becoming very active specific niche sites.
4. Do Something New! One of the worse things you can do with your online business is always do the same old thing. Believe me, I know. The first few years of my business I didn’t want to try new technology, or new ways of doing things. I wanted to stay with what was comfortable. Today, it is much different. I make it a point, every day, to learn a little bit about something new. To catapult your business much farther than ever before begin doing something new. Make videos, do a podcast, go to seminars, set up your own webinar, it does not matter what you do, just do something new.
5. Create New Content Each Week! Content is still what is going to win the day as far as organic search traffic, viral exposure, and winning the hearts and minds of the people of the Internets. Every week should have some time set aside for creating new content. This content does not have to always be in the form of written. It can be videos, audio, email series, ebook, or anything else that people can grab, use, and give to someone else (or let them know about).
6. Focus On SEO! While you are out doing your socializing with social networking, you must also give SEO (Search Engine Optimization) a major part of your attention. Learn about what makes the search engines love your site and work at it until you get higher and higher rankings.
7. Start A Newsletter! We have all heard that many people think that email is a waste of time. However, many big name marketers are starting to run a separate email newsletter besides their RSS feed. By integrating a newsletter into your marketing efforts you have another platform from which to give out your content. It is not just an advertising medium. It is a content medium. Start and build an email newsletter for a much larger Internet footprint.
8. Focus In On Mobile! This is a two part commitment. We can not deny the fact that the world is going mobile. Mobile phones are no longer just for making phone calls. Accessing the web, answering emails, sending pictures, and making videos are all done with mobile phones. If you want to stay competitive you need to be available anywhere, anytime. Focus on how to move your business towards being more mobile in this new year.
The other part of focusing on mobile is to make your website more mobile friendly. This is one of the things I am working on for my websites now. You can either add a plug in for your Wordpress site, Wordpress Mobile Edition is a fairly decent plug in, or you can have it built into a downloadable application. The plug in would be much easier. 
9. Commit To Building A Business Instead Of A Quick Buck! The one thing that I have seen the most is that most of the people who are getting involved with internet marketing today are looking for a quick dollar. They join one MLM after another in search of the one BIG opportunity that will earn thousands of dollars each week. However, always looking for the ONE BIG THING will not work in the long run. Building a business – a brand – will. Commit to this year of building your authority, your brand, and a long time online business.
10. Have Fun! Least, but certainly not in importance, is to have fun with your online business. Uptight internet marketers who walk around with a scowl on their face, stressing out about their business, and just not being very friendly to anyone are just not fun to be around. Look at your internet marketing like a journey, or an adventure. I look at my online business as an Indiana Jones movie. I never know what will happen next, what treasure will be uncovered, or who I will meet. I have a lot of fun. Probably more than I should. Make it a commitment this year to have fun with your internet marketing adventure!
Internet marketing is more than just throwing up a few banner ads and buying some PPC ads. Much more. Commit to these ten things and you will a drastic improvement in all areas of your online business.
And remember… have fun!
Over the years I have been able to put together quite a list of places I have used to help advertise websites. Some of them have been pretty good, some just plain bombed. Some of them I have had to take off because of the changes in online marketing and advertising they just don’t work anymore. Some are timeless and will work anywhere, anytime.
So, without further ado…
25 Advertising Strategies For Traffic, Authenticity, and Sales!
Top Ten
1. Article Marketing – This is the way to market anything on the internet.
2. Become active in social networking – The way of advertising on the internet is changing and the quicker we adapt, the better it is. Social networking is very powerful in terms of creating buzz, elevating your authority, and driving traffic.
3. Optimize your webpages – Google, MSN, and Yahoo still reign supreme in the traffic department. Make sure your pages are optimized for higher rankings.
4. Build a list – Today the emphasis is on RSS syndication, but a list is a list is a list. Build one.
5. Start a blog – You need a place where people can get to know you, read your content, and feel comfortable with you.
6. Leave comments on other blogs within your niche – Not a quick “Nice post”. Leave an actual comment on the post about what you liked, how it helped, other relevant resources, or even what you don’t agree with.
7. Join social networking groups – Websites, such as Facebook have a place where you can create groups that deal with a certain topic. Of course, if you don’t want to create one, you can join one. A great place to answer questions, join discussions, and even do a little self promotion.
8. Get started with Google Adwords – Pay Per Click advertising is a great way to advertise if you do it right. Make sure you spend some time learning how before you jump into it.
9. Start making viral videos – The video explosion is something that marketers should be taking advantage of more.
10. Join forums dealing with your niche – Not only is this a great way to learn, but it’s a great way to connect with others and promote your authority on a topic.
The other 15
11. Submit your blog to blog – Two of the best places to submit your blog are MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog. There you list your blog, or blogs, and find others within the same topic. It’s kind of like a social network for blogs.
12. Give great content to your newsletter subscribers – It’s one thing to build a list, but you need to keep your subscribers. Provide great content and you will.
13. Exchange links with other site owners. – When you come across a website similar to yours go ahead and email the owner to see if a possible link exchange could happen between your two sites.
14. Have fun with BTR radio – BlogTalkRadio is a way to have your own radio show right over the internet. It’s also very social. You can either have your own show, participate in ongoing shows, or both.
15. Pay for advertising space on other websites that cover the same topic as your website. Of course, there is a cost involved here, but if you have the combination of right site, with right graphic and text, you’ll see some great returns.
16. Buy advertising in ezines. – Often referred to as solo ads, you can do pretty well with these types of ads. You do have to be careful because of all the spam, but as in advertising on websites, the right combination can bring great returns.
17. Give away free information – Sometimes all it takes is a notice that you’re giving away a free report, or ebook, and you’ll have a landslide of traffic. Put together a content rich package and your authority is multiplied exponentially.
18. Join with other marketers – Combine your product with another marketer’s product for a double-whammy joint venture and you get double the exposure.
19. Create content on Squidoo or Hub Pages – A great way to both advertise and drive traffic, and build revenue is to create content on sites such as Squidoo or HubPages.com. People can join your fan base and read your articles when new ones are completed.
20. Don’t neglect an email signature – A great way to advertise your site is to include a short signature that is on all your emails. It can contain your company, url, phone number, and any social networking url’s.
21. Write a press release for major announcements – Just because you are an affiliate for another company doesn’t mean you can’t write a press release concerning some development in a product or the company. Then submit the release to PRWeb.com
22. Have a contest. – People love to win stuff. Set up a contest for your email subscribers, RSS subscribers, commenters, web visitors, whoever you can think of.
23. Write a guest post for other blogs – Blog, or website owners, do like to take time off. But, they need to keep the content flowing. They do that with guest posts. Check out a few blogs, interact on them, and then write a post and see if they could use it.
24. Upload your content to Scribd.com – Great way for content providers (reports, videos, articles, ebooks, online magazines, etc.) to get that content out is by uploading it to Scribd.com.
25. Get on Digg and StumbleUpon – Social bookmarking websites provide great exposure for your website, blog, and content. When you are dugg or stumbled, other people associated with the person who initially bookmarked it will also see your content. Then it begins to grow from there.
25 Ways To Advertise Your Site. Can You Add To It?
Here’s your chance to try out on of these traffic generators now and list some of the ways you’ve been successful with driving traffic to your site, building your authority, and making sales. List them in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you’re doing!
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Internet advertising is alive.
What I mean by that is that it is always growing. It never really stops changing, evolving, becoming something different than it was previously. One of the biggest mistakes that I see people making is that they don’t change their online advertising but rather continue to do the same thing over and over.
I’m not saying that it’s not a good thing to continue doing the things that are working good for you. You know, if it’s not broke don’t fix it? But, I am saying that if you don’t ever add or implement anything new to your online advertising then you’re going to be left behind. This is the one concrete principle that I teach my clients and that I run by own advertising by.
With that in mind…
I’m going into a very aggressive internet advertising campaign for my entire business as a whole. My business consists of several areas that encompass the spectrum of advertising, copywriting, blogging, and affiliate marketing. I have been doing some individual marketing for each different website, blog, and service. However, I’m beginning to get a little more aggressive in the way I advertise my websites and will begin combining my advertising so that they all benefit. Of course this is going to be made a lot easier with the use of social media marketing.
Internet Advertising Plan In the Wild
As a way to let you know what I’m doing, but also help you with your own advertising campaigns I am going to give you a first hand look at what I’m going to be doing. Starting with the way I’m organizing my tasks to the exact plan and results.
It’s going to be a pretty incredible experience for both you and I, so I hope you stick around the check things out.
The best way to do that is to subscribe to the RSS feed so you are never left out of the loop.
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I’ve been working on a new project for awhile and wanted to let you know that it’s up and runnin’. I’ve created a new website dealing with the topic of Social Media Marketing. This type of marketing is becoming the number one marketing method among many of the industries top earners and there is a reason for it. It’s the way advertising should be.
For years I’ve been writing about, talking about, teaching clients about, and creating advertising materials based on the concept of creating, and sustaining personal relationships with both potential and present clients. This method has been instrumental in the success of my clients and is evident in what is happening now in the internet arena.
SocialMediaMarketerTips.com is a website dedicated to the whole concept of marketing your website with social media websites. It’s also a website to keep you informed about the current state of social media and the upcoming, future, improvements and technologies. I hope you stop by and add the RSS feed to your reader.
In fact, right now I am starting a brand new series called “Introducing Social Media Networking Into Your Advertising”. It’s a chance to learn how you can make the transition into social media. Go ahead and stop by.
This incredibly awesome looking vehicle is what is known as the Mobility Weapon Mounted Installation Kit. It’s been used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and looks, well… capable. It’s a three man attack vehicle that sports three main guns. I wouldn’t want to see it charging my way.
However, the vehicle isn’t the point of the post. It’s the example. Your advertising should be as lethal… as commanding as this vehicle. You need to launch a three pronged advertising attack.
Internet marketing is dependent upon your strategy. It’s not just a “build it and they will come” mentality. I like to think of advertising as a game. It’s you vs. them. The one who brings the most skills, firepower, determination, and will power is the one who wins. And just like in sports, or war, the way you play the game, or fight the war, changes. New technologies, new training, new strategies, new ways of doing things all play a part in the outcome.
Advertising is no different. As the years go by, the philosophy of internet advertising remains constant, but the means change. You employ new ways of marketing in order to get more people to your website. It’s the natural order of things. Things change.
In creating new marketing plans for clients, one of the things I pride myself on is being innovative, creative, an employing new strategies that others might not have thought of or fear trying. In doing so I have seen lots of different advertising tactics come and go. A few years ago you would do extremely well with buying guaranteed hits (website traffic), posting to a few forums, and blasting an email ad with an ezine co-op. Today… not so much.
Today you have to think different. You have to think relationships. More importantly, you have to think cultivating and growing healthy relationships in all parts of your marketing. It’s not just throw out an email ad and hope for the best. Now you have to compose an email ad that is more personal, more relational.
A Three Pronged Advertising Attack For More Web Traffic
Finally we get to the ‘meat’ of this post. With the new strategies of advertising firmly entrenched in this 2.0 world, here’s a no fail advertising attack that you can use to get more traffic when you are starting a new site, seeing numbers fall, want to push a new product, or service, or just want to add more to your advertising arsenal.
1.) Connect and Participate on Social Media Websites
You should have known this one was coming. You can’t deny that social media websites and networking on them is the new advertising phenomenon. Of course, these types of sites were not created as a tool for advertising purposes, but they have taken on that role regardless. Maki at doshdosh.com says, “Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.”
Social media marketing has it’s best impact when you connect and participate. You have to do both. You can’t just open an account with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk, LinkedIn, or any of the numerous others out there if you are not going to participate. Sure you might have friends or people following you, but it won’t amount to anything if you’re not active.
To find out how to do this the best way Michelle McPhearson has written an incredibly valuable resource called, “Social Media Daily” that goes into great detail about how to monetize your efforts in social media.
2.) Start A Blog or Two, or Three…
Ok. Stick with me here. What initially looks like a tremendous amount of work isn’t really that bad. Blogs have a very powerful hold on the search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN love blogs because they are continually updated and people love to link to them. Your job as an advertiser is to leverage that love.
One blog is good. You get your feet wet by writing on a consistent basis. But, what happens if you join another marketing program, develop another product, offer another type of service, join a different affiliate niche, or can think of another more narrowly defined audience for your website?
Launch another one.
That isn’t as hard as it seems. If you’re already hosting a blog yourself, then adding a new domain and installing it again is no big deal. But, if you don’t want to go that route then you can always use a Blogger or Wordpress account. In fact, I would recommend that you do that anyway. Set up a free blog account with each one, either based on the same topic, or on a little wider or narrower topic, and start posting a few times a week.
The point is that you are getting more search engine exposure by continually adding new content, having backlinks to the main site, and getting people interested in what your service, product, or opportunity has to offer.
3.) Create new content for syndication through websites and email.
The use of the word content can take on several meanings today. And I am talking about all of them. Content in the form of articles, ebooks, audio .mp3s, and videos are the tools of the successful internet marketer. They keep your visitors engaged on all levels and are instrumental in making sure that your message gets out to the widest possible audience.
It might sound like a scary thing at first. But, once you get started you become addicted. Sounds crazy, almost impossible at first; however, the more you do it the easier it gets. For instance creating videos is as simple as filming yourself talking or doing a screen capture video with Camtasia. Creating audio .mp3s is easy with Audacity. Writing articles and ebooks can be done yourself or outsourced to a copywriter.
What Would This Advertising Attack Look Like In Action?
In order to show you what advertising looks like today I’m going to use an example to help put all this stuff in some sort of coherent order.
Let’s say you have a website on the topic of fishing. This would work with any topic or with any business opportunity or service, but I like to fish and I’m writing this post so I choose fishing.
Anyway, in using the Three Pronged Affiliate Attack this is what you would do.
Create profiles at several social media sites. Having a profile at one website like Facebook or Myspace isn’t as powerful as being connected in as many as you can. But, for starters get started with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon to start with. Then start connecting with people. Send friend requests, follow people, digg websites, and stumble them.
Participation takes the form of keeping your status updated and letting people know what you’re doing. Twitter is great for this as you can “tweet” what you’re up to as well as what you have going on at your website. You can tweet about new blog posts, videos you’ve created, websites you’re looking at, and even new articles you’re written.
Here’s how this will work with a fishing website. (Keep in mind that you would just substitute your topic in place of fishing.)
1. Create profiles
2. Friend or follow people who would like to fish. (Typically men, athletes, campers, outdoor types)
3. Engage in conversations by tweeting on Twitter or writing on walls and sending messages in Facebook.
4. Every now and then place a link to your website or blog.
The key is participation. The more visible you are the better your “advertising” will work out.
Start blogs on Blogger, Wordpress, and/or on your own host.
The key here is to have one on the topic of fishing itself. From there you could start narrow focused blogs (fishing in the Northeast, flyfishing, fishing for bass in the Southeast, etc.) on Blogger and Wordpress. From there you just start posting new blog posts. You want to be consistent with this so choose a writing schedule that you could stick to.
As you post you’ll be linking to your main site, or even the merchant’s site you are affiliated with. If you’re selling a lure you invented, flies that you tie yourself, or ebooks you’ve written you would also be mentioning these in your posts.
Here’s how this would look.
1. Start main blog on fishing. Post all kinds of fishing posts at least every other day. More if you could.
2. Mention website with text links in posts.
3. Start two to three other blogs with a more narrow focus. Using both Blogger and Wordpress to host the new blogs.
4. Continue posting on a consistent basis.
5. Find other blogs on the same topic you can link to and leave comments on.
Create several types of content to engage visitors
This is where you put everything together. The content you create here can be also advertised on your social media websites and your blogs.
1. Create several articles on different fishing tips and product reviews on poles, reels, and fishing equipment.
2. Syndicate the articles on websites like EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com.
3. Create a video on how to tie a certain type of fly and upload to YouTube. Then post to relevant blog. (You could pick whatever fishing topic you’d want as long as it can go on a relevant website.)
4. Create an ebook on a certain topic of fishing and give it away from free as an incentive to sign up for your RSS Feed, email list, or for buying your main product.
5. Create a few audio .mp3s with quick tips on some part of fishing. You would also turn this into a weekly podcast (audio show) to keep people coming back to your website.
Like the first two parts of this advertising plan the key to it’s success is that you actually do the work!
Try it out. Go step by step through it and apply it to whatever product, service, or opportunity you want to advertise. Then duplicate it over and over again.
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