Online Marketing And Seo Tips: Mobile Marketing – Is This The Year?

admin    Website Marketing     Marketing, Mobile, Online, This, Tips, Year

Online Marketing And Seo Tips: Mobile Marketing – Is This The Year?

2010 is the year of mobile marketing. Indeed so was 2009, 2008 and 2007. It is the long-standing joke in the advertising  and marketing world that we are forever on the cusp of a mobile breakthrough. Recently, however, Apple entered the debate with the announcement that their newest Iphone OS 4.0, due to be released toward the end of the year, will be running iAds in some of their apps. Given that nearly anything Steve Jobs and Co. touch turns to digital gold, this news may finally usher in a wave of advertisers on to the cellular airwaves. Before analyzing the potential of iAds, it is worthwhile to chart the progress of mobile advertising, and understand what has gone wrong thus far.

In the early days of mobile phones, SMS marketing was utilized, and users were text-messaged company information and promotional deals. This format was not well received by consumers, and was initially considered as spamming. MMS advertising followed and was more popular than SMS because the use of multimedia was something everyone could partake in. Campaigns were run by companies that encouraged consumers to send their photos or videos to interactive media boards for public display. This type of marketing was much more engaging than cold, unwanted text messages, but the interaction was mostly a one-way street dictated by consumers. Mobile users were comfortable sending the advertisers material via their phones, but not the other way around. Although any form of interaction with the consumer is positive, advertisers ultimately sought a means where they could display or send content to the consumer.

This need was somewhat satisfied by mobile web marketing, where advertisers bought space on the web; but given the nature of the web space this format was not altogether successful. The size of mobile phones at the start of the 2000s did not lend themselves well to advertisements. Traditional brand logos were awkwardly placed on miniscule mobile screens, which added to the cumbersome nature of scrolling down the page to view all content. Further attempts have been made through mobile gaming, with companies sponsoring games or placing advertisements within the games themselves, but this method still does not allow the advertiser the full freedom to communicate its message to the user.

Such freedom, it would seem, will be enabled by Apple’s iAd concept. The idea allows the advertiser to create their message the way they want and post it in an app, which if clicked on will interact with the user without leaving the app. This point is crucial, as users can carry on what they were doing with the app while maintaining an interest in the advertisement’s message. The technology is also set to facilitate rich-experience media, so the quality of the ads will far exceed a consumer’s expectation for any mobile content. The key element for this medium will be managing the intrusion factor, and making sure that the material thrust upon mobile consumers is in no way overbearing or detrimental to their experience – in short, creating a message that appears natural. If this can be achieved, the year 2010 may just signal the end of a long running joke and the start of something special for marketers.

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Online Marketing Mindset For The New Year

admin    SEO Marketing     Marketing, Mindset, Online, Year

Online Marketing Mindset For The New Year

It is the start of 2007 and is the time to set your New Years resolution. I suggest that you set a personal and a business resolution. Whatever you decide you want to improve in your life whether it is to become wealthy in your online marketing business or to just be a better person, it takes a strong mindset to keep a resolution for longer than 1 day, week or month. You must believe that you are capable of reaching your goals, maybe this can be your News Years resolution to have a better mindset, and then other things in your life will also start to take shape the way you want them to.

What is the proper mindset? It is the ability to believe you are capable of conquering a set task and to truly believe that it will happen and that you deserve it. You will attract what you consistently think about and you must be aware that your thoughts are very powerful. You must take all negativity out of your life. Thinking negative or being around negative people will only cause you to fail. Find a good support team who are willing to encourage you, and if that means stepping outside of your normal support group, then do it. You may find support within your online marketing team.

You must work on your mindset daily with self-talks, reading books about the subject or listening to recorded cd’s or tapes. There are many free books and downloadable audios on the subject; all you have to do is spend a few minutes looking for the information. Your local library can also be a good source for finding quality information. Your mindset will help you to overcome the times when you are struggling at keeping your resolution.

You must visualize and internalize yourself as being the person you want to become. You must first see yourself as the person that you want others to see. When you do this over and over again it will start to become the reality you are seeking. Whether your resolution is to lose 30 pounds, quit smoking or if it’s to be a create wealth at Online Marketing, you must see yourself as this person.

Remember the children’s story The Little Engine That Could that never gave up. Become the little engine in your online marketing business and get better rewards for your efforts. Everything you want is within your reach, you just have to make it come true.

Network marketing – 5 tips on how to survive the first year

admin    Twitter Marketing     First, Marketing, Network, Survive, Tips, Year

Network marketing – 5 tips on how to survive the first year

As in any business the first year of network marketing can be a real challenge. It is important to remember that network marketing is a business and not a get rich quick scheme. It is very common in the first year to become despondent and to want to give up. However for those who persevere the rewards can be endless.

Here are some basic tips that can help to keep you focused and to succeed in your first year of network marketing.

1 .Choose a good leader

Unlike traditional bricks and mortar businesses, success in this business relies on the support of others namely your sponsors or up line.  Unfortunately if you do not get good advice and support in the first year your chances of success are slim. It is therefore important to choose a good sponsor to guide you through the process. You will be able to check an individual’s success by carrying out thorough research on them and by carefully monitoring their success.

Remember to always follow your sponsor’s advice and processes and then you will be able to copy their success and create financial security for yourself.

2. Know your products inside out

One major factor in succeeding in network marketing is choosing wisely the company and products that you will be marketing. You will be investing your time and money in to this venture and it is much easier to sell a product that you believe in. Try to imagine what your potential customer is looking for and what benefits or solution your products or services can offer them.

It is important to remember that it is also easier to recruit others into your business if you are achieving good sales and have a product that they too feel that they could sell easily.

3. Learn to “brand” yourself by networking

If you want to succeed in a networking business then being able to promote yourself is crucial to your success. Your network marketing campaign will explain to others why they should join you in your business.

The internet offers many ways for you to market your products. The more tools you master the more successful you will become.   The basic tools are quite simple but mastering them and using them are not quite so easy. You will therefore need to invest time to master them correctly.

When starting your company it is vital to have a good website to entice customers to purchase goods from you. If you cannot create your own website it is advisable to employ an expert to do this work on your behalf as having a good website is crucial to success especially as the internet offers potential global sales.

Once you have your website completed you then need to ensure driving traffic to your website. This can be achieved by paid advertising such as running ad word campaigns if your budget allows.

However if money is an issue ,which at the beginning  is quite often the case, then there are free promotion means available such as publishing articles or press releases to free sites. If using the article route is it important to write interesting articles that will hopefully leave the reader wanting to read more of your material and wanting to know more about you. You will need to also ensure that you use strong, relative keywords within your content to ensure driving more traffic to your website.   Most article sites will also allow you to use a URL link to your website within your article.

Other ways that you can promote yourself and engage the trust of potential customers is by using social networking sites such as face book and twitter. By regularly blogging on these sites you will gradually build up a large following who will be avidly awaiting your next entry. This over time will help to gain their trust in you as a person and could eventually lead to them buying products from you.

When you start making money from your business you could then consider investing some of that money into more intensive training. Most reputable companies  offer seminars where you will not only receive invaluable training but will also meet other like minded people who will share their ideas and success stories with you.

4. Treat network marketing as a business

As mentioned earlier network marketing is not a means of getting rich quickly. You will need to treat it as a business and then your results will be positive. You will need to approach it as a business and not a hobby. Network marketing is like gardening in that you reap what you sow.  If you plant good seeds you will grow good produce.

Make sure that you set yourself realistic budgets, goals and objectives.

The first year of network marketing is challenging and will help you gauge how successful and how much income you will go on to earn in your business.

5. Teamwork

The most important factor of all to ensure succeeding in network marketing is teamwork and being a good team member.  You will need to follow closely the advice given by your sponsor. Then, when you have succeeded in creating a strong sales base of your own, you will need to encourage others to join your business thus creating your down line.  You will then need to become a good sponsor to your down line to ensure their success. It is this teamwork that will ensure that you go on to great success.

Much of what you do in your first year in network marketing will determine how successful your business will become. If you survive the first year you will go on to secure great prosperity.

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A New Year, A New CODANK Charlotte Web Design

admin    Website Design     Charlotte, CODANK, Design, Year

A New Year, A New CODANK Charlotte Web Design

With the recent rise of Web Design companies in the Charlotte area, one company has worked very hard to stand out from the rest. Established in 2007, CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company has dedicated itself to delivering top-notch service to the surrounding area.

A commitment to outstanding Search Engine Marketing, Web Hosting, E-Commerce, and Internet Marketing – CODANK Charlotte Web Design Company offers superior web development portfolios for all of their clients.

Not all Internet companies are able to provide customers with visual efforts that shine through their websites. With the support of CODANK Charlotte Web Design, every client is presented with an impressive web design that conveys an effective user experience needed to draw in that desired traffic flow.

CODANK has grown into one of Charlotte’s most incomparable full-service companies within the last two and a half years. Ready to explore new ventures, CODANK is very excited about the New Year.
A brand new year means a brand new opportunity to provide our clients with exceptional work. In 2010, CODANK promises to continue transforming business strategies into tailored Internet solutions that meet every company’s marketing needs now and in the future.

During the New Year, CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company is excited to introduce our new customer portal – CMSenabled. This highly thought-out Content Management System is a user-friendly tool made specifically with CODANK clients in mind. CMSenabled will allow our customers to not only better communicate with us but also receive Search Engine Optimization updates, easily pay invoices, view project progressions and request necessary changes to their websites.

Hot Affiliate Marketing Tips for This Year

admin    Website Marketing     Affiliate, Marketing, This, Tips, Year

Hot Affiliate Marketing Tips for This Year

As the Internet changes, so marketing has to change with it, and that includes affiliate marketing. My affiliate marketing tips for this year include a different attitude to how to attract buyers and toward websites and blogs.

Presell don’t sell

The whole point of affiliate marketing is that you presell products, you don’t sell them. Trying to sell affiliate products, with banners and ads that scream ‘Buy Me’ are some of the biggest mistakes I see being made by affiliates. As an affiliate, your job is to get the prospect to the merchant’s site, and let the merchant do the selling.

Be careful, though, when selecting banners and text ads from merchants. Some do not understand the need to presell either, and they will offer sales material rather than pre-sales material. Don’t use it, write your own. That, then, is the first important tip for this year.

Get a website

Many affiliates do not have a website, and rely on Adwords to make money. This used to work, and can still work with impulsive buy products, but not with many products. The problem is simple – they don’t trust the seller.

This has nothing to do with the internet, by the way, it is just a fact of life. People like to feel comfortable with firms they deal with, and need to have been in contact with them five to seven times before they are ready to trust them enough to buy their products.

If you send someone directly to a merchant’s site from Adwords, you are invisible, and they merchant is a complete unknown. So you have little chance of making a sale. It is true that many seasoned marketers do, but believe me, the bulk of their income comes from elsewhere.

As an affiliate, you need to set yourself up as an expert in your niche, and that means you need a website. It does not need to be big. Five to ten pages are enough to do the job. Here, you give information, and get the prospects to sign up for your list so you can send offers to them.

So, my second affiliate marketing tip for this year is to get our own web site.

Write a blog

My third affiliate marketing tip is to write a blog. This can be added to any site that has Cpanel and Fantastico, which will install Wordpress for you in less than a minute. You can also get a blog at services like blogger.com and wordpress.com, but these have less authority than one you host yourself.

Straight away you can start posting to your blog, and you can write anything you like related to your topic. Not only is this useful, but it is fun.

So here are my three affiliate marketing tips for this year: Presell don’t sell; get a website to support your affiliate business; and set up a blog.

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Facebook Social Media Advertisers Increase 300% in a Year

admin    Twitter Marketing     300%, Advertisers, Facebook, Increase, Media, Social, Year

The number of customers using Facebook’s online-advertising system has more than tripled in the past 12 months. This means that more and more small- and medium- sized businesses are now using Facebook as part of their online marketing strategy. Lots of local businesses are now finding success in this advertising model. Facebook launched its advertising program in 2007.

The ads, which appear on users’ Facebook profile pages (wall, info, photos etc.) allow 25 characters in the title and as many as 135 characters in the body of the text plus an optional photo. The targeting behind the ads is driven by the personal profiles of Facebook users. If you list The Simpsons as your favorite TV-show, you will probably see an ad from Foxtel sooner or later.Wired’s Fred Vogelstein thinks that Facebook is poised to take over display advertising the way that Google has dominated search advertising. Internet users behave differently on Facebook than anywhere else online. Most of them use their real names, connect with their real friends, share their real thoughts, tastes and news. This is what makes Facebook audience so appealing to advertisers. You have real people with personal qualities who can be divided into exact consumer categories. Google, Yahoo and other search engines, on the other hand know little about of its users other than their search histories and some browsing activity.Doubling its membership in March, Twitter is growing even faster than Facebook. As you might remember, at the end of last year, Facebook tried to buy Twitter for $500M but failed miserably. If Facebook had secured Twitter’s huge stake on the real time user generated information, they could have secured the dominant position in user generated live content. More and more Internet users are transferring their social habits to Twitter and Facebook from sites like Friendster and MySpace. In May this year, Facebook surpassed MySpace in the US, which was the last strong hold for the News Corp owned site. According Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg Facebook’s revenue may climb 70 percent this year. Also last month, Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies paid $200 million for less than 2 percent of Facebook, valuing the company at $10 billion. Earlier Microsoft had secured a 1.6% stake for $240 million.Facebook is based in Palo Alto, California. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Wired is a monthly magazine published since March 1993. Wired reports on how technology affects culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is published in San Francisco, California.

“15 year old Rocks London: Teens don’t Tweet!”

admin    Twitter Marketing     Don’t, London, Rocks, Teens, Tweet”, Year, “15

Read all about it… just not in a newspaper… or twitter… or…by: Ty JenningsSocial Media Specialist @ The Halo Groupwww.thehalogroup.net www.twitter.com/TylerHalowww.SoMeTy.com

*Originally published on 15 July 09 @ www.SoMeTy.com – Ty Jennings’ Social Media Blog.

On Monday, Morgan Stanley caused some great ruckus when it published a research note written by 15-year-old Matthew Robson, who is currently interning at their London office.

Why the ruckus? Well, according to Matthew, teens don’t use Twitter! This, among many other findings in his 2,275-word report, which can be found here. 

Among the epiphanies:

 

And the tech world stopped.  Twitter has thousands of mentions, forwards, retweets and responses in at least a few languages that I noticed on the first few pages. Responses are varied from supportive, to appalled to hysterical. My faves are: (Full disclosure: I know none of these people, in any way, though I have now started following them – these results came from a “Matthew Robson” search on Twitter)

@elliottgalloway Matthew Robson’s comments-only relevant to the type of teenager that gets an internship at an IB instead of trying to buy beer & shag birds

@adlandsuit I think I might have to post about young Matthew Robson and the world’s LUDICROUS reaction. People should be embarrassed.

@meggo10 If this Matthew Robson kid gets to be the voice of teens, I want to be the voice of white women everywhere.

 

Having pointed out the more ‘humourous’ responses, it’s time to break down the report. First the BIG statement: Teens don’t Twitter. Wow, that made me nervous. “Oh no,” I thought to myself, “every CEO & CMO in the world, who is nervously dipping his and her toe into the social media pool for the first time, just recoiled, breathed a sigh of relief and ran for cover.” Uh-Oh.  Please, say it ain’t so! Tell me that Morgan Stanley didn’t publish some kid’s unqualified, unsubstantiated rants! Tell me that every tech outlet in the western hemisphere hasn’t picked it up and run with it as today’s paraphrased tech gospel. But alas, it was true. Everyone ran with the teaser: “Teens Don’t Use Twitter” and unfortunately, not everyone bothered to explain the rest… This is my nightmare.

Before anyone says, “I told you so” to anyone else, defending their lack of willingness to tweet, let’s dig deeper: Matthew’s report says teens don’t twitter because it costs money on his or her mobile devices. The exact quote is: “…teenagers do not use twitter. Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they realise that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit). In addition, they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their ‘tweets’ are pointless.”

We, in the US, need to remember that, for better or worse, European mobile systems, plans and pricing are quite different than ours. Most teens that have mobile devices (99%of which do, according to Matthew) have limited text/data plans.

As for the point that “no one is viewing their profile” –well, that’s better left to the trend experts. However, if I were to take a stab at this, I’d say two things: it’s been reported that Matthew Robson’s polling demographic was aged 13-16, therefore: it would probably only take a few trendsetters within a clique to start a group using Twitter (at least from a computer, which would require no “mobile credits”). From that it would spread like wildfire. Especially when, (point #2) they realize how many free services there are (on mobile devices, as well as computers) that send a single status update to several sources (twitter, facebook, etc) and would only use one “mobile credit” and allow them to check status at the same time. If I may indulge myself one more follow-up point: when these 13-16 year-olds find themselves with more responsibility and less time and attention, they’ll find that killing two (or 5) birds with one stone is the way to go to maximize their voice. (No further harm meant to the poor old Twitter Bird logo in that reference?)

My thought: it takes a trendsetter/teacher to start the group going, just like adults. Not to take credit, but many of my friends (aged 27-50) are asking whether they should be on twitter now, simply because I added my address (@TylerHalo) to my signature line on emails. Besides, now that my retired parents are on Facebook, connecting to their grandchildren and extended family and former classmates, where are the cool kids gonna’ hang out? (I’m just joking, Mom! Sort of.)

Wrapping up, I think that the coverage of Iran’s election and breaking news of Michael Jackson’s demise has proven Twitter’s worth and people’s thirst for the micro-blogging site in the last few weeks. It may take a while for London’s elite 13-16 year olds to develop interest though, but that may be more of an issue of lifestyle, mobile plans and maturity…

As far as today’s CEO’s & CMO’s are concerned, here’s the message: twitter is valid. Twitter is necessary.  Twitter is not going anywhere.  As more and more people discover the language and the feel of microblogging, quick status updates and aggregators – they’re jumping on board. (And PS – this is only the beginning as Google is set to release “Wave” later this year which combines a micro-blogging feel, with IM & chat activities to completely redesign the email system.  And this is an understatement of it’s potential!)

Until then, I propose we all sit back & wait to see what Matthew Robson will do next. 

(PS, don’t even get me started on why a 15 year old is interning at Morgan Stanley!)

 

Stay Tuned…

 Tyler “Ty” Jennings has served as Social Media Strategy Consultant for varying businesses and individuals and is the Social Media Specialist for The Halo Group, an award-winning New York City-based marketing and brand communication agency. His articles and posts can be found on their blog at www.thehalogroup.net/blog/ and on his own blog at www.somety.com as well as at www.twitter.com/TylerHalo

 

Internet Marketing: a Reflection After One Year in the Business

admin    Website Marketing     After, Business, Internet, Marketing, Reflection, Year

As autumn and cold crawl their way into Canada and the sun sets before 4 p.m., this darkness and quietness bring along a time of reflection for all of us. The assessment I want to share with you is about internet marketing. Although my list of things to do seams never-ending, I am very happy to realize all I have accomplished in less than a year ( over 40 active web sites, a hypnosis for childbirth program that already got international recognition, over 100 published articles on the net, etc)

I have been in internet marketing for a little less than a year and I have attended ten internet marketing seminars in 2006. I am the kind of person who likes to get to the bottom of things. I want to share my findings with people who are starting, thinking of starting or even stalling in the internet marketing business.

The ten biggest pieces of wisdom I want to share with you about internet marketing I have learned are:

1)The price of Internet Marketing products is highly exaggerated. Many marketers are comfortable taking hundreds of dollars for useless e-books or software. They are able to overcharge such big money for two main reasons: their customers believe their well-written sales letter promising them to become a millionaire by working only two hours per day. The second reason is that since other people have raised the bar before them, they feel comfortable with overcharging for their products.

I encourage everyone who is about to purchase any internet marketing product to take a deep breath, back up and do an internet search. Most probably, the product or its equivalent is already available for a fraction of the price on the internet.

My opinion is that no e-book is worth that much unless it provides me with the code of the safe at the bank for this internet marketer.

2)In the internet marketing business there are dreamers and there are doers. I have repeatedly met some people at internet marketing seminars who have not taken action and just keep buying the next product promising them a fast an effortless income. My experience is that it takes work (but then again I don’t see it as work as I enjoy it very much) at least in the beginning to secure a decent income in the internet marketing business.

3)Many internet marketers made their fortunes by selling products to people who want to make a fortune in the internet marketing business. Willie Crawford draws the parallel that the people who got the richest during the gold rush were the ones selling shovels and sticks to the gold diggers.

Anyone interested in internet marketing has to ask themselves if they have just been enriching the people selling them promises to make millions in the internet business.

4)There are basically three categories of internet marketers out there: the ones who just want your money, the ones who give you a good deal for your money and the ones that genuinely care about helping you making good money by sharing their efficient tactics.

I will, of course, not name any names here and I think that deep deep down people know what kind of marketers they are. I can tell you that upon trying to do a mental list of the genuine, caring ones, I had enough of my ten fingers to do the complete list.

5)The real successful internet marketers are often not on stage at seminars. I have met some very successful and knowledgeable people by talking to the person sitting next to me at seminars. I highly recommend you get to know the attendees at any given seminar; you will be surprised to sometimes find out that they know more than the speaker upfront and wiling to share everything with you…for free.

6)A masterminding group is a great resource to learn and share tricks and tips about internet marketing. The rule is to be part of a group that is about (or even better, a little above) your level of knowledge and accomplishments in internet marketing.

7)Action is power. Whatever piece of gold nugget you learn is useless if you do not take action on it. Many people are eternal course takers but have yet to get their first web site up. Even the best intended internet marketer will not make a penny if he doesn’t get his product out there. I have heard numerous times the advice to put out your product and fix the fine details later. It has been a little challenging for a perfectionist like me but, honestly, it works great. Often, customer comments allow me to go back and improve my product in ways that I would have never thought of.

8)Internet marketing is a number’s game. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you might rise very fast very high and then tumble down as fast. Diversity is the foundation for a solid business.

9)There will always be new things to learn. One cannot stay in their basement and hope that the world will not change. The internet marketing world is one that changes at the speed of light and one has to keep informed of the new trends and developments.

10)The Internet is here to stay. Internet has been growing at an astonishing rate and those who got in the game will be ahead of the pack in this exciting and powerful window to the world. The possibilities are infinite.