To be on top these days' local Internet marketing services is a good way to make a trillion dollar industry and it is one of the popular business strategies these days. There are easiest way to get more local clients and be on top by having local internet marketing even at the online site such as Google.com. The easiest way to get more clients is by offering internet marketing expertise such as promoting own products and services through local businesses these sometimes includes creating web pages and building links. This is quite a cheaper service because it sometimes costs as low as $2,500 per month. The next thing to be on top and get more clients through online is to find where these prospect clients hang up these are usually done by attending business meetings and other gathering of business owners. These online meetings can be found at sites like the BNI.com, Meetup.com and surfing words with the use of Google site like Tampa Business Group. Another way around to get more clients is by sending them letter and this usually cost cheaper at around $20. The letter details the effectiveness of having internet as part of the marketing strategy of the business thus in turn makes these business owners to look for internet marketing sites. And the last method is through mass appointment by the use of webinar techniques. This is done by inviting business owners to join and watch the webinar and somehow entice these owners to value internet marketing as an important strategy for their business.
If one wants to stay on top and earn a trillion dollar business industry, internet marketing services offers a venue for these business owners a greater business in just quick and easy steps.
About the Author
Want to rank high in Google, visit http://www.localmarketingtoday.info and be the one!
Industrial Internet Marketing
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Paper Anabolic Steroids: Warning! Steroid Counterfeiters Will Rob You Blind
Many underground overseas pharmacies selling anabolic steroids to customers in countries like the U.S., Canada, and Australia (where anabolic steroids are illegal without a prescription from a licensed medical doctor) have recently started heavily marketing and selling paper anabolic steroids.
What exactly are paper anabolic steroids?
Simply put, paper anabolic steroids are most commonly sheets of highly absorbent edible rice paper soaked and saturated with the steroid drug of choice. These sheets of rice paper containing the steroid drugs are then printed over with an intersecting square grid, and steroid drug users then cut off the individual squares to ingest the desired quantity of the drug. Paper anabolic steroids are similar to old-fashioned blotter acid LSD from the late 1960's.
For example, a bodybuilding steroid user in the U.S. might order a paper anabolic steroid sheet of dianabol or stanozolol, with 250 to 500 individual squares of 10 mg.+ of the drug contained per square. If the user wanted to take 20 mg of stanozolol, he would simply take scissors or a knife, cut off two squares, and then ingest two squares of a 10 mg. per square stanozolol product currently widely available on the internet.
The user typically places the paper square tabs underneath the tongue for a period of 15 to 20 minutes in order to ehance absorption and bio-availablity of the steroid drug. Other users simply swallow the paper squares whole.
One of the biggest problems steroid drug users in countries where steroids are illegal without a prescription face when buying anabolic steroids over the internet is that shipments of anabolic steroids are frequently intercepted by Customs.
U.S. Customs, for example, has dramatically stepped up its efforts to intercept steroid drugs being smuggled into the U.S. from overseas. Congress, in the light of the continued scandals surrounding steroid use in professional baseball and other sports, has urged the DEA and Customs to more aggressively target anabolic steroids for seizure.
Paper anabolic steroids as they are currently being marketed to bodybuilders in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, are really nothing more than a gimmick designed to prey on the fears of steroid using bodybuilders. The overseas pharmacies re-assure buyers in these countries (where steroids are illegal without a prescription) that their shipment of paper anabolic steroids will get past heightened Customs security and arrive on their doorstep.
The problem for smugglers has been that oral steroids in tablet form have a tendency to make a lot of noise by rattling around in the package in transit. And blister packed anabolic steroids have the same problems with making a lot of noise, and this noise makes it easy for Customs to identify potential problem packages. Pills rattling around is a red flag that almost guarantees that Customs will further investigate the package by opening it.
While injectable steroids in oil or water base don't rattle around like pills do, there is still the problem of bulk size and overall weight of the package when it comes to getting the steroid drugs past Customs.
This is why smugglers have begun heavily marketing and distributing paper anabolic steroids: they are easy to get through Customs.
It is already virtually impossible for Customs to intercept paper anabolic steroids. For example, even if Customs intercepts a package containing a piece of paper with square grids printed on it, it still looks like a harmless piece of paper.
The only way that Customs could determine if the paper had been soaked in steroid drugs would be to lab test the paper.
Is Customs going to lab test 68 million pieces of paper a day coming into the U.S. for steroid drugs? No, they aren't because that would shut down the flow of ordinary commerce completely.
Some smugglers are reportedly experimenting with shipping other kinds of paper anabolic steroids to avoid detection. Now, overseas pharmacies don't print any squares on the paper, or take it even further.
The overseas pharmacies simply soak ordinary plain paper in steroid drugs, and then write a personal note like "Hi George, thanks for visiting..." on that piece of paper. Or the overseas pharmacies soak an ordinary greeting card in steroid drugs to make their own unique paper anabolic steroids product.
There are literally a million ways to smuggle paper anabolic steroids past Customs. It would be impossible to lab test every single piece of paper in the mail going into a given country. For this reason, those overseas pharmacies selling paper anabolic steroids have very little chance of being caught.
The huge problem for bodybuilders ordering paper anabolic steroids is that there is an extremely high percentage of fraudsters currently marketing paper anabolic steroids.
Why? Simple.
The level of counterfeiting sophistication required to produce counterfeit "paper anabolic steroids" is zero. Anybody can slap up a two dollar website, and start selling what they claim is "paper anabolic steroids." Supplies needed? Some paper and a black and white printer. In the past, scammers had to be fairly sophisticated, they had to produce vials, top notch color packaging, etc.
Many established scammers are also getting into the paper anabolic steroids game because it is almost too easy and there is very little chance of being caught. Estimates place the counterfeit rate for paper anabolic steroids at 98%+.
If you are planning on trying paper anabolic steroids, good luck. You'll probably get robbed blind.
Disclaimer: No liability is assumed by Science Anabolics Labs International or the author for use and/or application of any of the information contained herein. This text is for information and entertainment purposes only. This text does not provide medical or legal advice. Specific medical or legal advice should be obtained from a licensed medical doctor or attorney practicing within the United States. The publisher can give no guarantee for information about drug dosage and any application thereof contained in this text. In every individual case the reader must check its accuracy and safety by consulting a licensed medical doctor. The reader must note that illegal steroid dosages used by top underground bodybuilders are frequently up to 100 or more times higher than doctor recommended steroid dosages for clinically ill patients presenting with disease. Neither Science Anabolics Labs nor the author advocate, promote, or encourage the use of illegal anabolic androgenic steroids. The information contained in this text is not intended to convince anyone to use or possess illegal anabolic androgenic steroids or any other illegal drugs.
About the Author
Free Steroids Inside Secrets Book...By Victor Monetti
Instant Download! at my website which is at http://www.FreeBook.GetSteroidsOnline.com
Learn How to Buy Steroids Legally & How to Avoid Steroid Side Effects.
Or simply email: freesteroidinfo@aweber.com
Business sales strategy: David Meerman Scott how to reach your buyers
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1) If so, how would government be regulated by the private citizenry to make sure that government cannot access records of their privacy, spending/purchasing habits?
2) How would this electronic currency be protected against inflation?
3) WHO would be setting the value of the electronic currency regarding it's purchase value?
4) What about folks who desire to live 'off the grid'?
5) How would a cashless society 'shrink' government instead of grow government?
I would be interested in your input!
Slow cell towers here so didn't see link. But I know difference between the money of a free people and the money of a slave people
The definition of "money" is, it's an agreement on what will be accepted as a medium of exchange. There are 2 basic choices: value based on betting on the future or value already earned which we trade for value already earned. The former depends on complex systems of faith. The latter currency carries its value with it because it embodies the essence of wealth in itself, being composed of the essence of land+labor=substance. Translation: quatloos can be inflated but silver can not.
So I vote for hard money. The primary value of metal coinage is that you own it, it is anonymous, and it is Property, as opposed to credits which are controlled by some remote Authority.
Isle of Man e-Business News - Spring 2010 (Part 1)
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[simpleaffiliate source="chitika" results="0"][/simpleaffiliate] Can anyone suggest me some good,informative and reliable internet sites and magazines on indian stock market?
chk all links on my blog
share market india directory
internet marketing magazine internet marketing system
While I'm not breaking any new ground here, I've tried to summarize some of the most important techniques.
Search Engine Strategies
Perhaps the most important -- and inexpensive -- strategy is to rank high for your preferred keywords on the main search engines in "organic" or "natural" searches (as opposed to paid ads). Search engines send robot "spiders" to index the content of your webpage, so let's begin with steps to prepare your webpages for optimal indexing. The idea here is not to trick the search engines, but to leave them abundant clues as to what your webpage is about. This approach is called "search engine optimization," abbreviated as SEO.
1. Write a Keyword-Rich Page Title. Write a descriptive title for each page -- rich in keywords you want people to find you with -- using 5 to 8 words. Remove as many "filler" words from the title (such as "the," "and," etc.) as possible, while still making it readable. This page title will appear hyperlinked on the search engines when your page is found. Entice searchers to click on the title by making it a bit provocative. Place this at the top of the webpage between the tags, in this format: Web Marketing Checklist -- 37 Ways to Promote Your Website. (It also shows on the blue bar at the top of your web browser.)
Plan to use some descriptive keywords along with your business name on your home page. If you specialize in silver bullets and that's what people will be searching for, don't just use your company name "Acme Ammunition, Inc.," use "Silver and Platinum Bullets -- Acme Ammunition, Inc." The words people are most likely to search on should appear first in the title (called "keyword prominence"). Remember, this title is your identity on the search engines. The more people see that interests them in the blue hyperlinked words on the search engine, the more likely they are to click on the link.
2. Write a Description META Tag. Some search engines include this description below your hyperlinked title in the search results. The description should be a sentence or two describing the content of the webpage, using the main keywords and keyphrases on this page. Don't include keywords that don't appear on the webpage. Place the Description META Tag at the top of the webpage, between the tags, in this format:
The maximum number of characters should be about 255; just be aware that only the first 60 or so are visible on Google, though more may be indexed.
When I prepare a webpage, I write the article first, then develop a keyword-rich title (#1 above). Then I write a description of the content in that article in a sentence or two, using each of the important keywords and keyphrases included in the article. This goes into the description META tag.
Next, I strip out the common words, leaving just the meaty keywords and phrases and insert those into the keywords META tag. It's no longer used much for ranking, but I'm leaving it in anyway. I think it may have some minor value. So to summarize so far, every webpage in your site should have a distinct title and META description tag. If you implement these two points, you're well on your way to better search engine ranking. But there's more that will help your ranking....
3. Include Your Keywords in Headers (H1, H2, H3). Search engines consider keywords that appear in the page headline and sub heads to be important to the page, so make sure your desired keywords and phrases appear in one or two header tags. Don't expect the search engine to parse your Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to figure out which are the headlines -- it won't. Instead, use keywords in the H1, H2, and H3 tags to provide clues to the search engine. (Note: Some designers no longer use the H1, H2 tags. That's a big mistake. Make sure your designer defines these tags in the CSS rather than creating headline tags with other names.)
4. Position Your Keywords in the First Paragraph of Your Body Text. Search engines expect that your first paragraph will contain the important keywords for the document -- where most people write an introduction to the content of the page. You don't want to just artificially stuff keywords here, however. More is not better. Google might expect a keyword density in the entire body text area of maybe 1.5% to 2% for a word that should rank high, so don't overdo it.
5. Include Descriptive Keywords in the ALT Attribute of Image Tags. This helps your site be more accessible to site-impaired visitors(www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/) and gives additional clues to the search engines. The ALT attributes do help get your images ranked higher for image search (see #12 below).
6. Use Keywords in Hyperlinks. Search engines are looking for clues to the focus of your webpage. When they see words hyperlinked in your body text, they consider these potentially important, so hyperlink your important keywords and keyphrases. To emphasize it even more, the webpage you are linking to could have a page name with the keyword or keyphrase, such as blue-widget.htm -- another clue for the search engine.
7. Make Your Navigation System Search Engine Friendly. You want search engine robots to find all the pages in your site. JavaScript and Flash navigation menus that appear when you hover are great for humans, but search engines don't read JavaScript and Flash very well. Therefore, supplement JavaScript and Flash menus with regular HTML links at the bottom of the page, ensuring that a chain of hyperlinks exists that take a search engine spider from your home page to every page in your site. Don't set up your navigation system using HTML frames (an old, out-dated approach); they can cause severe indexing problems.
Some content management systems and e-commerce catalogs produce dynamic, made-on-the-fly webpages, often recognizable by question marks in the URLs followed by long strings of numbers or letters. Overworked search engines sometimes have trouble parsing long URLs and may stop at the question mark, refusing to go farther. If you find the search engines aren't indexing your interior pages, you might consider URL rewriting, a site map, or commercial solutions.
8. Create a Site Map. A site map page with links to all your pages can help search engines (and visitors) find all your pages, particularly if you have a larger site. You can use a free tools, XML-Sitemaps.com(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/xml-sitemaps.htm) to create XML sitemaps that are used by the major search engines to index your webpages accurately. Upload your sitemap to your website. Then submit your XML sitemap to Google, Yahoo!, and Bing (formerly MSN), following instructions on their sites. By the way, Google Webmaster Central(www.google.com/webmasters/) has lots of tools to help you get ranked higher. Be sure to set up a free account and explore what they have to offer.
9. Develop Webpages Focused on Each Your Target Keywords. SEO specialists no longer recommend using external doorway or gateway pages, since nearly duplicate webpages might get you penalized. Rather, develop several webpages on your site, each of which is focused on a target keyword or keyphrase for which you would like a high ranking. Let's say you sell teddy bears. Use Google Insights for Search (www.google.com/insights/search/) or the free keyword suggestion tool on Wordtracker(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/wordtracker.htm) to find the related keywords people search on. In this case: write a separate webpage featuring the keyword "teddy bear," "teddy bears," "vermont teddy bears," "vermont bears," "the teddy bears," teddy bears picnic," "teddy bears pictures," etc. You'll write a completely different article on each topic. You can't fully optimize all the webpages in your site, but for each of these focused-content webpages, spend lots of time tweaking to improve its ranking, as described in point #10.
10. Fine-tune with Careful Search Engine Optimization. Now fine-tune your focused-content pages and perhaps your home page, by making a series of minor adjustments to help them rank higher. Software such as WebPosition(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/webposition.htm) allows you to check your current ranking and compare your webpages against your top keyword competitors. I use it regularly. WebPosition's Page Critic tool provides analysis of a search engine's preferred statistics for each part of your webpage, with specific recommendations of what minor changes to make. The best set of SEO tools is Bruce Clay's SEOToolSet(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/clay_seotoolset.htm). If you want more detailed information, consider purchasing my inexpensive book Guide to Search Engine Optimization (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/seo.htm). You can find links to many SEO articles (www.wilsonweb.com/seo/) on my site and even more in our Research Room(www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mp_Search).
Frankly, this kind of SEO fine-tuning is time-consuming, painstaking work that takes a lot of specialized knowledge. For this reason, many small and large businesses outsource search engine optimization. If you'll explain your needs to me on my online form, I can refer you to appropriate SEO firms that I know and trust(www.wilsonweb.com/recommendations/seo-services.htm).
11. Promote Your Local Business on the Internet. These days many people search for local businesses on the Internet. To make sure they find you, include on every page of your website the street address, zip code, phone number, and the five or 10 other local community place names your business serves. If you can, include place names in the title tag, too. When you seek links to your site (see #15 below), you should request links from local businesses with place names in the communities you serve and complementary businesses in your industry nationwide.
Also create a free listing for your local business on Google Maps Local Business Center (www.google.com/local/add) and Yahoo! Local(listings.local.yahoo.com). That way your business can show up on a map when people do a local search. For more information, see my book How to Promote Your Local Business on the Internet(www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/local.htm) as well as articles on local marketing (www.wilsonweb.com/local/) on my site and on local business promotion in the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mm_Local).
12. Promote Your Video, Images, and Audio Content. Google's "universal search" displays not only webpage content, but also often displays near the top of the page relevant listings for images, videos, local businesses (see #11 above), and audio clips. Therefore, consider creating such content appropriate to your business and then optimizing it so it can be ranked high enough to help you. For example, if you were to get a top-ranking, informative video onYouTube (www.youtube.com) that mentions your site, it could drive a lot of traffic to your site. For more information, search on "optimizing images" or "optimizing videos."
Links to your site from other sites drive additional traffic. But since Google and other major search engines consider the number of incoming links to your website ("link popularity") as an important indicator of relevance, more links will help you rank higher in the search engines. Google has a measure called PageRank that reflects the quantity and quality of incoming links. All links aren't all equal. Links from trusted, popular sites help your site rank higher than links from lower traffic sites. You'll find articles on linking strategies(www.wilsonweb.com/linking/) on our site and in our Research Room(www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mp_Linking).
13. Submit Your Site to Key Directories, since a link from a directory will help your ranking -- and get you traffic. A directory is not a search engine. Rather, it is a hierarchical listing of sites sorted according to category and subcategory. Be sure to list your site in the free Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.com), overseen by overworked volunteer editors. But if you don't get listed right away, don't be impatient and resubmit, or you'll go to the end of the queue. A link in this directory will help you a lot.
Yahoo! Directory (dir.yahoo.com) is another important directory. Real humans read submission, so be careful to follow the instruction given. Hint: Use somewhat less than the maximum number of characters allowable, so you don't have wordy text that will tempt the Yahoo! editor to begin chopping. Yahoo! Directory Submit(ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/) requires a $299 annual recurring fee to have your site considered for inclusion within seven business days. Other paid business directories that might help are About.comand Business.com.
14. Submit Your Site to Trade Organization Sites and Specialized Directories. Some directories focused on particular industries, such as education or finance. You probably belong to various trade associations that feature member directories. Ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link from the organization, it may help boost your PageRank.
Marginal directories, however, come and go very quickly, making it hard to keep up, so don't try to be exhaustive here. Beware of directories that solicit you for "upgraded listings." Unless a directory is widely used in your field, a premium ad is a waste of money -- but the (free) link itself will help boost your PageRank and hence your search engine ranking.
SubmitWolf (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/submitwolf.htm) is a directory submission tool I've used with good success . You complete a listing form in the software interface. Then they submit your listing to all the appropriate directories they know of, plus links to sites that require manual submission. It's a timesaver and works well. Just be careful to submit only to actual directories, not "linking sites."
15. Request Reciprocal Links. Find websites in your general niche and request a reciprocal link to your site (especially to your free service, if you offer one, see #24 below). Develop an out-of-the way page where you put links to other sites -- so you don't send people out the back door as fast as you bring them in the front door. Your best results will be from sites that generate a similar amount of traffic as your own site. High-traffic site webmasters are too busy to answer your requests for a link and don't have anything to gain. Look for smaller sites that may have linking pages.
Check out Ken Evoy's free SiteSell Value Exchange(sales.sitesell.com/value-exchange/). It (1) registers your site as willing to exchange links with other sites that have a similar theme/topic content and (2) searches for sites with similar topical content. Additionally, two automated link building software programs stand out -- Zeus (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/zeus.htm) and IBP Link Builder(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/arelis.htm). Both of these search the web for complementary sites, help you maintain a link directory, and manage reciprocal links. However, use these programs to identify the complementary sites, not to send impersonal automated e-mail spam to site owners.
When you locate sites, send a personal e-mail using the contact e-mail on the site or to the administrative contact listed in a Whois Directory(www.networksolutions.com/whois/). If e-mail doesn't get a response, try a phone call. Warning: Only link to complementary sites, no matter how often you are bombarded with requests to exchange links with a mortgage site that has nothing to do with your teddy bear store. One way Google determines what your site is about is who you link to and who links to you. It's not just links, but quality links you seek. Reciprocal linking as hard, tedious work, but it doesn't cost you a dime out of pocket! Keep working at this continuously, a little bit at a time. Patience and persistence will get you some good links, so keep at it.
16. Write Articles for Others to Use in Websites and Newsletters. You can dramatically increase your visibility when you write articles in your area of expertise and distribute them to editors as free content for their e-mail newsletters or their websites. Just ask that a link to your website and a one-line description of what you offer be included with the article. This is an effective "viral" approach that can produce hundreds of links to your site over time. You'll find lots of information on how to do this from the most popular article marketing site,EzineArticles.com. When you create a free membership account, they begin sending you instructions and ideas each week.
17. Issue News Releases. Find newsworthy events and send news releases to print and Web periodicals in your industry. The links to your site in online news databases may remain for several months and will temporarily improve traffic to your site and increase link popularity. Use a online news release service such as PR Web(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/prweb.htm). Placing your website URL in online copies of your press release may increase link popularity temporarily. More information on public relations strategies is available in our Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mp_PR).
Two additional linking strategies, discussed below, are to ask visitors to bookmark your webpage (#20) and to develop a free service (#23), which will greatly stimulate links to your site.
Social Media
Our next type of website promotion comes from the mushrooming field of social media, in which people are encouraged to interact with each other, and respond to each other's blog postings and comments. You should be aware of four types of social media: (1) blogs, (2) social networking sites, (3) social bookmarking sites, and (4) forums. Don't be upset if the distinctions between types of social media tend to blur. Social media help promote your site by sending direct traffic, producing links to your site, and generating awareness. The subject is too diverse to go into detail here. You can learn more in our social media articles (www.wilsonweb.com/newmedia/) and in the Social Networking section of the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mm_SocialNetwork).
18. Begin a Business Blog. Want links to your site? Begin a business blog on your website, hosted on your own domain. If you offer excellent content and regular industry comment, people are likely to link to it, increasing your site's PageRank. Consistency and having something to say are key. Learn more in the business blogs section of our Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=ms_Blogs). If you have a blog on a third-party blog site, occasionally find reasons to talk about and link to your own domain.
19. Become Part of a Social Media Community. Some of the best online communities for business include Facebook(www.facebook.com), LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), and Twitter(www.twitter.com). In addition, you may want to participate in a social bookmarking community in which members share with each other information about websites, articles, or news items that they like (or don't like). These include Digg (www.digg.com), Delicious(www.delicious.com), StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com), andGoogle Bookmarks (www.google.com/bookmarks/). Search engine spiders troll these sites looking for links to something new and relevant. You can usually place a link to your website in your profile, but the biggest gain comes when other people mention you (which generates traffic to your site), link to you (which increases your PageRank and brings traffic), or bookmark you (which increases your PageRank and brings traffic, see #21 below).
One important reminder, don't join a community to spam them or talk incessantly about your business. Like any community you must listen, comment, and make a genuine contribution for the good of others. Don't hog the conversation. Otherwise, your self-serving links and comments will hurt your reputation. By the way, to get started, why don't you visit my social media pages and become a Facebook fan(www.facebook.com/pages/Web-Marketing-Today/85187746383) or aTwitter follower (www.twitter.com/ralphwilson) -- please! Thank you!
20. Promote Your Site in Online Forums and Discussion Lists -- "old school" social media.The Internet offers thousands of very targeted e-mail based discussion lists, online forums, and groups made up of people with very specialized interests. Use Google Groups(groups.google.com) to find appropriate groups. Search online for blogs or other forums.
Don't bother with groups consisting of pure spam. Instead, find groups where a serious dialog is taking place. Don't use aggressive marketing and overtly plug your product or service. Rather, add to the discussion in a helpful way and let the "signature" at the end of your e-mail message do your marketing for you. People will gradually get to know and trust you, visit your site, and do business with you.
21. Ask Visitors to Bookmark Your Site. It seems simple, but ask visitors to bookmark your site or save it in their Favorites list. I use a widget called AddThis (www.addthis.com). When you put the AddThis JavaScript on your webpage, it automatically determines the title and URL of that page. When visitors click the button on your page, they are automatically taken to a page that allows them to choose which bookmarking service they prefer, and then pre-populates the appropriate form with the title and URL of your webpage. I use AddThis throughout my website, as well as in my newsletters. If you have good content that people want to bookmark, this can generate hundreds of links to your site and significantly raise your rankings.
While you're at it, would you be so kind as to bookmark this pageusing the button below? Thank you!
Traditional Strategies
Just because "old media" strategies aren't on the Internet doesn't mean they aren't effective. A mixed media approach can be very effective.
22. Include Your URL on Stationery, Cards, and Literature. Make sure that all business cards, stationery, brochures, and literature contain your company's URL. And see that your printer gets the URL syntax correct. In print, I recommend leaving off the http:// part and including only the www.domain.com portion.
23. Promote using traditional media. Don't discontinue print advertising that you've found effective. But be sure to include your URL in any display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, yellow pages, etc. View your website as an information adjunct to the ad. Use a two-step approach: (1) capture readers' attention with the ad, (2) then refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order. Look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of narrowly-targeted magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising. Consider other traditional media to drive people to your site, such as direct mail, classifieds, post cards, etc. TV can be used to promote websites, especially in a local market.
24. Develop a Free Service. It's boring to invite people, "Come to our site and learn about our business." It's quite another to say "Use the free kitchen remodeling calculator available exclusively on our site." Make no mistake, it's expensive in time and energy to develop free resources, such as our Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/research/), but it is very rewarding in increased traffic to your site -- and a motivation to link to the site! Make sure that your free service is closely related to what you are selling so the visitors you attract will be good prospects for your business. Give visitors multiple opportunities and links to cross over to the sales portion of your site.
E-Mail Strategies
Don't neglect e-mail as an important way to bring people to your website. Just don't spam, that is, don't send bulk unsolicited e-mails without permission to people with whom you have no relationship. Many countries have anti-spam laws.
You can find lots of details and tips on e-mail marketing in my book The E-Mail Marketing Handbook(www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm). I'll mention just a few important elements here. You can learn more from our articles on e-mail marketing (www.wilsonweb.com/email/) as well as the e-mail section of the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=me_Email-Gen).
25. Install a "Signature" in your E-Mail Program to help potential customers get in touch with you.Most e-mail programs allow you to designate a "signature" to appear at the end of each message you send. Limit it to 6 to 8 lines: Company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address, and a one-phrase description of your unique business offering. Look for examples on e-mail messages sent to you.
26. Publish an E-Mail Newsletter. While it requires a commitment of time, creating a monthly e-mail publication is one of the most important promotion techniques. It could be a newsletter ("ezine"), list of tips, industry updates, or new product information -- whatever you believe your customers will appreciate. This is a great way to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. It also helps you collect e-mail addresses from those who visit your site, but aren't yet ready to make a purchase. You distribute your newsletter inexpensively using e-mail marketing services such as: iContact (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/icontact.htm),Constant Contact (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/constantcontact.htm), and AWeber (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/aweber.htm). If you have a very small list, some of these services let you use their services free until you grow larger. Blogs are very popular, but don't really replace e-mail newsletters. You have to go to a blog to read it, while an e-mail newsletter appears in your inbox asking to be read.
I27. Aggressively Ask for E-Mail Sign-ups. If you want to get subscribers to your e-mail newsletter, you'll need to work hard at it. Include a subscription form on every page of your website. Promote sign-ups through free whitepapers, e-books, or other products. If you have a local business, ask customers to sign up for your e-mail list to get "special Internet only offers." Also ask other businesspeople when they give you a business card if you can send them your e-mail newsletter. While only the e-mail address itself is necessary, I always ask for a first name also, so I can personalize the newsletter and the e-mail subject line with the recipient's name.
28. Send Transactional and Reminder E-Mails. A transactional e-mail is sent to an existing customer to initiate, remind, confirm, or thank the person. Be creative. If you keep careful records, you can send e-mails to customers on their birthday to remind them to return to your site. Subscription confirmation e-mails can also mention several popular products. You might remind customers that it has been three months since their last order and ask if it's time for a refill. Thank you for your purchase e-mails can offer a coupon to bring your customer back for a future sale. Use your imagination, but don't pester your customers. You're there to serve them, not the other way around.
29. Send Offers to Your Visitors and Customers. Your own list of customers and site visitors who have given you permission to contact them will be your most productive list. Send special offers, coupon specials, product updates, etc. They often initiate another visit to your site. If you have a regular newsletter, you can include many of these in your regular e-mailing.
30. Exchange E-Mail Mentions with Complementary Businesses. You might consider exchanging e-mail newsletter mentions with complementary businesses to reach new audiences.Just be sure that your partners are careful where they get their mailing list so you don't get in trouble with the anti-spam laws in your country.
I'll mention renting e-mail lists in #37 below under Paid Advertising approaches.
Miscellaneous Strategies
Here are a couple of strategies that don't fit elsewhere.
31. Announce a Contest. People like getting something free. If you publicize a contest or drawing available on your site, you'll generate more traffic than normal. Make sure your sweepstakes rules are legal in all states and countries you are targeting. Prizes should be designed to attract individuals who fit a demographic profile describing your best customers. See articles on contests and incentives in our Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=ma_Incentives).
32. Devise Viral Marketing Promotion Techniques. So-called viral marketing uses existing communication networks to spread the word exponentially. Word-of-mouth, PR, creating "buzz," and network marketing are offline models. Promotion strategy #16 above, "Write Articles for Others to Use for Website and Newsletter Content," is a kind of viral approach.
The key to the best viral marketing, however, is create something that generates buzz and is so cute / fascinating / fun / bizarre that it gets passed by viewers to their friends via e-mail and social networks -- thousands of times -- so that it propels more and more people to your website, and, hopefully, helps enhance your brand, produce sales, and ultimately boost profits. Internet marketers often seek to launch viral campaigns on Digg (www.digg.com) or YouTube (www.youtube.com). Digg is a social bookmarking site with such power, that if enough people "Digg" you, you appear on the Digg front page and receive a huge number of visitors in a few hours. If your video goes viral on YouTube, you could get tens of thousands of visits to the site you promote in the video. However, viral marketing is difficult to do well. If you want to pursue this, I suggest you read MarketingSherpa's How to Viral Market toolkit (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/sherpa_viral.htm). You can find articles on viral marketing in the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mm_Viral).
Paid Advertising Strategies
None of the approaches described above is "free," since each takes time and energy. But if you want to grow your business more rapidly, there comes a point when you need to pay for increased traffic. Advertising is sold in one of three ways: (1) traditional CPM (cost per thousand views), (2) pay per click (PPC), and (3) pay per action (PPA) or cost per action (CPA) approaches. Examples of the latter are affiliate program and lead generation programs. Banner ads get such a low click-through rate (0.2%) that I don't recommend paying much for them. Banner ads typically cost about 50¢ to $1 per thousand page views, except on targeted sites. Do some small tests first to determine response. Then calculate your return on investment (ROI) before spending large amounts. Here are some methods to explore:
33. Advertise in an E-Mail Newsletter. Some of the best buys are small text ads in e-mail newsletters targeted at audiences likely to be interested in your products or services. Many small publishers aren't sophisticated about advertising and offer very attractive rates.
More effective (and more expensive) is to send out an appropriate solo e-mail to the targeted list's subscribers. These often get a good response.
34. Begin an Affiliate Program. Essentially, a retailer's affiliate program is a CPA program that pays a commission to other site owners whose links to the retailer's products result in an actual sale. The goal is to build a network of affiliates who have a financial stake in promoting your site. If you're a merchant, you need to (1) determine the commission you are willing to pay (consider it your advertising cost), (2) select a company to set up the technical details of your program, and (3) promote your program to get the right kind of affiliates who will link to your site. Software and service companies are available to facilitate the process. The problem is getting enough affiliates who will actually work hard to promote your products or services. These "super affiliates" will probably consist of only 1% to 3% of your total number of affiliates. You can learn more by reading articles about affiliate program marketing in the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=em_Associate).
35. Purchase Pay Per Click (PPC) ads with Google AdWords(adwords.google.com/select/), Yahoo! Search Marketing(www.wilsonweb.com/afd/overture.htm), or Microsoft AdCenter(adcenter.microsoft.com). This strategy is way down the list, but it is vitally important. Most Internet businesses will want to explore using Google AdWords to drive targeted traffic to their websites.
These PPC ads appear on the search engine results page, typically both above and to the right of the organic or natural search engine results. Since they are keyword-driven, they can be quite relevant to what a searcher is trying to find. Your ranking in this list of paid text ads is determined by (1) how much you have bid for a particular search word compared to other businesses, (2) the click-through rate on your ad, and (3) your Quality Score, which reflects the relevancy and quality of your ad and the landing page it points to.
PPC ads can be a cost-effective way to get targeted traffic, since you only pay when someone actually clicks on the link. But I strongly recommend that you study this carefully and expect a learning curve before you invest large sums of money in PPC advertising. Read Andrew Goodman's book Winning Results with Google AdWords(Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, Dec 2008, ISBN 0071496564). You can find articles on Paid Search on our site (www.wilsonweb.com/paid-search/) and in the PPC advertising section of the Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/search/cat.php?querytype=category&subcat=mp_PPC).
36. List Your Products with Shopping Comparison Bots and Auction Sites. If you're an online merchant, you'll want to consider this. Shopping bots compare your products and prices to others. Some work on a PPC (Pay Per Click) basis, others on a CPA (Cost Per Action) basis, perhaps with a listing fee. Bots to consider include mySimon(www.mysimon.com), BizRate (www.bizrate.com/), PriceGrabber(www.pricegrabber.com/), and Shopping.com (www.shopping.com). Shopping sites that include comparison features include: eBay(www.ebay.com), Yahoo! Shopping (shopping.yahoo.com), andAmazon Marketplace(www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161232). You pay to acquire first-time customers, but hopefully you can sell to them a second, third, and fourth time, later on.
37. Rent targeted, commercial e-mail lists. The last website promotion technique I'll mention is renting targeted e-mail lists. We abhor "spam," bulk untargeted, unsolicited e-mail, and you'll pay a very stiff price in a ruined reputation and cancelled services if you yield to temptation here. But the direct marketing industry has developed targeted e-mail lists you can rent -- lists consisting of people who have agreed to receive commercial e-mail messages. These lists cost $40 to $400 per thousand or 4¢ to 40¢ per name. Do a smaller test first to determine the quality of the list. Your best bet is to find an e-mail list broker (www.google.com/search?&q=e-mail+list+broker) to help you with this project. You'll save money and get experienced help for no additional cost. Realize, however, that due to the high cost of renting lists, many businesses won't generate enough businesses to justify the cost. Run the numbers before you invest.
Whew! That's it. We certainly haven't exhausted ways to promote your site, but these will get you started. To effectively market your site, you need to spend time adapting these strategies to your own market and capacity. Right now, why don't you make an appointment to go over this checklist with someone in your organization? Make this Checklist jump-start for your new Internet marketing strategy.
About the Author
MAKING A WEB STORE FREE WITH PRESTON ENTERPRIZES
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