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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Marketing Tools For The Internet Trade

For every business and tech-savvy entrepreneur, learning about all the possible tricks in the Internet marketing trade is really an absolute must. Currently, with the abundance of online merchants and their various affiliates, a lot of technology experts have tapped this opportunity to help you make some more money – at a price of course. Well, not all the time though since there are some marketing tools that you can avail free of charge. You just have to be resourceful and extremely patient in order for you to get the right type of marketing tool that you’ll need for your website. This is perfect for home-based businesses as well as work-at-home aficionados who want to make the most out of the various money-making internet based ventures that are available to just about anyone who’s willing.

Some of the current popular marketing tools nowadays are:

Adwords Software: if you’re already aware of what Adwords are and what they can do to help you earn lots of money with just a few clicks from other internet users, then this marketing tool software promises, actually, it guarantees to at least double the amount of clicks that your Adwords receive per day.

AdBlaster: this however, also promises to increase traffic in your website but this marketing tool’s main function is to help link your website to various other websites, a surefire way for people to notice your links more, it’ll provide you with better visibility among potential clients.

Banners: well, we’ve probably seen one or two or who knows how many of these so-called banners that advertises various products and services, for affiliates, these provide extra income since compared to Adwords these provide to more of an eye candy to internet users because of it’s colorful displays and sometimes, entertaining animation, if you’re more tech-savvy than the average online entrepreneur, here’s one marketing tool that’s surely worth a try.

SiteByter, SEO and Positioning Software: this here promises to give you full optimization of your search engine ranking. This marketing tool will help you get better leverage when it comes to search results, thus helping increase the traffic in your website and more incentives for you.

Keyword Investigator Software: this marketing tool is best suited for work-at-home enthusiasts who are trying to build up their respective businesses, with this software you’re bound to get a wide and varied choice of keywords to help your website become more noticeable to internet users. Marketing tools such as this one will provide you with effective and most-used keywords to help set-up your online business and pay per click ads/links. It surely is a cost-efficient marketing tool.

There’s really a lot of options and available to willing entrepreneurs nowadays that it really doesn’t take much for them to achieve their ultimate goal of earning cash by the bulk while having the luxury of time at their hands. It really is just a matter of how you learn to manage your time and your business. Always be up to date when it comes to the internet trade, marketing tools abound, there may be some that are too technical for your liking but it’s impossible for you to not find one that suits your needs and wants. All you have to do is be a bit patient when trying to learn about these marketing tools, just research, research, research, there really is no harm in doing so, you get to have a cost-efficient business while being an internet marketing pro, there really are no losers in this game – well, just the ones who are too chicken to try.

How to Promote Your Own Information Product

Creating your own information product is not enough to ensure monstrous profit from the World Wide Web. You have to learn how to market the same. The operative word in Internet Marketing, after all, is still “marketing.”

Here are some strategies that are sure to help you increase your earnings by boosting the sales rate of your information product…

1. Gaining affiliates. If you’re selling something in the World Wide Web without seeking the help of affiliates, then there’s something wrong with your marketing strategy. Worse, you’re losing thousands, if not millions of dollars, in revenue. Why? Because utilizing affiliates is the quickest and most efficient way of gaining a prominent presence in the World Wide Web. Affiliates will get your business message across a wide audience. And since they’ll be promoting your product via an affiliate link you’ll provide, leading to central sales page where you can convert visitors into sales, you’d be able to generate a massive amount of traffic. And as you very well know, in online business, your success is always, always, always dependent on the amount of traffic you’ll be able to garner for your website. There are two ways by which you can employ affiliate marketing. First is by establishing your own affiliate program. You may require specific software programs and scripts, as well as appropriate web hosting features, for this approach. Second is by joining affiliate networks like www.clickbank.com , www.paydotcom.com , and www.cj.com . This approach is simpler, and it’s ideal for novices in this industry.

2. Joint ventures. You’d also benefit a lot by partnering with established marketers. There are many models for this business setup. Let’s take a look at some of them:

- You can pool together some products to create more attractive packages.

- You can promote the campaign in your respective mailing lists for greater exposure.

- You can merge your affiliate forces together for a more efficient campaign.

What’s in it for your JV partner? Aside from the profit-sharing scheme you may agree on beforehand, you can also cross-promote each other’s products or invite each other’s subscriber to your respective mailing lists. Joint ventures are beneficial for all parties and internet marketers are always amenable to proposals of this nature.

3. Pay Per Click Advertising. This is a rather tricky maneuver because you will have to pay a certain amount to have your sales page’s URL advertised. The trick is in knowing how much you should be spending. And the rule is: spend only what you can afford to lose. With PPC advertising in programs like Google AdWords, your sales page will appear prominently for every relevant query in Google. Promoting an eBook about dog grooming? A link to your sales page will appear every time a user searches for the term “dog grooming.” However, you will have to pay the program every time a user clicks on your ad. How can this be profitable, you might ask? It all depends on the conversion rate your sales page is capable of. If your sales page can convert 10% of your visitors into successful sales, and you’re selling your information product for $50, you can afford to spend $50 per week at $0.10 per click. This will give you 500 visitors, and if your sales page can convert 10% of them, you’d have 50 paying customers, and $2,500 in gross profit. It all boils down to testing. You have to test your sales page to the ground so that you’d know how well it can really perform. And you have to do this before availing of PPC advertising.

These 3 tactics are sure to catapult your sales rate to untold heights of profitability. Study them well, and consider employing them once you have created your information product. They can very well be the factors that will transform your product into a certified blockbuster.

Writing For A Living Online

If you have the skills to sell, then there are some jobs waiting for you on the internet… jobs that you can earn from, and at times, can even rival any day job you can have. The World Wide Web is indeed a haven for many skills, and if you possess any of these skills, you can establish your own online service business.

The correct term for such a task is freelancing. There are many freelancing opportunities that you can choose from, depending on the skill set you have.

The most lucrative of these freelancing opportunities is writing. Now, there are many kinds of writing assignments you can choose to accept. These are:

1. Content writing. Content is what fuels the internet. And webmasters from all over the world are constantly pressured to provide content for their visitors. We’re talking about a demand that will not cease. And you can charge for your services on a per word basis. The average going rate is $0.02 per word, but of course, you can charge more if your talent deserves such disctinction.

2. Ghostwriting for eBooks/special reports. There are a number of internet marketers who are looking for fresh information products to sell. These requests vary, depending on the niche they are focusing on. If you have great research skills and again, the writing flair to present it in a readable way, then you can try ghostwriting. Average going rate is $7 per page, or $500 per 10,000 words.

3. Copywriting. If you want to go for the big time bucks, then copywriting is the opportunity for you. Copywriting involves the creation of sales letters, or sales copies, that will help your clients sell a product or a package. These sales letters or sales copies are often 3,000 to 7,000 pages long. Bear in mind, however, the copywriting is more than just hype writing. It’s a science that you have to study and master. Also, you must familiarize yourself with the product or products you will be writing about, as well as the needs of the market they will be catering to. Expect to be paid $1,000 per project, at the average.

If you’re going to pursue writing on the internet, there are 3 cardinal rules which you should remember:

- By no means should you plagiarize existing works, more so, works that are already published in the World Wide Web. Remember that your clients will hire you to write unique, original works. This means that you should not copy ideas nor the ways by which they are presented. Also (and this is asked quite often), you cannot plagiarize yourself. You cannot sell to others what you have already sold to another.

- Upon completion of the project, you are to transfer all the rights to the works to your client. This means that you will no longer own the assignments. The client will have all the rights to them, including naming himself as the author thereof.

- Respect deadlines. Always remember that your clients’ businesses are dependent on the submission of your assignments.

Ten Things That Marketers Should Be, But Aren’t, Including On Their Sales Pages

The purpose of your sales page is to sell your product. But this isn’t accomplished all the time. Why? Because chances are, readers aren’t getting a clear idea about the value of the product or package being offered.

This, however, can be remedied by including some things in your sales page.

1. The amount of time you spent in preparing your product. This may be in weeks or in months. Nevertheless, your readers should know that it took you a long period of time to prepare the product, either because it took that long to research its content, or it took that long to test the procedures contained therein. Such will immediately add value to the product, as your readers will realize that your offer isn’t something that was hastily prepared overnight.

2. The financial investment you have made in preparing the product. You may have spent some cash in having the product prepared. Or you may have spent some cash in testing the methods you have delineated therein. Mention the price it cost you, as this will most certainly add value to the finished product. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Would you prefer a product that someone created without spending a single cent, or a product that someone spent thousands of dollars on to ensure the finest quality possible?

3. The size of the product. If you’re offering an information product, this may be expressed in terms of page count or file size, whichever would look more attractive. As a rule, if you’re offering a voluminous work of more than 80 pages, don’t be afraid to mention the page count. If you’re offering a product with fewer pages but with lots of graphics, mention the file size in kilobytes (KB) to make it appear meaty.

4. The rights that come with the product. If you’re offering resale or master resale rights with your product, do not forget to mention the parameters of such license. Also, do not fail to mention the benefits that your customers will receive from the same. Do not market it as a mere product. Market it as a business they can earn from, because that’s what resale and master resale rights provide… an income stream for the owner of the rights.

5. The freshness of the product. If your product has never been offered before, mention that fact as well. One of your prospects’ fears is that they might end up buying a redundant product, something which is similar to what they have invested on before. Your product itself may be new, or the ideas you will share are novel. Mention these in your sales page.

6. The exclusivity of the product. If your product is not offered anywhere else, more so when it will not be offered anywhere else after your campaign is finished, mention the same. This will compel your readers to seriously consider your offer. Exclusivity is a great motivator.

7. The razor’s edge. Have you decided to take a irreverent, take-no-prisoners approach with your product? Mention that fact as well. Psychology will show us that deep down inside, everyone loves a rebel. There is more truth to a rebel’s words, after all.

8. Other people’s words about your product. Testimonials can instantly boost your stock. People will trust someone else’s words about your offer than your words about your own product. Testimonials carry a sense of objectivity, after all. Just make sure that you’ll publish only the favorable ones.

9. The bonuses the come with your product. In internet marketing, bonuses have become a necessity. Bonuses instantly increase the perceived value of your package. They also speak so much about your ability to over-deliver. However, offering a product without bonuses can also work to your advantage, for as long as you’d market it correctly. Tell them that your product is very valuable as it is that it doesn’t need any bonuses to jack up its value and you’d be surprised at the response you will receive.

10. An efficient call to action. Many marketers believe that calls to action should be delivered at the end of the sales page. This is a mistake. Calls to action should be delivered even when the sales page begins. These calls to action can be in the form of methods that will pull your readers into your offer by making them know that what you have to offer concerns them. Your calls to action should eventually grown more powerful, so that in the end, when you deliver your coup de grace, they’d have no recourse but to say yes.

The Nitty-Gritty Behind Article Submissions

Due to the fast-rising popularity of home-based businesses among tech-savvy entrepreneurs who opts to have the luxury of time while earning fast cash without much trickle of a sweat, a lot of these people have turned to the internet in order to launch such lucrative businesses geared towards offering various types of products and services for so many potential clients around the globe. A popular way to get your website notice (as well as get your business running) is to come up with articles that will not only cater to your desired clientele but also help generate traffic for your site. The where and how of article submissions start with whichever website you choose to post your articles on.

There are actually various websites in the internet today offering tech-savvy entrepreneurs with their article submissions, it just depends on you which of these available free content sites you'll use for your article submissions. There are actually a lot of good services that they’re offering for your article submissions, aside from giving you free service, they'll also give you the convenience of "just sit back, relax and wait for the traffic to start pouring into your website."

To help get you started with this innovative business venture, just log onto the internet, just go to your favorite search engine, whether it be Yahoo, Googlle, MSN or what-have-you and just type the keywords "submit free content" and start choosing from the various options that are available to you. It really is pretty easy to land on such websites, they pretty much abound in the internet.

Still, you might wonder, “What do these free content sites actually do?” and “How will I benefit from them? Well, it really is as simple as pie, in order for you to to promote your website, try to focus on what your websites all about, the various products and services that you’re offering to your potential clients and then create well-written and highly-informative articles about them, these article submissions really need not be bordering on the technical kind, always remember that a lot of internet users aren't high on the technical stuff, they want something that they'll be able to read fully (not bore them to death) as well as understand them clearly (you do want to send them the correct message about your website right?) . After doing this, sign-up with whichever free content site of your choice, where they'll provide links to your website and a brief bio so that other people will know about you and your website in case certain keywords match to those that you've put into your article submissions. It really is pretty much, a convenient way of advertising your website, with more article submissions, the higher your chances are at generating bigger traffic for your website. Because through your article submissions, you’ll get numerous links that’ll help your website take flight and hopefully become a chosen favorite among interne users.

It may be a tedious job to update and improve on your article submissions (especially if you’re not much of a writer) but it is definitely worth the couple of hours that you’ll probably devote on it, with more articles on your website, the more traffic it’ll surely generate thus providing you with more and more incentives. It really is a matter of patience and your willingness to write.

Why Articles Pack a Powerful Punch In Your Traffic Generation Arsenal

For centuries people have used the written word to persuade, communicate and influence others to take action. Techniques have been perfected over the years in the offline market. Direct marketers have mailed long sales letters to convert lookers to buyers. Today Internet marketers have the same advantage used by offline concerns to produce a strong stream of visitors to their websites.

Article marketing continues to provide a robust method of driving interested customers to your site and at the same time provide you with specific advantages over your competitors. Although writing and posting articles routinely can be tedious the results are well worth the effort.

There are several ways to use articles and several more benefits that you will experience. Increased revenue, increased opt-in lists and lead generation are just the tip of the iceberg.

Placing your articles within directories that have a high page rank gives you both exposure to publishers as well as a back link from a search engine respected website. The higher the number of articles you submit increases the rank your site holds and then increases the position in an organic search.

Articles also build your reputation. People are looking for information from an authority on the subject. You build your reputation and credibility by providing accurate, high-quality content. Your article resource box is the place to shine and send the readers back to your website where you have even more content and an opt-in box for your ezine. Now you can stay in contact with your potential customer and reel them in!

Viral marketing is all about building a buzz about a topic, person, event or product. You can build your own buzz by marketing through articles. Make a plan to write two articles a week for your site that are optimized for keywords. As your site grows larger it will perform better in search engine rankings and it will be positioned higher in the organic searches. Research is showing that the majority of people searching the Internet are looking first at the organic searches. If your product or service ranks well you will develop a steady stream of traffic.

Think about the websites that you find interesting and visit often. Most likely they are sites that have content rich articles and information you find important in your life. Your customers are not different. They are looking for high-quality content about their interest. Give it to them!

Marketing on the Internet can be cumbersome and potentially expensive. Placing ads in other ezines, purchasing software for viral marketing or placing pay per click ads requires a source of funding. Article marketing is cheap! You can pen your own articles, use a ghost writer or a private label rights site to provide accurate content. Your costs are very minimal if you do it yourself and then only pay a small hosting fee for your site.

There are several ‘guru’ marketers who make a consistent living on the Internet using articles as their major traffic generating method. Although it takes consistency and practice it is also rewarding and cheap.

6 Biggest Mistakes In Submitting An Article

Article marketing has become the primary marketing vehicle for many online businessmen. It’s simple, it’s effective and it’s free.

But article submission these days is prone to some costly mistakes, that, when committed, would mean failure for your article marketing campaign. These mistakes are born from simple things that people take for granted, and they can, in fact, be easily remedied.

What are these mistakes? Here are the 6 most commonly committed ones:

1. Submitting articles which you have used as content for your website. This can be fatal. The search engines can consider your content as a duplicate, and such a page where they can be found may be de-indexed. Additionally, you’d want nothing but unique content for your own website, since content generates traffic and you will need to provide something that people are looking for which they cannot find anywhere else.

2. Submitting the same article to the same directory more than once. Most article directories frown on this practice. Though this tactic escapes non-automated systems of most article directories, the repercussions, when caught, could be disastrous. Your account may be banned by the article directories you have submitted to.

3. Submitting the same article to many directories at once. This is the practice of many people, but it’s wrong. The search engines will notice the sudden spike in your number of back links, and its spiders will categorize the same as dubious. Your page rank may not even benefit from the said back links, if ever such is the case. You need to submit your articles nice and slow. 5 article directories per 2 days will be a safe and convenient approach. Remember, most of your back links will not come from the article directories themselves. Rather, they will come from the webmasters who will pick up your article for online publication. Taking things slow will serve this end.

4. Trusting automated article distribution software programs. There are a lot of software programs promising a solution to the rather tedious requirement of having to submit your articles to many directories. Sadly, most of these programs do not serve their purpose well, the reason being is that article directories often change their systems to dissuade the usage of such programs. For the many article directories in the World Wide Web, article submission programs pose a lot of potentials for abuse which will be detrimental to their own businesses. Hence, there is no standard article distribution software that is built to last. Manual submission of your articles is still the best. If you feel that this is too laborious a task for you, you can always subscribe to manual submission services that are widely available in the market today. Or you can get a freelancer to do the task for you.

5. Submitting unmodified PLR articles. With the sheer amount of membership sites and offers of PLR packages these days, it’s tempting to submit them as they are. This will be a costly mistake. Article directories consider this a big no-no as it compromises the integrity of their own services and promotes the submission of duplicate articles which will just spam their inventories.

6. Submitting articles that are filled with affiliate links. Most article directories explicitly state that affiliate links should not be included anywhere within the article. The worst thing that can happen to their directories is that they’ll become one glorified classified ads site. Once an affiliate link is detected, the article will almost, always be rejected. If you have to include an affiliate link, make sure to host it in your own website, then include the URL of your website in your articles.

Eight Steps On How to Get Hired

Nowadays getting hired is very difficult. It is more than just passing a resume, applying and forever hoping to get hired. Well it is time to stop hoping and start really getting hired.

Here are the steps on how to get pass job searching and start working.

Self Analysis

To start job searching you must first analyze yourself on what you want to be. You can be a Bum, an Entrepreneur, a Young Professional, or a Student Seeking Higher Studies. If you choose to be a Bum, Entrepreneur or a Student then you should stop reading this article and continue to pursue the career path that you chose. However, if you choose to become a Young Professional continue reading because all the information you need to get hired is in this article.

Preparation

Why do we need to prepare before job searching? Because Companies/Employers are very selective and among the numerous number of applicants they have they will choose the most deserving and who will make their company more productive. They are not looking to teach you, they are looking to get instant results from you. The other reason is competition, if you had an experience in working you may have a distinct advantage but nevertheless it is still the Companies/Employers that will have the decision when hiring an applicant.

Looking For a Company

Where do we look for a company that are hiring? A lot of companies post their job vacancy in, for example, newspaper ads, radio, TV, job fair, employment agencies, Internet, and if your University has College Placement Office they can provide you a job vacancy listing also. Another way of looking for a company is through Networking, when looking for a company you must always be resourceful; ask the people you know that is working for a company if they have an opening. When you find a company then you must prepare for the next step.

Resume

Books, magazines and the internet are the example of the resources you can get on how to make a presentable resume but the only point is be true to on what you will write. Don’t put on your resume what you do not know.

Cover Letter

Just like in making a resume there are a lot of resources in how to make a cover letter. Before you make a letter make sure that you know where to send the cover letter that you will make. It should be either on the Human Resource Supervisor or the Employer.

Interview

If the Company/Employer called your for an interview, you must also prepare for it. Again, why do we need to prepare? As I have written earlier companies are very selective. So what do we need to prepare?

Check Company

Why do we need to check the company? If you where ask by the interviewer what do you know about the company? What do you think your answer will be? It is much better if you know the history of the company as well as the product or services that they offer to their clients. You don’t exactly need to know all the information of the company, just a bit of knowledge about them is well enough.

What is the Job About?

You don’t apply for a job not knowing what the job is all about. It is foolishness in your part to apply for it. Before applying for the job position make sure you qualify for the requirements the company is asking for.

During the interview, the interviewer may it be the Human Resource Supervisor or the Employer will not just look at your credentials in your resume but also your personality as well. You must show the interviewer maturity, right attitude, and presentable appearance. It is important to make yourself presentable because you are offering your services to them and if they see you not well dressed they may think that you take their company for granted.

If you comply with what the company needs and they believe that you will be an asset to them in terms of productivity of their company. Automatically you will get hired and the very next day you can see yourself working in the company.

But if you see yourself not get hired, the answer lies in you; The Company doesn’t necessarily want you but you just don’t want to get hired, just as plain as simple as that.

Big Mistakes Job Seekers Commit

Mistakes happen, and even the best person has made faux-pas. After all, humans learn by experience, so a few errors helps us be better people in the end. One moment in your life that you don't want to be in a learning curve is when you're out looking for a job - a mistake during an interview or on your resume can cost you the chance of applying for a position you really want.

Never assume that simply applying for a job is enough. Because of mass communication and Internet resources, employers receive a record number of applications for every job. Sadly, employers even have to sort through many false applications sent in only to fulfill welfare programs. So it's important to let them know your application is a genuine application and that you want the job.

Employers have to carry out a lengthy screening process whenever they fill a position, so it is important to show your interest in the job by making contact with the employer through telephone, email, or, best of all, a personal meeting. Personal contact shows your genuine interest in the job available.

One major mistake many people make is lying about a past job if you left on bad terms. Potential employers seem to have a sixth sense about experiences that you glossed over or were dishonest about, so it's best to try and put a positive spin on resume blemishes. Show that you've learned something from the experience or play up important parts of the past job rather than trying to cover up a bitter relationship.

It is best to find a traditional way of phrasing your strengths, as buzzwords can be confusing. Another thing to avoid is the use of words that are too logistic and lack spark, which is the opposite of using too many overly hip or trendy words. You should keep these same rules in mind when writing cover letters also.

Strive to achieve a balance of professionalism and ease of reading when you write. Try to balance friendliness with professionalism when writing your resume or cover letter. Avoid using slang or buzzwords and focus on using appropriate tone, because the right tone will get results.

There are many more mistakes people tend to make when searching for a job or attending an interview meeting. Some of the worst errors are eating during an interview or making crude jokes about someone's race or gender. Of course, there are many small, subtle mistakes people make when job seeking as well, and those are often unconscious. So if you want an extensive list of what not to do when trying to land a job, look up the information on the internet.