7 Common Myths About Internet Marketing!

Internet marketing, also known as online marketing is a form of advertising using the internet. It includes marketing efforts to reach current and potential customers or stakeholders via search engine optimization, search engine marketing, email marketing, affiliate marketing, social media marketing, etc. 

Internet marketing campaigns are conducted in conjunction with traditional promotional activities like newspaper ads, TV/radio commercials, telemarketing and so on. I think you have a reasonable idea about online marketing practices, and in this post I’ll tell you about some common myths about this.

Myth 1: Internet Marketing is Only for Geeks
Well, a certain level of knowledge is a must for any task in the world. The same is applicable for internet marketing too. But it doesn’t mean that you need to be a ‘geek’ to start your web campaigns. Rather you could take off after learning the basic ideas and channels. 

Determine your goal and prepare a budget. There are tons of articles and resources to help you learn online marketing.

Myth 2: Google is the Only Destination
Many people believe that their website should be designed especially for Google because it is the most popular search engine. But do you know Google changes its algorithm regularly? 

So will you keep designing and redesigning your website? And even how could you figure out every change in Google? So, follow a standard, but don’t forget to evaluate your other options.

Myth 3: SEO is dead
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a vast thing which is implemented by focusing on keywords, phrases and overall content formation on a website. Search engine result listings are influenced by these factors. 

Although the approach of performing SEO is subject to change over the period of time, but you can never say that it is dead. Rather follow the updated search engine guidelines to stay relevant.

Myth 4: Online Marketing is Expensive
No, online marketing is not that much costly as it might sound. You can create a social media page for free. A website will cost a particular amount yearly. You could reach your target audience without spending money in ads, although a limited scale. 

Still there are options to promote your products online at attractive prices. For an example, Facebook allows promoting links or posts for as less as $1 a day which can reach more or less 4-5K audience.

Myth 5: ‘Viral’ is the Ultimate Goal
Many people think that viral contents on social media is the ultimate goal of a campaign. But this is not true. Your ultimate goal should be earning profit by selling your goods/services. So take care of return-on-investment instead of counting post likes.

Myth 6: Social Media Doesn’t Pay Off
Still there are some folks and businesses who believe that social media is just about uploading vacation selfies and chatting with friends. They don’t realize the power of a tweet/status update while you can effectively attract your stakeholders’ attention using social networks.

Myth 7: A Huge Traffic is required to be Profitable
There is no doubt that a larger number of visitors make a greater chance to have a sale. But you need ‘quality traffic’ from those people who want to purchase from you. So just don’t plan your campaigns to drive traffic, try to reach the stakeholders too.

Internet marketing is a massive thing with a span as big as the web itself. So study, learn and make the best use of this strategy. You can find our collection of tips and tricks here. Thank you.

http://socialbarrel.com/7-common-myths-about-internet-marketing/98253/

Merging Your Business Processes with Online Marketing!

If you want to survive and thrive as a company in the modern business landscape, you must incorporate yourself into the online world. Everything from marketing to sales conversions is happening online. 

The generation of people who have grown up on computer technology are becoming employed and having expendable income.

If you have yet to truly merge your business with the Internet, here are some of the most important ways in which you must do so.

Online Marketing
85% of all new business is done through the major search engines Google, Yahoo, and Bing. If you do not have a presence on these platforms, then you are missing out on tens of thousands of dollars that you do not even know that you are missing.

It is actually much easier than ever to get started on the major search engines, direct marketing, and in other online marketing forms. As a matter fact, there is a good chance that Google already has your business marked if you are registered with the state with a storefront. 

In many cases, all that business owners have to do is claim their listing. Take a look at Google Places in order to find out if your name and address have already been registered with the search engine.

The mobile environment is also doing more business than ever before. You must have a responsive website that gives Apple and Android users the ability to find you easily. 

The new Millennial generation that everyone is aiming their marketing at does not sit and watch TV. They find new companies over their mobile phones.

Online PR
If you have service customers in your area, odds are that you probably already have a review of your business up on a website like Yelp or Foursquare. Even if you do not plan to engage with these websites regularly, this is still a great way to find out exactly what people think of your business. 

Review sites are the new word-of-mouth. People are actually becoming quite well-known for dropping reviews of businesses in real time as they patronize them.

Social media is also a great way to get the word out about your business. If you have any social media profile such as Facebook or Twitter, then you can start a conversation with your customers that can give you inside information about how you are perceived. In the past, this kind of service had to be outsourced to a focus group company and could cost thousands of dollars. 

Today, the information is given freely by people online. It is simply good business to go and find this information in order to use it for the benefit of your business.

Online Competition
If your storefront has experienced a drop in foot traffic lately, you may be receiving competition from companies that you did not even know were in existence. Many businesses today have online only existences that create a much more convenient solution for customers. 

However, you will not know this unless you look online to see where your customers are and what they are looking for.

You can easily find local competition using a localized search on any of the major search engines. Google is the most often used service. It is also generally the most expansive, regularly pinging government roles in order to find out who is creating a new business.

Maximizing Your Online Footprint
You may not be the best at navigating the online world at first – it can be quite technically in-depth. You have customers that you need to tend to today – learning a new skill may not be in your time frame. 

However, there are plenty of solutions that can help you to create an online presence without spending a great deal of time on it. Workflow software such as BPM Software will help you to organize your online marketing, PR and logistical efforts without having to waste the working day on it.

https://tech.co/business-online-marketing-2015-04

5 Online Marketing Shortcuts That Will Fast Track Your Success Online!

If you’ve just started learning the nuts and bolts of online marketing, you can’t expect to get the same results that seasoned marketers in the industry are enjoying.

Just like all the marketers who have succeeded, you’ll have to go through a season of dry spell where people will barely respond to your marketing efforts. These are the times when no matter what kind of marketing strategy you’ll use, and no matter how huge the amount you’ll spend, the number of visits, clicks, or sales you’ll get will still be miserably minute to what you were expecting.

It really is frustrating, isn’t it? But often times, due to your lack of experience and know how, you can’t help but fall for the “not so obvious” pitfalls that other newbie or budding marketers are falling for.

Unless, of course… someone will share with you some online marketing shortcuts that are proven and tested to work!

If that’s exactly what you’re hoping to learn by reading this guide, then you’re definitely in the right place. Today, I’ll share with you the online marketing strategies that I’ve used in the past (and am still currently using right now) that’s helped me garner better results from my marketing efforts.

Let’s get started.

1) Add “share triggers” in your content

As you can probably imagine, share triggers are elements that you add in your content that will make people want to share it.

I’m talking about…
1.Content lockers
2.Tweetable lines
3.Quoting other personalities
4.Memes
5.Adding other people’s articles on your “Related articles” section

The list I shared above is far from being complete. But integrating a couple of these on your post alone can prove to be quite powerful as far as helping you garner organic links, traffic, and even leads (among many others).

Important tip – In terms of getting social shares, I’ve been getting really great results with using content lockers. If you aren’t familiar with it, you can check out my post on How Spending 1 Hour Per Day In Linkedin Got me 3 Clients in Less Than a Month, to see how I’ve locked one of my most powerful Linkedin outreach templates that has helped me get more clients from the platform.

2) Send your traffic to your testimonial / success stories page

Instead of using your homepage as your landing page, use your testimonial or success stories page as your landing page instead.

The fact is, no matter how amazing your website’s graphics are, and how neatly laid out your home page may be, your customers aren’t really interested in any of those.

All they’re interested in is whether you can solve their problems, and whether or not you (or your business) are a credible entity to work with. Of course, your testimonial or success stories page can address both of these issues.

If your visitors can see how successful you are at what you’re doing, you’d have already won half of the battle. You’ll be on a very strategic position to pitch them your services and ultimately close the deal.

A good example is how malmanlaw.com crafted their legal case results page. You’ll notice how they’ve been quite generous at the successful case results they’ve shared on their page. The fact that their free case evaluation form is also quite prominent in the upper right corner of the page makes it easier for their prospect customers to inquire about their services.

3) Leverage on your existing customers. Capitalize on repeat business.

In most cases, the cost of acquiring new customers is about 6 – 8 times more than it would for you to sell to an existing one.

That’s quite expensive, isn’t it?

It’s exactly because of this that you need to get as much mileage as you can from your existing customers. Of course, you do that by capitalizing on repeat business.

Here are some of the methods you can use to invoke your existing customers to order from you again.
1.Give them a free trial.
2.Run contests.
3.Include them in your email newsletters.
4.Include them in webinars on how your new product can help them.

Here are additional resources where you can learn about repeat business.
1.Getting the Most from a Client – PRmediaonline.com
2.Plan for Repeat Business – Entrepreneur.com
3.How to Get Customers to Come Back – Foxbusiness.com

4) Focus on creating epic content versus publishing a mediocre 500 word article

If you really truly want to provide massive value to your readers, then you’ll want your blog post to be as comprehensive as it can be.

However, you need to remember that your content’s length won’t do you any good if you’re just blabbering. That said, don’t just increase your article’s length for the sake of making it lengthy. Your goal should be to solve as much problems as you can, and be as clear as you can be in giving instructions.

TL;DR – Don’t make it fluffy. Focus on solving your readers problems.

According to Neil Patel of Quicksprout.com, the average number of web pages ranking number 1 in Google’s search results have at least 2,000 words of text. That in itself should be a powerful enough incentive for you to go for the lengthy epic posts that we’re talking about.

5) Build relationships with other influencers online

A common misconception that newbie or budding marketers have about building relationships with influencers is that it’s an impossible task to accomplish. While there is certainly some truth to that, it isn’t 100% correct either.

There is a way for influencers to notice you and actually participate in whatever activity you want to have them to be involved with.

How do you do that, you might ask? Simple. Just reach out to them. You’ll be amazed at how some of them will reply to you like you’re one of their close friends. I have found a lot of these influencers to be quite friendly when they replied to my outreach message. I once reached out to Pat Flynn and Neil Patel and they were very personable.

To increase the chances of them replying to you, I need you to consider these 3 things.
1.These people are very busy. So make your outreach email short and crisp. Keep it at 100 words or less and state clearly what it is that you need.
2.You need to look for the place or platform that they frequent on. If you see them constantly posting on Twitter, then you ought to reach out to them using that platform. Remember. Sometimes, their website’s “Contact us” page isn’t the best place to connect with them.
3.Be sure to include in your outreach message the benefits that they can get from helping you. Answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” should always be addressed one way or the other when you reach out to them.

An article published by Ann Smarty at SeachEngineJournal.com on How to Build Relationships With Influencers Through Content is also a good resource to learn more about the strategy.

Conclusion
I myself am a firm believer that experience is in fact the best teacher. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through unnecessary failures just to achieve success on your online marketing endeavors.

If you’ll take the time to learn from other people’s experience and apply your learning to your own circumstances, then you’ll be able to avoid the unnecessary pitfalls that you would have gone through if you didn’t take the time to learn from others. Learning from others will serve as your shortcut to achieving the success you’ve been looking for online

http://guildofbloggers.com/5-online-marketing-shortcuts-that-will-fast-track-your-success-online/

Smart Business Advice – Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Mobile!

We’re currently at that point we were warned about only last year: mobile penetration has surpassed the general Internet market penetration. With 3649 billion unique mobile users and a 51% market penetration, there are only 3010 billion active Internet users representing 42% of the market.

To be honest, we all knew this even though we might not have had the numbers because we’re driving this trend day-by-day.

Combined, mobile phones and tablets now account for 38% of Internet traffic around the world, whereas laptops and desktops saw a 13% decline in share of web traffic compared to the same period last year, down to 62% of all web pages served, according to this report from ‘we are social’.

By next year, eMarketer estimates that there will be more than 2 billion smartphone users worldwide.

Now as a business person, you should immediately put these figures into perspective and try to figure out what that means for your digital marketing strategy.

Your prospects are using mobile devices to fulfill their online goals ‐‐ whether your content is designed for them or not. If they don’t find what they want, their visits will be short and they’ll surely go to one of your competitors.

It all adds up to mobile optimization and innovation.

1/ What does this mean for your online presence?
Following the inbound methodology, one of the most important aspects of having an online presence is to be easily found by your prospects. You want them to search for you, your product or service or for related content that you’re currently blogging about.

Now, you first have to make sure that you’re easily found. Google’s ranking algorithm favors mobile-optimized websites when displaying search results for mobile users. If you want to be easily found, you have to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly so that Google recognizes as a qualitative result to your prospect’s query.

Take Evernote, for example. Their homepage has a clean design, the value statements are short and to-the-point, and the images add to the positioning but don’t clutter the page. As this HubSpot analysis points out, when you look at their mobile website, they’ve kept this design and style entirely intact. Their mobile website is clean, simple, and doesn’t detract at all from the value of the app.

Secondly, when the user gets to your website, they need to have a seamless experience that enables them to consume your content. Mobile users are usually time-poor so you can’t afford to waste their time, now more than ever. What they want is to accomplish a certain task on your website and your job is to make sure that they identify and complete their task as swiftly as possible. Optimize your online presence for simplicity; that will make it less likely for the mobile user to get disengaged and leave your website.

Another piece of advice? Test, test, test. After a while, test again.

2. What about advertising?
If your digital marketing strategy also includes advertising, mobile can be your best friend. According to eMarketer, mobile ad spending is on a tear. It’s expected to surpass $100 billion in 2016 and account for more than 50 percent of all digital ads for the first time.

Make sure:
•You have a mobile friendly site (either a separate mobile site, or responsive web design);
•Your desktop site does not include flash when served on a tablet device;
•Your paid search is optimized for mobile;
•Your paid search link pushes through to an optimized site;
•Your  paid search creative included a mobile ad extension;
•That paid search creative had been tailored for mobile.

3. Mobile = apps, right?
Right. Currently, in the US alone, 52% of digital time is spent in apps. If your business has its own mobile app, the majority of your efforts should be spent in developing and improving it for the best experience you could possibly offer our user.

UX is king in the mobile world. One important UX trend that you should be especially aware of is deeplinking. Imagine the web without URLs – that’s the app environment right now. To solve this problem and follow browsing UX, deeplinking allows you to go to a specific part, page or state of a mobile app. So it’s URL building for apps, allowing your prospect to consume your content and any content you might be referencing, using the apps that they already have installed.

4. Mobile is not isolated – it’s part of an overall strategy
A mobile marketing strategy cannot succeed on its own. It has to be integrated with other channels and tactics in a cross-platform strategy that delivers tangible business results.

You need a well-planned strategy if you want to avoid wasting money and possibly damaging your brand in an uncoordinated attempt to focus on mobile. As part of your overall mobile strategy, mobile will have to integrate with your buyer’s journey, aiming to achieve specific goals.

Technology’s growth is exponential. That means you have to adapt faster than ever before in order to reach your audience and achieve your business potential. Hopefully this article gave you a useful insight into how you should orientate your efforts on mobile, as part of your overall digital marketing strategy.

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/smart-business-advice-optimize-digital-marketing-mobile-01206809

Increase The Effectiveness Of Your Internet Marketing With These Great Tips!

Internet marketing is a great way to increase business profitability. An advantage to Internet marketing is the greater volume of potential customers you can market to. Internet marketing can be tricky, though. This article will give you some valuable tips. 

A flashy website might look pretty, but try not to make it too distracting. You only have a few seconds to engage your potential customer and give them a reason to stay on your site. If you can’t cement their interest in that period, they will more than likely move on.

Internet marketing isn’t just about advertising. It is about solving problems with the best solutions. When you start your day, create a list of questions that need answering. If you can assist users with their issues they will end up making a purchase from you and referring you to friends.

Solicit feedback whenever possible. This plays a role in how successful your business is. Accept feedback from your family, clients or peers. Use their advice to improve your website.

Provide something that is unique to your site and focused on a niche market. Advertise it heavily to attract customers to your site. The customer will look at other things you have to offer, this will make your site legitimate and give you a higher rank.

Do not overlook direct marketing as a streamlined complement to your Internet marketing system. Reach out to your potential and existing customers with traditional methods, such as telephone or fax. Also, take a look at your yellow pages and phone books to acquire available information.

Here is a tip for internet marketing! Be very clear with your customers that their information is completely safe with you. You can do this by placing a privacy policy on the top right part of the page. 

Doing this will reassure your customers that the money they spend will be handled with care. When they purchase from you, however, ensure that you follow through and protect their details properly from hackers.

Post images and video relevant to your business to increase interest in your website. Putting videos on your page or blog will grab the attention of customers. An interesting title and a unique picture will grab the attention of potential clients and possibly produce sales.

After reading this article, you should have a good grasp on ideas that will help you improve your internet business. Now, you just need to apply them to your business. 

One approach won’t fit all, so make sure to stay flexible and make adjustments if necessary. Set learning into perpetual motion and be fearless in your pursuit of success.

http://bubblebird.info/2015/04/13/increase-the-effectiveness-of-your-internet-marketing-with-these-great-tips/

How Often & Regularly Should I Be Writing Content Marketing Articles?

It is a fine balancing act to know how often to update your website or blog and news section without over burdening your company resources.

Some people think that updating your blog section on your website on a daily basis is much better than adding a quality article, say once a week for example. We couldn’t disagree more with this idea!

 

We think it is very important to add work and content to your website that is unique, and offers insight into what your business is about. This work should therefore be carefully written and will take time to produce.

We like to guide our readers, to the best places to get further information to help your SEO project, why not read this great article on Search Engine Land about Content Marketing done right.

We think it is much better to write a quality article that is unique and offers an excellent user experience- as opposed to adding generic content on a daily basis, with any old rubbish written!

We think by adding content on a daily basis, you’re putting your business on a treadmill that many small businesses can’t keep up with over the long term.

So don’t compete with rubbish, add really valuable, resources or guides, and give away free information, this will attract an interested target audience, this is all good for SEO!

Of course it depends on your businesses resources, in terms of how often you can update your websites blog section or news articles for example.

But you should really think of any free time you have, and make a date each week to update your sites blog or news section.

The more high-quality work the better, after all your competition will be doing it so it is a battle for who can offer the best user experience, and in today’s SEO age that’s through Content Marketing.

This article has been designed for small businesses in mind, so we would therefore say it is more important to write a quality article say once a week, if you have a small amount of resources rather than task somebody with updating it on a daily basis.

And a top tip, don’t let someone go too much off topic, write about your business, whats happening in your business, or changes that are impacting your business directly.

In our view, off topic content marketing is a waste of time, yet of course to every rule in SEO there are exceptions, that can instead make an idea work to their companies advantage.

http://www.ryan-c-walsh-onlinemarketing-seo.co.uk/how-often-and-regularly-should-i-be-writing-content-marketing-articles/

3 Reasons Digital Video Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Strategy!

Online video is undergoing a revolution. Are you prepared? Read on for important facts every marketer should know. 

Digital video is complementing traditional TV in a measurable way
The days (and mindset) of "digital video vs. traditional video" are fading away. The industry looks at analytics to support opinions, and the fact is that there's no competition between the two. 

In fact, the opposite is the reality. Digital video is proving to be a complement, rather than the enemy, for reaching the maximum amount of viewers. Marketers are coordinating their TV buys with digital video and are finding huge success. 

When you coordinate the two, your cost-per-point goes down significantly and your reach increases dramatically.

Mobile video advertising will be soon standardized
Mobile is the finest delivery platform for digital video. Like display, it's gone through many iterations of standardization. 

It seems everyone has their own best practices for digital video delivery. Specifications will soon be the same across the board as programmatic video continues to explode. This popular delivery method is forcing standards in order to optimize buys and reduce technical issues.

More premium inventory is coming online
Programmatic video has the same perception challenge as programmatic display. Many marketers believe that inventory is remnant and low-quality. 

This is not true. In fact, since video is the most engaging media format and the various ways to expose it to audiences are only increasing, the quality of online video is going through the roof. Ads are shorter, slicker, and better produced than ever before.

Guy Yalif, VP of global marketing for BrightRoll speaks with iMedia at the 2015 Clorox iConnect conference about why these reasons all spell one thing: a bright future for digital video, especially in the programmatic space.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/38381.asp