Internet Marketing for 2007 - Affordable Efficiency
by Bonnie Davis
If you pay attention to online
marketing, you are
constantly inundated with people who sell the
so-called
"secrets" to brand new marketing techniques on
the
Internet. Each and every day you are bombarded with new
e-books,
teleseminars and software alleging to hold the
"secrets" of blog and
ping, or the "secrets" of the death
of Google Adsense or the "secrets"
of content is king for
Search Engines.
However, the truth of the matter in
nearly all cases is
that most of these products are expensive and
endorsed
solely by the gurus who get paid for every item they
sell.
Real testimonials are rare and the pressure you are under
to
purchase these products is enormous.
Let's make a two-fold pact for
2007:
One - We will not be swept away by all
the hype on the
Internet.
Two - We will primarily use tried and
tested, successful
Internet marketing techniques that won't cost us a
fortune
to use.
To help you off to the right start in
launching your own
cost-effective marketing strategy for 2007, I want
to share
some valuable ideas that I've used to grow my own
business.
These marketing concepts are genuinely affordable,
truly
simple to implement and have honestly helped me gain
generous
exposure, which has resulted in new clients and
increased sales. My top
fifteen favorite effective and
inexpensive Internet marketing tactics
are listed below:
1. Article submissions to online
e-zines, directories and
newsgroups, and off-line magazines and
newspapers (don't
worry about the duplicate content issues ... just get
as
many one-way links to your site as possible to boost your
Search
Engine ranking). Writing and submitting free reprint
articles is a
resourceful way to generate increased
exposure and will drive traffic
to your web site.
2. Create and market your own
affiliate program using low
cost tools on the Internet, which
incidentally, there are
numerous tools on the web that are very
affordable. Offer
affiliates your articles for reprint and allow them
to use
their affiliate link in your byline. But don't stop there
...
submit your program to affiliate program directories so
that prospects
can find it readily.
3. Write and submit press releases to
both paid and free
press release sites. Let your target audience know
about
your company, new products and services you're offering
and
also about special company events or promotions. If
you're
concerned that perhaps your writing talents are a bit
rough
yet, hire a ghostwriter to draft your release for you.
And
yes, there are many talented, professional writers who work
on a
freelance basis and accept both one-time and ongoing
projects at an
affordable rate.
4. Register with and actively
participate in forums that
target your ideal client or customer. Check
in at least
once a week and offer helpful advice to other
forum
participants seeking assistance and information in your
area
of expertise. Be sure to craft and use a compelling
signature that will
get added to your posts. With just a
small investment of your time, you
can establish yourself
as an expert within your industry, which can
result in
generous exposure.
5. Offer legitimate comments and
articles to blog owners
who cover your topic area and target your
audience. Create
solid and productive relationships, offering to make
blog
postings for them in return for a byline with a live link
to
your site. The fact that you're willing to offer blog
owners something
of value upfront will make them eager to
reciprocate.
6. List your teleseminars, e-zines,
live events and books
on Craigslist in cities and sections that have
appeal for
your target audience. Sign-in and repost your listings on
a
regular basis to keep them current.
7. Research opportunities to be a
guest on teleseminars,
podcasts and webinars. You'll be pleasantly
surprised at
the number of opportunities available if you simply
take
the time to look for them. Keep a list of questions
and
potential topics ready for your pitch. Keep track of your
guest
appearances and promote them on your web site.
8. Actively participate in online
social networks such as
MySpace, Ryze and LinkedIn. Write compelling
copy for your
profile and be sure to have a good picture and logo to
add
where permitted. Including your photo allows people to feel
a
connection to you, simply because they can put a face to
your
name.
9. Join and participate in
associations and non-profits
that attract your perfect client. Find
relevant
associations by searching for your keyword + association
in
search engines and visit the American Society of
Association
Executives. Involvement in organizations such
as this, as well as local
civic organizations, offers
valuable networking
opportunities.
10. Place paid advertisements in
e-zines that target your
audience. If possible, purchase the
advertisement when the
publisher is running one of your articles in
order to gain
maximum exposure with this strategy. There are three
types
of common advertisements available in e-zines:
classified,
sponsor and solo. Chose the most inexpensive position
with
the greatest exposure.
11. Write or hire a ghostwriter to
create a short e-course
that you can give away so long as people
provide you with
their e-mail address. Make certain that your e-course
is
relevant to your target audience and not full of fluff
and
fillers. By offering solid value in your e-course, you
can
benefit from readers who take notice of your other
work/articles
and will often seek out additional work
you've written. Be sure to
include a privacy policy and
notify those who give you their e-mail
address that they
will be subscribed to your e-zine.
12. Downloadable white papers are
usually longer versions
of articles and often include graphics and
links to
resources. As with your e-course require people who
want
the white paper to register for your e-zine. Encourage
people
to send the registration link to their colleagues,
friends and family
who share a similar interest.
13. Create your own blog, update at
least every other day
and include links to your web sites. Ping blog
directories
and Search Engines every time you make a post
for
verification that your blog is turning up results.
14. Sponsor contests and submit them
to contest
directories. Give away a book a month or an hour of
your
services and encourage people to register for your e-zine.
If
your business involves selling a product rather than a
service, you can
offer specific products for prizes with
contest entry automatic when
people signup for your e-zine.
Be creative with your contests, but
always make the winning
prize something of value that is relevant to
your business.
15. Testimonials and referrals can be
obtained from the
same people. Offer to include a picture with
testimonials
and a live link to your client's web site. This strategy
is
a win-win marketing tactic for both you and your client.
No
satisfied client would refuse such an opportunity! Instead
of
e-mailing referrals send a professionally written letter
via postal
mail with some of your most popular articles and
invite recipients to
call you for a free fifteen minute
consultation.
There are dozens of free marketing
techniques in the online
and off-line world. These fifteen are not the
only ones I
use but they are my absolute favorites and have been
used
successfully by thousands of people, including Internet
gurus.
Don't fall for every new marketing scheme; instead,
spend your money
selectively on marketing products. If you
are pressed for time hire a
virtual assistant to handle the
free and low cost marketing techniques
listed here and
carve out some time in your schedule every month
to
research and evaluate new techniques.
Happy Marketing!
© 2007, Davis Virtual Assistance.
Reprint rights granted so
long as byline and article are reprinted
intact with all
links made live.
About this author
Bonnie Jo Davis is a prolific writer
and expert article
marketer. Subscribe to her no-cost, monthly
e-zine
"Articles That Sell Update" and receive this article as
a
whitepaper with live links to resources for all 15
techniques.
Visit http://www.ArticlesThatSell.com today!
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** 2nd
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Real Search Engine Optimization Link Baiting
Stoney deGeyter
There has been a lot of talk recently
about
linkbait, the new SEO buzzword for doing something that
makes
generates a lot of links to your website. Jim
Westergren has a great
list of things that make for great
linkbait to your site:
* Build a useful tool
* Make a valuable resource (lists, special reports,
history of, how to, etc.)
* Write an interesting article
* Run a newsworthy ‘event’ such as a contest
* Test something new that has not been done before
* Be
the first in doing something on the internet
* Write something controversial
* Be the first to write the latest news in your niche
* Be the first to expose a scammer
* Disagree with an authority
* Write some funny humor
* Make an interesting picture
* Be the first to research and document something
* Make a theme, plugin or piece of software
* Make a tool that others can put on their sites but that
links to you
* Make a joke about a known person
* Make a resource that is just in time for a major event
* Write an outrageous theory and back it up with logics
* Write useful comments on something that is happening
* Give something valuable for free
* Coin a new acronym in your niche and get people to talk
about it
* Become an expert in your niche and write valuable
information
Link baiting can be so effective that some SEOs are
now
offering specific link baiting services or are integrating
link
baiting services as part of their SEO campaigns. That
sounds like a
great SEO “strategy” but the more I
considered this, the more I
realized that linkbaiting is
really already part of a search
engine
optimization/marketing campaign, or at least it should be.
Shouldn’t a well developed website with lots of
great
information already be it’s own linkbait? Isn’t the
SEO
Marketer’s job to make the site more appealing to both
search
engines and site visitors alike? Good sites that
provide valuable
information and/or services get links. It
almost seems that linkbaiting
for the purposes of getting
links (as opposed to helping a company
bring in targeted
traffic) is a sham. Or is it? Are there valuable
reasons to
strive for links and links alone, even when the links
by
themselves don’t help with the actual marketing of a site?
When you boil it down, link baiting is really similar
to
the job of a publicist. A publicist is supposed to manage
an
individual’s or company’s public presence (also a form
of public
relations). A publicist’s job is to get exposure
and build branding.
Tactis provide by this type of service
may not have any immediate
returns in regards to sales, but
we all know that branding can play a
significant role in
long-term sales.
In the SEO industry, web tools, such as our
CodeMonitor
tool, are often used as linkbait. These web tools are
often
used by industry insiders and therefore have
absolutely
nothing to do with getting more sales. So why spend
the
money in the tool development? Because good tools get
links,
links create exposure, and exposure drives traffic
and traffic brings
targeted visitors who may purchase the
services, which does equal
sales. In a round about way,
linkbait such as this can have a
significant effect.
Linkbating has a role within SEO, but it should already
be
considered as part of the Marketing side of the SEO
campaign.
While the SEO Marketers are looking for ways to
improve conversions,
they should also be thinking about how
to “linkbait” others into
linking to their site. It might
be a one-time only thing, or maybe they
can come up with a
significant linkbait every few months, but either
way,
doing what any good marketer does should be a form of
linkbait
in itself.
tools, marketing resources, advertising ideas and
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