Online Internet Marketing Strategies

In the last post, we explored the argument of the chicken and the egg with a discussion about which comes first - keywords or market research. As pointed out, the two do go hand in hand. Miss out on either at your peril.

While yesterday’s post (below) talks about finding what people buy first, let’s also give credit to the fact that more often than not, people come to the net to search for information (yes I’ll add it…) first. And, where do they head? Most likely a major search engine if they don’t have a favorite store in mind.

Keyword research is a must - that should go without saying. Obviously with well-researched keywords your website exponentially increases its chances of being ranked higher in the search engines. However, more often than not, we find that many people do not know where to start or even how to start.

The key is to find the right keywords. Our good friend, Vrecc, over at our most favorite Hubpages, has written his unique perspective on keyword research and given you a great tool (free!) to do it right.

Vrecc’s informational article, SEO Optimization and Keyword Research, implements SEOQuake (don’t worry he’s got the download link marked for you). But he doesn’t just leave it at that… you’ll also learn how to use it properly before the end of his article.

Here’s a quick exerpt to wet your appetite though we encourage you to read the entire article (never put the cart before the horse because this is not the “final” part of his article):

“The final step is to actually make a decision on whether or not a keyword or phrase is worth deliberately targeting. The answer depends on your ability to build incoming links into that page. The main way I build links is to write articles and post them to directories. The articles contain a link back to the page I’m targeting. I can get as many links as I can write articles. If I’m willing to write 20 articles then I can get 20 links. It doesn’t really count if someone syndicates my article and puts it on their website with my link in it. Google is likely only to count the link from the article directory. Another great way to get backlinks is social bookmarking. I’ve seen several hubs on this topic. You will find them with a quick search.”

Enjoy!

If you found this post and our “pointers” to great information useful, please take the time to leave your comments below. We appreciate your time and effort!

A recent post on the Nichebot Keyword Research blog makes the assumption that too many people rely strictly on keyword research to begin figuring out what niche they would like to develop to make money online.

We agree with the overall presentation that one should not use keywords as the starting point to building an online business. Instead, your keyword research is conducted to further enhance search-ability for that particular segment or niche after you’ve determined your market. While keyword research is a mainstay for developing tags, metas, titles, and content on your website, as stated, it is a tool used to uncover what people are searching for.

On the other hand, to reveal what people are buying online, you need to use “market research” tools. The article goes on to give you some solid starting points which include:

To Uncover Hot Selling Products

Head to eBay and click on their BUY tab. You’ll know in a flash what people are purchasing. The “Popular Products” is another link resource to ferret out even more information.

Amazon is, of course, another place to go to see who’s buying what. The idea, keep in mind, is you are trying to figure out what niche you could likely corner based on what people are physically buying.

Where to Find Popular Digital Products

A good solid source for information about popular digital products is Clickbank’s Marketplace. You’ll be able to set specific criteria and pull up what’s popular based on criteria you set.

In fact, Clickbank suggests the following:

“How do I identify the most successful products to promote?”

“Some affiliates prefer to promote very popular products that attract lots of affiliates (high affiliate gravity), while others prefer to promote products with less advertising exposure (lower affiliate gravity). The Marketplace can be sorted, within each category and sub-category, by item gravity. Either way, your best bet is to promote products that are well presented and likely to appeal to the people who visit your website, or view your advertisements.”

Competition

The final section of their post discusses the dreaded word “competition!” Many people fear competition and so never make a choice of what to plunge into online. If you read the article, you will discover that:

“There is NO reason to feel that way. In fact, you should get excited when there is a lot of competition. Here’s why…

“If there is no competition whatsoever in a marketplace, there may be no marketplace (or people to market to) at all. You should actually be worried if you don’t find any competitors for a market you wish to enter.

“The more competition there is in a marketplace, the more commerce is being moved. The more commerce that is being moved, you’ll have a chance at grabbing a bigger piece of the pie.”

We give this informational article a thumbs up for clarifying a business builder’s first steps, and again we have only presented an outline of the full post.

You can read it for yourself here:

“Market Research (or finding a profitable niche market) has Nothing to do with Keyword Research”

Enjoy!

More wonders of the internet surface on a daily basis - heck almost by the hour! - and here’s a great resource to share (assuming you’re not ahead of us and already know about it).

Peopleized is a social circle where not only can you share information about who you are, what you do, your website, etc., but it also provides full functions for interviewing people and/or being interviewed.

From past experience, with the right interviewer/interviewee arrangement, we know first hand the far-reaching affects of a great interview posted for others to read.

Our good friend, Mert Erkal (of SearchForBlogging) has a post from the tail end of 2007, that explains the process and more:

How to Make a Peopleized(.com) Interview

Mert states, “Get interviewed by people and let other people know more about you. Interviews show “behind the scenes” of you and your blog/site/project like never seen before. Meanwhile, you will make new friends, gain links to your site and spread your message.”

And, what could be easier than a quick way to link to the exact interview with the click of a button (and a bit of copy/paste). After your interview is done and up on Peopleized, at the top of every interview you’ll find ready-made code to insert wherever you’d like. This code will pull in the entire interview! Use this method for fresh content updates on your website or blog - and of course to spread the word about your own “I’m famous!” interview(s).

So how can you pass up the opportunity for more exposure at the perfect price… free! Just requires your time and a well thought out interview process.

Personal name branding at its finest!

Extra Note: The site looks fairly “new.” This would be an ideal situation to be involved and be in the forefront of a “new” social media.

Today’s post on social bookmarking can be found over at our favorite content sharing website, Hubpages.

Social Bookmarking: A Useless Tool or Clever Marketing Strategy?

After reading it, and we sincerely hope you will, please take a moment and share your thoughts, comments, input at both spots - hubpages and here below in our comment section.

Quick Reminder: One of the greatest benefits to social sharing sites like hubpages and our blog is your ability to voice your thoughts - and give yourself a nice link back to your own website

Knowledge, sharing, and marketing all in one fell swoop… it doesn’t get much better than that!

And as a P.S. of note, we’ve run across numerous excellent resources we’ll be sharing with you throughout the coming week(s). It’s amazing what you discover when you begin your journey around the (best) social communities on the net! In fact, we don’t even know where to begin having found “standalone” topics that do - in the long run - interrelate. Don’t worry though, we’ll figure it out

Again, we hope you enjoy our newest hub, please let us know (by voting and sharing on the hub itself and back here, too, everything counts as a marketing link for yourself!)

There’s never been a better time online to begin a blog then now. Obviously not a new concept, blogging (of late) has taken off like never before. Often starting a blog is a person’s first best bet to establish a presence online. We’ve actually come to blogging after years of website promotion (with blogging thrown in), but enjoy the ease with which you can create, update, and maintain a blog-like website.

Suggestions abound for which type of blog is best - but ultimately it comes down to what can you (currently) afford? Google’s Blogger is free, and without experience you can run it straight from their servers. With a bit of knowledge, and your fingers crossed (lol!) you can actually move your blogger to your own domain (I know people who successfully have done this, but I was not one of the fortunate, having to quickly return my first blogs to Google control).

Typepad, Moveable Type, and Wordpress are just a few of your other options and all make great choices when it comes to easily having a “website” without all the website potential headaches.

Today’s post actually is the result of a visit to Andy Beard’s marketing strategy post about TrafficJam, Blogrush, BlogCatalog and more.

The beauty is in the self-promotion for bloggers. There are just too many great places that (assuming your blog is your best work) will assist you in the promotion of said blog.

For affiliate marketers, who often just spend all their time and money promoting websites that are not theirs, starting a blog seems to us to be the logical first step in establishing your own website presence. From a blog, with the right mix of information, you can easily tell others about what else you are involved in out online. However, nothing beats “personal name branding” which blogging can, and most certainly does, do.

Consider starting your own “piece of the net” through blogging today.

Writing a press release just may be right up there with having all your teeth extracted in one go. We’re often asked if we write them, or conversely, if someone else is going to do their own, how to go about it.

Our upfront advice? Do not try doing this yourself, unless you are the rare exception and know the whole ins and outs of releasing information to the media.

That said, there also is nothing like going straight to the #1 source, in our book. So, if you’re interested in seeing if a press release is right for you, here are some quick links to all the information you need to know. By reading first you’ll help ensure your press release hits the airwaves with a bang (or decide this is not right for you):

Press Release Best Practices

Formatting Your Press Release

Press Release Template

Quick Tips for Effective News Releases

Editorial Guidelines

Yes, you’ll recognize the site when you get there we’re sure. And it would be safe to assume that the guidelines, tips, and tricks above for writing and releasing Press Releases would apply to any distribution source you might choose.

Again, it’s not easy writing one, and often spending the extra cash to have one professionally written for you is probably your best option. One thing to definitely remember is that a press release in and of itself must be “newsworthy.” This is not the place to try to pawn off some sleasy advertising (most likely it would not be approved anyway).

We would suggest when it comes time to submit your press release for distribution that you pay the extra bucks and have them (in this case PRWeb) distribute it immediately to Google and Yahoo! news feeds.

Should everyone do a press release? Our answer is no. Just because its out there doesn’t make it perfect for all occasions. Save press releases for grand openings, new product launches, new websites with unique twists.

Just our two cents.

To continue our discussion of Hubpages, this morning while wandering the halls of Hubs, I came across this excellent How I got my hub to be on Google’s first page by Hubber Mark Knowles.

Now before you rush off and think this is going to be a walk in the park, it’s not. But, it’s also completely do-able if you’re willing to dedicate a good chunk of your time … this week even … to making it happen.

Mark’s hub goes into details on why someone would dedicate themselves to the task of creating not just a hubpage, but a flagship hub. Good insights as to why and how this will work for you.

You might also check out another favorite hubber of mine, Lissie. Lissie has created a “how to” flagship hub. Also, since this one is a “flagship” you’ll also benefit by visualizing what your own end result will look like. You can read her indepth information here: How To Write a Flagship Hub.

Just keep in mind that sometimes (not always but most times) it’s best to “start small” and build. You will be participating in a social media site that prides itself on community. Taking the time to hobnob and get to know others is always your best first approach. Grab the Hubpages Guide, read it, and put it into practice.

Remember most likely you’ve got plans to be around online for a long time to come, and most strategies take time. Social media is an excellent avenue to pursue, if you do it wisely.

Today, surprisingly (or not so), in my inbox was a question from one of our brand new clients. While this individual was interested in getting involved in various internet marketing strategy “pieces,” it was evident on a visit to the website itself (and view sourcing the code), that starting at the beginning was where he needs to be - title tag inappropriate, no metas, etc. After replying in detail and giving him specific directions to begin, I headed out to the internet to chase down a video someone had asked me to take a look at.

To make a long story short (because the video had nothing to do with marketing strategies [or did it??]), somehow I ended up at eMediaWire. Which lead to a press release, which lead to this free pdf you can get right here, without all the rigmarole… Funny how things work sometimes…

So… here’s my take on this free internet marketing strategy resource:

Online Equalizer appears to be one of those “pieces of gold” in pdf format. It is written in such a way that everyone, novice to pro, will benefit from the information it contains.

One hundred and sixty six pages (which I have only skimmed for the moment but will be returning to after this post because several things have already caught my eye) bears all the hallmarks of being one of those “keeper” downloads you infrequently stumble upon.

Brandon Cornett begins his presentation with:

and that’s just the first 40 pages!

I’m not going to spoil this and tell you the end of the movie (so to speak), but on page 42 there’s an interesting way of looking at your writing and search engines. It actually goes against the grain of what many tell you and has to do with article writing. But again I won’t spoil it for you

Actually while typing I’m skimming through this free pdf, and am confident that while some of you reading may feel you are beyond this point, never, ever look a gift horse in the mouth. Since it is free, and you can

DOWNLOAD IT RIGHT NOW

see what areas you may be personally missing - or check it out for ways to glamorize what you currently have… you just never know when that “oh!” moment will arrive - this pdf could be one of those moments.

Again, I’m heading back into reading. Should, for some strange reason, I change my mind about Online Equalizer, I will be sure to let you know. But from what I’m seeing, and because of those we interact with daily, I truly believe you’ll find immense value inside. Hey, and remember, it’s FREE lol!

P.S. When you’re done, would you please remember to come back and leave your comments and input on this material? We would love to hear what you think!

Just could not resist making entire pages on nothing but Hubpages how-to information (see below for this YouTube software review).

We’ll be doing our own videos (or at least that’s the plan) but why reinvent what’s already out there in-plenty?

True putting one’s own style into video is always an excellent marketing strategy - one we will be trying our hand at in the near future and posting helpful suggestions, hints, and (free) resources to use to make your own business marketing videos.

In the meantime, enjoy some more “hub-ba!”

Everyone is buzzing about it - the magic “Web 2.0″ word is drawing people like bees to honey. But there’s one slight catch to the whole thing… there are so many of them, what to choose? Where to start? How to work them effectively so you get what you need without ticking a bunch of people off (which you really want to avoid!).

That’s where our suggestions come in handy. We’re actively using the resources we talk about on this blog. You’ll see down below (or off to the side) coverage we are giving to Facebook. Well here’s our next suggestions - Hubpages.com

BUT… before you rush off please finish reading this post. It will save you hours of work and, more importantly, your reputation online if you approach this (or any) social media website with the right mindset.

If you’re reading this blog (and we sincerely hope you are and telling others all about us, hint, hint), you’ll notice that versus posting an entire article here, we present a summary of what to expect and then send you out to hubpages to read the rest. It’s not laziness on our part, lol, but a really good marketing strategy that you, too, can benefit by using.

The really great part is that you don’t even need your own website to get started. If you do, great! If you don’t, don’t worry about it (though down the line you should plan to have at least a blog of your own).

You’ll first signup for a Hubpages account. From this one account, you create multiple “hubs” which are nothing more than a fancier way of saying “individual pages” under your one account. Yes, you can post numerous “hubs” from just one username login area. It’s great!

Which means you can write about ANYTHING that you’re imagination, and research, can dream up.

Each new hub gets a new name - typically it pulls from whatever title you’ve given your initial page. For instance, if we did an article about:

“How to Benefit From Using Hubpages”

the url would look like this (this is fictious)

/hubs/How-to-Benefit-From-Using-Hubpages

So you see hopefully right off the bat that placing your keyword into your title is a primary objective, right?

The idea with Hubpages is, after posting many (this will not work as a “do it once” strategy and should be avoided if you don’t plan to build multiple “hubs”), the search engines will pick up your hubs and create even more valuable backlinks to your hubpages and (ultimate) your website or blog.

Now versus reinventing the wheel, we’ve downloaded the nifty pdf that Hubpages provides to its users. You can:

Download the HubPages User Guide Here
Download and Read First!
It is highly recommended that you get this download first.
Read it through, it’s a clear step-by-step process guide, and then start
your own Hubpages hubs.
WORD OF CAUTION: This, nor any social media, is NOT the place to do blatant advertising! If you do, you will ruin your reputation in a heartbeat! Our suggestion is get the guide, read the guide, and then go travel around within Hubpages before doing anything. Get a feel for what’s what, who’s doing what, how they are doing it. Look for “high score” pages. You can bet these people understand the process and are working it properly.

In a recent issue of CNN Money, a question was posed as to how a gentleman with a brick and mortar (we’re assuming) computer business could actively market offline. The answer was short, but got us to thinking. Even those with “virtual” home businesses can, of course, benefit from obvious offline advertising (e.g., classified ads in one’s local newspaper). But, taking what we read a step further and there are ways to actively pursue telling others about your home (online) business more aggressively - and it doesn’t involve getting your Uncle Fred to sign up under you

To read the full article with suggestions, please head on over to our ever popular pages on Hubpages and be sure to rate it please

Taking Your Online Business Local

We’re sure once you consider the possibilities you’ll have many ideas of your own. Please remember to return here and/or comment in Hubpages and share your thoughts, ideas, and ways you are currently advertising offline that are having an impact (or things to avoid).

The world is large enough for all of us, and sharing builds your reputation as someone who others can trust. Please do comment!

Success online means building relationships and trust. We cover three major factors in our article posted on Hubpages.com, Building Credibility On the Road to Success (click to read the entire article, it opens in a new window).

Here’s a snippet from that article:

Building a profitable business online requires trust in order to succeed. Your potential clients need to see you as an authority in your field. There are a few ways when marketing online to accomplish this goal, but you first need to realize that your mission is not to sell right out of the gate.

This software is going to be incredibly easy to review since we’ve been using it off and on for the past month or more. When we first saw this software product, what caught our eye were the graphics representing the product on their sales page, as well as the stats for the transformer video pages example they use - very impressive since getting traffic can be a tricky thing for most of us.

In fact, it’s a great thing the graphics are visually appealing since, frankly, the grammar on the sales pages leaves a lot to be desired. Not so much English as a second language, but more like English is that writer’s third language, and he (or she) failed the first two miserably LOL!

Sorry, but it’s true.

So that said, we picked up the Master Resell Rights and away we went. You’ll see many examples when you check out the product (YouTube Video Website Generator if you’re in a hurry).

Here’s another sample site we put together this morning (just for this review):
Social Media YouTube Video webpages.

There’s only one frustrating part to this simple 5 step process that all takes place on your desktop before the system itself uploads it to your domain. While the process is super easy you do need to remember or have on hand two pieces of information (if you’re interested in monetizing the webpages) which are:

1. Your Google Adsense pub id #
2. Your Amazon affiliate id (end with a dash and number)

Oh, right, the frustrating part is really simple, too. Just remember when you make the folder (which you do before uploading the webpages) on your domain, that you CHMOD the folder to 755. You’ll drive yourself a bit crazy if you forget to do this step.

On the plus side, as you make the pages, you can (at the same time it is uploading) save a backup copy to a folder on your own computer. Very nice.

Another point to consider is that you will need to read through - and edit - the original sales letter if you intend to offer this product on your own domain. It’s nasty LOL and really needs your personalized touch. That’s fine, too. The original talks all about the reason why the creator made YouTube Video Generator in the first place, and his story would not make sense if you try to present it as your own (unless you have a son interested in Transformers!).

We give this software an A+ in terms of ease of use (again you have to have ftp access to a domain to even use it). An A for the videos it pulls together for you (you pick up to 8 keywords of your own for YouTube to search and display). We give only an A not because the generator is poor but because not all the videos going up on YouTube are worth displaying in the first place

We also give it thumbs up for its ability to be tailored. You can edit the templates yourself and make it feel more a part of your own site. We’re lazy though and just leave them “as is.” They are good-looking right “out of the box.”

To see more information about this software, YouTube Video Website Generator click here.

This is not your typical recommendation that will be going in this category, but it is sound advice, worth printing out and telling a friend, so here goes (and yes we’ve had to do this ourselves - the actions listed below… sigh):

ATTORNEY’S ADVICE - NO CHARGE

If you dislike attorneys… You will love them for these tips. Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company. (We personally have had to go through this when Diane’s husband’s wallet was stolen, what a nightmare… so be sure to also do the following to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know):

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘ PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.

3. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a P.O. Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a P.O. Box, use your work address. Never have your Social Security number printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary, but if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

5. Suggestion carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad.

6. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately, but the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

7. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one but don’t hold your breath, even the local police here said “yeah right”).

8. IMMEDIATELY call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. This, often, stops thieves dead in their tracks since your cards are now useless.

Here are quick links and phone numbers to contact if you’re wallet has been stolen. We were told you only have to contact one credit reporting bureau and that they, by law, must informed the others. The Social Security is a definite must do yourself:

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289

Social Security Administration (fraud hotline): 1-800-269-0271

And last, but not least, tell a friend about this post please.

In their February 8, 2008 edition of Webpronews, David A. Utter wonders if Social Network advertising is really as great as some would lead you to believe.

While we are great fans of Webpronews’ online reporting, we can’t help but wonder ourselves if they dug deep enough prior to making their Facebook post…

The demographics as presented by Utter are missing though he does go on and on about these types of communities belonging to college age kids. He also suggests that the potential for advertising your own business may not be that great if you’re not hobnobbing with the “younger crowd.”

Yes, Facebook, Myspace and the like may have started out as cool places for kids to go. However, this demographic is a-changin’.

Recent indications are that a large percentage of over 34’s are socializing and using these active communities. In fact a huge population is between the ages of 34 and 65. Don’t sound like a big of kids hanging out anymore… does it.

Still, not to slam Utter at all (we do enjoy his work and Webpronews), it is always best to research and test your own advertisements versus swallowing hook, line, and sinker any single person’s perception (ours included!).