Monday, March 29, 2010

Social Media Marketing Mistakes Practices That Should be Avoided

First let me be clear. This list of Social Media marketing tips and techniques that should be avoided doesn't apply to everyone. In fact, it probably directly involves very few businesses and online marketers. However, if you've spent enough time on Twitter, Facebook, or any Social Media platform as I have. Largely due to the fact I own an SEO Social Media marketing and market research firm. You've experienced first hand many of the practices I'm going to outline below. Practices that amount to anti-social Media or even worse. If not, you will soon enough.

Practice number 1- The link of no escape.

Nothing is more annoying than clicking on a link to an article that sounds promising only to find that it contains capture coding. Screen after screen asking "are you sure you want to discontinue? Click Yes to leave page or No to remain." This is like inviting people to dinner at your home and then giving them a bill before they leave! It's annoying, it's bad public relations and it creates an air of desperation. If you're content is so good, why do you need to force people to stay?

Practice number 2- The Pop-up ad that can't be popped.

Very similar to practice 2. However, instead of making you jump through multiple screen hoops you end up with multiple pop-up ads or videos that just keep multiplying. Do people actually think that if you didn't like the first pop-up that you'll change your mind by the second or third replicate? Where's a digital dart when you need it!

Practice number 3- Affiliate Marketing bait and switch:

Okay, so it's been established that you can make a living off affiliate marketing. I think that's great. However, please don't disguise your attempt to sell an affiliate marketing program by using a misleading headline. Trust in your product or service, because if you don't, what makes you think other people will?

Practice number 4- Lofty promises that amount to do what I say but not what I do.

Again, if you've spent any amount of time on Facebook, Twitter, or any social media platform you will have witnessed this phenomenon. A recent example, and this isn't a direct knock on the product or service, was an article that promised 1,000-100,000 Twitter or Facebook followers for a fee. First of all, the organization making this offer didn't have anywhere near even 25,000 followers by a long shot. Which raises the question- If it's not good enough for them why should it be good enough for anyone else?
Practice number 5- Un-intellectual property theft.

This might be my favorite for personal reasons. You're surfing along Twitter, Facebook, or reading a Blog. And lo and behold. You find an article that you published that's been:

A- Plagiarized word for word.

B- Copied almost in it's entirety with the exception of a few paraphrases with no credits.

C- Quoted, given credit to you as the source, but then paraphrased incorrectly. And not only incorrectly. But in a manner that totally distorts the original article and can actually harm your business's reputation!

I've got news for the above companies and individuals. Eventually your attempts to gain traffic at the expense of other people's articles or material is going to backfire. Especially when the party you offend reports to Google's TOS violation team and other Internet monitoring entities.

All of the above have one thing in common. They are short term solutions to longer term and much more prosperous ways of doing business. Oh yeah, and they also fail to embrace the essence of Social Media Marketing. Which is sharing, caring, interactivity, viral marketing, expediency and real time results.



Sources : http://www.jazzou.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=526

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

4 Tips to Profit from Niche Marketing

In 2009, the total number of available transaction sides per agent increased by a whopping 13%. This is the largest recorded gain in over 25 years. Simply put, there is still a lot of business to be had and a lot fewer agents going after it. Successful agents have embraced the change and are already profiting. The current marketplace is full of challenges but it also provides more niche opportunity than ever before. The following four strategies will help you profit from niche marketing in today’s market.

1. First-Time Homebuyers: Forty-seven percent of home buyers in 2009 were first-time buyers motivated by thousands of tax credit dollars. Take advantage of this opportunity by offering a free “Tax Credit Consultation.” The strategy works much like free CMA’s where you offer your real estate knowledge in return for spending valuable time with prospects. By consulting potential clients on whether or not they qualify for the new tax credit, you will be earning their trust while letting them get to know you as a real estate professional.

2. Expired Listings: Twenty-five percent of all listings in 2009 expired. Simply put, marketing to those properties could have gotten you a second chance at 1 out of 4 listings in your area. When a listing expires, you need the homeowner to think of you. Take advantage of this opportunity by getting in front of these potential customers on a regular basis. Remember, if you’re not visible- you’re invisible.

3. For Sale By Owner (FSBO): Eleven percent of homes sold in 2009 were For Sale By Owner properties. The challenges of this market make real estate professionals more valuable than ever. Your marketing should educate people trying to sell their own homes on the importance and financial advantages of using a Realtor. When the FSBO decides to hire a professional, you need to be the Realtor they think of first.

4. Distressed Properties: Thirty-six percent of all sales in 2009 were distressed and this number will only increase in 2010. Take advantage of this opportunity by consistently delivering a message of hope. These property owners are scared, intimidated and in most cases, hoping for a miracle. Your marketing needs to let distressed property owners know they do have options and you can help.

A direct mail provider, LentzDesign, recently introduced several postcard campaigns designed to prospect for each of these market segments. The cards are completely personalized with all of the Realtors’ contact information and can be purchased for as little as 22 cents each. This price includes full-color printing on the front and back and gloss coating on the front. A complete mailing option is also available and you can send as few as one postcard.


Source : http://rismedia.com/2010-03-16/4-tips-to-profit-from-niche-marketing/

Thursday, March 11, 2010

New Pay Per Click Software Product, PPCDynamite, Scores a Hit in the Internet Marketing World

PPCDynamite, a recently developed Pay Per Click software which is marketed exclusively on the Internet has notched up several high-profile reviews and has become quite a hit, considering the number of sales that it has achieved in a very short time. What has mainly brought about this stupendous success for this Pay Per Click marketing concept is the unique idea that it employs. The website through which PPCDynamite is promoted, http://www.ppcdynamite.com, lists in detail the concept of the product and the many benefits that are associated with it.

For years now, Internet entrepreneurs have tried their hand at making some extra money through the Pay Per Click business model – a business model that really came into its own when Google jumped onto the bandwagon with its highly successful Google AdWords. This brought about a flurry of new-fangled business ideas, promising to tell entrepreneurs how to best monetize Google’s PPC product. However, PPCDynamite certainly goes one step ahead in bringing all those PPC profits. This Pay Per Click software doesn’t just deal with Google AdWords, but it also dabbles with optimum monetization of similar other campaigns such as Bing and Yahoo!

A representative of the PPCDynamite team spoke to this website about the spurt in popularity of their flagship product. “So far, several Pay Per Click software tools have come and gone,” he says. “However, the one reason why PPCDynamite has lasting power is because it directly tells people what products to add to their campaigns, what keywords to use and offers them the lowest bidding amounts for these popular keywords. This has definitely never been done before. People who were so far on the threshold about whether to go ahead with PPC or not have now made their decision – they want to go ahead with it! Our product has just made the whole thing so much simpler for them.”

The program simplifies the entire Pay Per Click campaign by allowing online marketing people to create their own ad groups. This is a new approach at PPC. People can build groups of ads easily by duplicating ads to create new ads instantly. This saves time, and holds better PPC profit prospects because of the concept of keyword match types. Variations of keywords can be used in these ads which can be then used to create more wide-reaching advertising. PPCDynamite also introduces the concept of unique tracking ID per keyword added automatically, regardless of how many keywords are used in all.

With all its various features, PPCDynamite certainly brings automation into the PPC business model. By its own admission, it says that the concept is like a carpenter graduating from using hand tools to using electrically powered machines. A motley crew of websites have already used this Pay Per Click software in their campaigns and achieved the results it speaks about.

This Pay Per Click software product is currently being sold at $127 through the website. This is made to be a better bargain with the inclusion of various bonuses,including bestselling eBooks such as The Expert Guide to PPC Marketing, Profit Funnel Secrets and Niche Marketing Camp – The Autopilot Campaign Setup! The addition of these bonuses has made a successful product even more successful.



http://www.lastclicknews.com/new-pay-per-click-software-product-ppcdynamite-scores-a-hit-in-the-internet-marketing-world-101031.html

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The pros and cons of affiliate marketing

The pros and cons of affiliate marketing are in their respective ways so extreme that anyone who is so much as contemplating becoming involved in affiliate marketing should take great care to determine them and take account of them in the first instance. Affiliate marketing is a very uncertain business at the best of times - even for those who are extremely experienced and skilled in the process - and the reality is that nothing in the concept that is affiliate marketing can ever be taken for granted.

Affiliate marketing in theory is very straightforward. A blogger or webmaster will sign up as an affiliate with an affiliate marketing company and essentially sell products on that company’s behalf on their blog or website. When a visitor to the blog or website clicks upon one of the product links and subsequently makes a purchase, the affiliate marketing company will identify the affiliate who has provided them with the lead via a unique code in the link and pay them what is most often a percentage of the sale price.

The first pro of affiliate marketing is therefore that the affiliate marketer is paid for what is essentially very little extra work. They will in the first instance clearly have to create and optimise their blog or website but that is something they would be required to do anyway for it to know success. Even the handling and dispatching of the goods is handled by the affiliate marketing company and the affiliate marketer has no involvement in the procedure.

The second pro of affiliate marketing is that there is no limit to the amount of money an affiliate marketer can earn in this way. Where the affiliate marketer has created a very popular website or blog and chosen wisely in the closely related products they subsequently offer for sale upon it, the income generated can be very healthy indeed and far outstrip other forms of income such as that provided from Google Adsense.

Considering the above makes affiliate marketing a very attractive proposition indeed for any blogger or webmaster. The first and by far the biggest con, however, of affiliate marketing is that the vast majority of affiliate marketers will generate very much money at all from their pursuit, if indeed they are successful in generating any. This is chiefly because the competition is so vast and so fierce that to succeed as an affiliate marketer, one has to know a great deal of luck in finding an extremely specific and virtually untapped niche market.

Another con of affiliate marketing is in the length of time which it can take for the affiliate marketer to be paid the revenue which they help to generate. Two months or more is not an unreasonable timescale in this respect, especially where sales occur at the beginning of a calendar month. This is but an incidental reason for any prospective affiliate marketer not to quit their day job.

The final principal con of affiliate marketing is that the sales process is so unpredictable. It is entirely possible for an affiliate marketer to generate high levels of sales one day, think they have the affiliate marketing process cracked, then proceed to generate no revenue whatsoever for the next two weeks. This is because affiliate marketing depends upon very targeted web traffic landing upon the page, perhaps seasonal considerations where the products relate to a particular time of year and the fluctuating rating of the blog or website in the Google rankings.

The pros and cons of affiliate marketing make the process therefore one which is more than worth attempting, more than worth tweaking again and again in order to hopefully achieve success - but very much one upon which one should never be wholly depend for generating income.

Source : http://www.helium.com/items/1757780-the-pros-and-cons-of-affiliate-marketing