Archive for the 'Marketing' Category
May 9, 2008 - 4:12 pm - Posted by Sherri R
When interfacing with your customers you need to be able to create value beyond their initial purchase. Customers have so many choices and can make a switch in an instant especially for those that you acquire through the internet since their is little human contact. Retention is a big part of marketing that companies overlook as most are just looking at getting the customer to the site or in the door. Also having enduring materials like brochures that help to build retention past their visit can results in sales months down line. Offering free brochures to your online customers is a also a great way to start acquiring a database of customers who are interested in your company. So finding cheap brochure printing that will enable you to print in smaller quantities or on demand can help you stretch your marketing dollars. Successful campaigns are also using more blogs in their mix to help reinforce the brand and mission of the company beyond just traditional advertising .If you are able to create a unique experience for your customer you will be ahead of your competition and your sales and profits will benefit. Successful advertising is achievable by the small internet business person and careful planning.
For those on a budget and looking for creative ways to enhance their marketing efforts without breaking the bank there are cheap brochure printing options that will allow to advertise in full color and stay competitive with your competition. So in summary find great partners that are experts in their field such as on-demand printing, SEO, and marketing and team up with them to help you build your brand the correct way from the start.
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April 28, 2008 - 1:34 pm - Posted by Sherri R
Cost per action (CPA) seems to be getting more play in the online advertising world. Here is how this would work from a publishers standpoint. (By the way a publisher is someone who runs the text ads you see that have content relative to their site. Just like the Ads you see along with this blog) As a Publisher running PPC ads or other forms of contextual ads on your site, you make a certain dollar amount on each click through on the ad, regardless if the person buys or completes any form. In the new model, you be be compensated if the click actually resulted in a purchase, or other action determined by the advertiser. So as you can see, you could get 1000 clicks a day on your ads running on your site, but unless there is an actual purchase, that would be $0 in your pocket. Interesting!! But the result in Cost per Action or CPA as it is called pay much higher than PPC ads
As an advertiser, if you elect to choose this model, it could be very cost effective as you would only be paying for actual sales, or leads. So for example you run a site that sells Domain names and hosting accounts. If someone see your ad on another site, clicks on it, but never purchases anything, you would not be charged anything. Unlike today, if you have purchased $1000 in clicks, they could all be used up without one sale. Plus for advertisers you greatly reduce PPC fraud as their are specific sales actions that have to take place.
This form of advertising has grown substantially since we first started partnering with companies that specialize in CPA. There are companies like http://www.clickbooth.com that specialize in this form of online marketing and have teamed up with some very large companies to bring bloggers and website owners a new form of revenue to their offerings.
From a publishers standpoint the Clickbooth Publisher Network offers a host of reports so that you can monitor which offers are performing best on your blogs or websites. They offer a great variety of ad types so that you will be sure to find one that will fit into your site. You can choose from banner ads, text links, and email templates that can be used across various marketing platforms. The more variety that you are given the more creative you can get and actually test different mediums to understand which types get better click through and better revenue. The process is easy to setup and free to join and qualify.
For advertisers you have various reports to help you understand how your ads are being viewed, which format is gaining more customers, and on the day and time of the actual clicks are happening.
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April 25, 2008 - 6:25 pm - Posted by Sherri R
One of the best investments that we made for our new home was getting a steam cleaner. Even in a new home we shampooed and steamed the carpets and the amount of dirt that came up was really quite shocking. Even now after we vacuum we can steam clean the carpets and still get a lot of dirt up. It just made me think about what we rolled around on when I was kid and all we had were the very basic vacuums. So if you have kids running in and out of your home you may want to think about investing in a steam cleaner and just watch how clean you can get your carpets and other household items.
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April 25, 2008 - 3:19 pm - Posted by Sherri R
Everyday there are thousands of new blogs being created for various reasons. Some people create a blog to express their opinions about politics, religion, music, or their personal life. I have seen more mom focused blogs start up in the past year and this shows where this industry is headed. Many blog to try and earn a few bucks off their website either through affiliate marketing, or paid to click ads. We actually stumbled on blogging by accident and was not our original goal when we first started trying to find ways to make money online. It was not meant to be a way to retire, but to add some fun money into our account for vacations and those impulse buys.
Our original blog was started out as quick and easy way to stay in touch with our members from our two traffic exchanges. Since email was becoming more difficult the blog helped us to stay in close contact with our members and provide more frequent updates. What we discovered that as we added content our search engine ranking and page rank went up rather quickly. And right about this time the blogging world was being looked at as a new way to advertise and help to generate buzz about companies products and services. So the timing was great and we joined up with a few companies and the response and success has been incredible. Today we have over 10 blogs that we maintain for various subjects and the money that we do collect is enough to help out on vacations, ski trips, and just fun stuff for the kids.
Probably the one thing about blogging that has made me the happiest is the friends and associates that I have had the chance to meet online and actually help get started in blogging. One was my sister in law who I gave her one of our blogs and she has done a great job with blogging weekly and makes a nice little income. Far better than what she was doing which was selling items through eBay which was a time consuming chore. The other great success is a friend for whom I have only met through email and the occasional phone call. Chris P is about 20 something and we had a chance email and I asked if he was interested in taking control of one of my blogs. He did and has amazing success with not only the dollars, but the amount of people that comment on his blog and he has come a long way in his internet knowledge. He writes all the time with new ideas on how to improve the blogging’s rank and even has aspirations to start his own blogging advertising company which I am sure he will do.
In the end if I can help change a few lives and make them just a little better then I will continue to blog. There is no greater joy than helping others succeed and opening worlds that they never knew existed. It is easy through blogging because all you need is a keyboard and enthusiasm about what you post about. I hope to one meet some of my new friends that I have met through blogging and we can all tell our stories on why blogging makes us happy.
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April 10, 2008 - 7:39 pm - Posted by Sherri R
Here is the scenario: You just got approval for a new product launch that will greatly enhance your portfolio and open up a whole new market. You have been asked to put together a several regional business meetings to align sales and marketing and make a big splash with the launch. The launch meeting will be held across four regions to facilitate the number of sales and marketing people that need to be at each meeting as well as some key customers at each location. You are asked to do all this within 4 months so that you can beat your competitors to the market before they launch what could be a threat to your launch.
These scenarios happen every year and companies will turn to experts in event planning to help them with all the logistic and planning details. I have witnessed first hand the expertise that these planning companies bring to the table and are able to put together a meeting that will meet and surpass your expectations. Plus many have the connections and buying power to obtain top key note speakers and hotel properties that you might not be able to get during busier times of the year.Corporate event planning experts like Corporate Planners Unlimited have been helping companies for years to create and execute meetings that will inspire and capture that enthusiasm needed for any type of meeting. Just by reading some of the accolades that they have received from their customers you can tell that no detail goes unnoticed. This is a critical piece when choosing an event planner and having one that can accommodate everything from the hotel, speakers, to travel. This will ensure that your guests and employees arrives safely and only have the meeting to worry about.
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March 12, 2008 - 7:00 pm - Posted by Sherri R
With the uncertainty of the economy many companies are taking a hard look at their head count and trying to find ways to trim excess overhead. With that in mind there are thousands of home based businesses and franchise opportunities that can allow you take control of your own future. The great thing about going with a franchise business is that they provide the branding and marketing, legal, and location expertise that takes years to build for a small business owner. For many franchise businesses you are able to have less collateral to get started and the companies generally provide training to help you and your employees get started on the right foot. So why not take control of your own future and check out Franchise Gator to find a business that might be right for you.
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January 15, 2008 - 11:03 pm - Posted by Sherri R
Businesses are finding out that in order to keep pace with the changing markets and customers they need new channels in which to communicate with their customers. Blogs are a great way to do since they provide a feedback mechanism for which companies can push content and products out as well gain feedback in a social setting.This was the articles in Business week back inMay 2005. Today those words are more true than ever as companies are seeing the success of MySpace and Youtube and know that in order to appeal to the younger crowds they need to play where they play. Many are not turning to TV to get their information, but rather online blogs and social communities.
The world as we know it is changing and those that can create blogs and drive members to their sites will have a huge advantage over their competitors. Our business has grown substantially over the last year as we have created and hosted several different types of blogs aimed at different audiences. One such blog is Rogers eMall
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January 14, 2008 - 6:52 pm - Posted by Sherri R
When my wife and I were first married we had to rent a small one bedroom apartment since we were just out of college and starting our careers. We have since bought and sold a few homes and now are settling in a new home with some great features. We have relatives that are just recently married and are thinking about renting or buying a new home. I explained that if they can afford the house payment then buying is much better than renting. With buying your home you are building up equity where as renting your money accrues towards nothing. There are various tax benefits with purchasing your own home as well. I told them to compare mortgages and find out much home that they could comfortably afford and then make their decision on how much they would have to pay in rent. Home ownership is something that cannot be taken lightly and must be entered into with a lot of research and due diligence. Many first time home buyers got sucked into sub-prime loans that were short term low interest payments and then escalated after a few years. This has put a lot of people in serious financial troubles and helped them to loose their home. My recommendation is to always work with your local bank as they are more familiar with the housing market and can help you better plan your budget without over extending your cash flow.
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December 28, 2007 - 10:40 am - Posted by Sherri R
There are many ways in which to drive traffic to your website or blog and one of the easiest is Pay per click (PPC) . You can define the target audience and even the geography from which these customers come from with highly targeted campaigns. This can seem very difficult when you are starting out but can be actually quite easy and one area that you should pay special attention too. There are many companies that offer you the ability to place your ads and keywords through their systems so how do you know who to trust your PPC Advertising too. Many of the top players have gotten too big and this has driven top keywords through the roof and made it difficult for the small to medium businesses to compete for the right traffic that will increase their revenue. At companies like AdKnowledge they are offering $50 in free PPC advertising to demonstrate their effectiveness and help you to try before you buy. Also, you want to check out their ClickScoring technology that will help reduce click fraud and not penalize you for invalid clicks.As you start your online marketing campaign the biggest thing that you can do to help you increase your click through rate and ROI is to have the right data and know what to do with it.
In the competitive world of online marketing he who has the most data will win. Many businesses will go online and purchase search engine placements, and pay per click advertising without measuring where the results are coming from. Pay per click advertising like that is purchased through Google and Yahoo is based on various keywords and how much you bid on placement of those keywords in search engines. Google is the leader in search engine placements and PPC advertising. So being able to monitor how your keyword placements are doing through search queries will help you extend your promotional budget.
Keeping tabs on your competition is also key to manage your PPC placements and understanding the change in the market. If you are getting your search traffic through a specific keyword search and your competitors discover this driving traffic to your site they are more than likely going to bid on that key word as well. You then get into a bidding war that only benefits the publisher like Google or Yahoo. You have to constantly manage your ad budget and track your search engine placement to stay ahead of your competition. Using metrics to understand where they rank in search engine rankings can help you better plan your marketing campaign and utilize your resources.
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December 23, 2007 - 6:59 pm - Posted by Sherri R
We were sent this link that is very motivational and shows what it takes to be successful. At 212themovie.com it talks about the 212 Degrees. Basically the principle is that at 211 degrees water is hot, at 212 degrees water boils. With boiling water comes steam, and steam is what can power a train. It is a simple message that doing one extra thing a day to enhance someone else’s or your life will help you become more successful.
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November 19, 2007 - 5:57 pm - Posted by Sherri R
There are many areas that businesses must focus on to stay competitive in the global market. Marketing and finance are two key drivers in any company but the people behind those results is what drives the success of the company. I had the opportunity to read an interesting article by Uma Gupta who is a expert in higher education helping businesses across the globe with such issues as regional economic initiatives, hiring across the organization and doing business in India. The piece that caught my attention was on diversity. In our organization we are striving to become more diverse without sacrificing business results. Uma Gupta brings out an interesting point that rings true that many managers sit through diversity lectures only to go back and say that this was not helpful and that they will hire the people that are the right fit for the job. The key is to define diversity as not only the gender, race, or ethnic background but also include in other attributes such as experience, knowledge, and talent. These are all traits of diversity that should be considered for any candidate and not just basing it solely on sex or race to fill a quota. Todays businesses are being asked to do more with less and having the right people in the right job is critical to staying competitive in this global landscape. Companies that can diversify based on the business and not to fill a human resources quota will be able to stay lean and agile as the market around them changes. As technology has made bringing people together for meetings and training much easier through advancements in webcasting workers must now possess the capability to work from remote areas in autonomy but still be able to contribute to the organization. And organizations must recognize this change in the workforce and be able to offer flexible benefits and work arrangements to attract the top talent.
Dr. Uma Gupta has written several books and writes for sites like cio.com for information technology systems. She is affiliated with many universities across the US and sits on boards to help businesses understand the culture of her native country India, and vice versa to help those in India to understand what it takes to do business with US based companies. She has also authored two major text books on information systems and technology and contributed to articles on the same subject. She is an expert in training, retention, and management issues and has been able to help organizations with corporations with hiring process and websites to understand any issues that could potentially stand in their way of recruiting top talent.
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November 12, 2007 - 9:30 am - Posted by Sherri R
There are thousands of business opportunities available on the internet today. The trick is finding one that you are passionate about and can see yourself doing it for many years. the problem with most opportunities is that people will only try for a few months and when no real results are seen they give up and try another. This only creates a vicious cycle in which you can never win. Finding business opportunities can be easy and focused at BusinessOpportunity.com.
Find more ways to drive free traffic to your website or blog at Traffexone.com
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