A Marketing and Business Practices Blog
Copywriting Tips that Can Make or Break Your Marketing Campaign
Copywriting is the one skill which all online business owners should learn. As an online marketer you communicate through words – if those words aren’t effectively conveying your message, then you’re in for a long and bumpy ride or a short drive off a cliff!
Here are a few copywriting tips to help you get started:
1. Know your Target Market – Good copywriters know exactly who they’re writing for before starting. They speak directly to ONE person and keep that same person in mind at all times. If you try to reach too many people with your copy you’ll end up missing your target altogether and not reaching anyone at all. Before starting, know exactly who you’re writing your copy for and stick to it.
2. Headlines that Intrigue – Use clear headlines throughout your copy to guide the reader. Your main headline should be in bold and large letters to grab the reader’s attention. It is often the headline which can either make or break your copy. Use a benefit-focused headline, which explains in powerful detail how you can help solve the customer’s problem. Then use sub-headlines throughout the copy to keep the reader intrigued so they will keep reading.
3. Don’t use Big Words – Online writing is different to the writing you did in English class. Throw out the text book and forget all those rules your teacher taught you. Online writing is casual and needs to convey emotion and a clear purpose. You need to speak to the person as though you’re sitting down with them and chatting over a coffee… stay away from big words and long adjectives or risk boring (and losing) your prospects!
4. Be Persuasive – If you love your product that’s great but it’s also a bit biased. Your customers want to hear from other unbiased people who have used your product. Include customer testimonials but not just any testimonial will do, the more information you can include the better. Try to include the person’s full name, city, state, website URL and if possible a picture of that person. The more information your testimonial includes the more persuasive and believable.
5. It’s not all about you! – In fact, it’s not about you at all. Effective copywriting is concerned with the needs of the customer. The writer doesn’t really matter... Of course, you may need to add a little personal information about yourself in order to gain trust and to explain why your customer should trust you, but even in this case it’s all about what you can do for them. Go through your copy, does it contain a lot of “I’s” then it’s time for a serious re-write. Go back and change most of those “I’s” to “You’s”. Your writing should always be about the customer.
6. Don’t forget the call – The call to action that is. You must guide your visitors and tell them what you expect them to do. If you want them to click over and purchase your weight loss product, say so, and say so in a clear way which promotes all the benefits of your products “Click here to learn how you can lose those last 10 pounds and keep it off for good” . You may want to "Twitclick" the hypertext to track its performance. If it is a brochure, flyer or self mailer I recommend you have a special splash page made to drive visitors to and use a free google analytics tool to see the ROI of your campaign.
Above all be precise in your wording and always include a clear call to action. If you can't invest the time to write or lack the talent to do so hire a copywriter. It's the best investment in advertising that you can make!
By Peter Marino
Article Marketing: Reprint vs. PLR Articles
Article marketing should be an essential part of your SEO and social media marketing strategies. Why? Article marketing brings expert status to the writer and increases your ranking on the search engines by allowing back-links to your website and for others to link to your domain. It also allows you to insert important search keywords into your content
that can potentially generate more traffic.
There are three ways of performing article marketing:
1.
Reprinting another author's content with their permission;
2.
buying content from a private label rights publisher; or
3.
writing your own content.
Ofcourse writing your own content has the potential to work best for you, however, if you're like most people you may find it difficult to find the time and/or
lack the talent for writing good content from scratch. With that in mind, we'll list the pros and cons of PLR and reprints:
- reprints come with a bio box and must be printed as is with author name and crediting (doing nothing for your expert status)
- PLR comes print ready and is able to be adapted to your needs.
- reprints are often link seekers so you need to be choosy about what you use on your site so you don't link to spam or junk fillers.
- both PLR and reprints can add value to your website when used properly and contain related content.
- PLR can be edited, added to, shortened or lengthened for many different content purposes such as your newsletter, blog posts, and website pages.
- reprint articles tend to be shorter than PLR articles.
- both types of articles save you time in content production and are easy to use.
- you can add affiliate links to the page using both types of content, although PLR is more easily adapted to affiliate link sales .
- PLR articles tend to be more detailed and can be modified to be more or less lengthy.
- you can adjust PLR for specific keyword content on your site, where as with a reprint you are hitting the keywords the author chose.
If you'd like an article that's unique to your website or blog have one of our writers do it for you. Article marketing works, give it a try.
By Peter Marino
YouTube as a Marketing Tool
YouTube has only been online for a few short years, but it has quickly become one of the hottest destinations on the Internet. Once a little-used medium due to slow Internet connections, the widespread use of broadband has made online video a popular attraction. YouTube is one of the first sites to have been built around online video, and its ease of use and variety of videos has made it extremely popular.
Marketers were quick to catch on to the possibilities presented by YouTube. They began to create "viral videos", clips that were intended to draw interest and spark widespread distribution. YouTube's embed feature allows anyone to place videos on their blog or website, so by creating funny or informative videos, marketers could spread their message far and wide.
Any online marketer can harness the power of YouTube to promote his products, services and website. Here are some types of videos that tend to do well:
* Popular commercials - If you have a television commercial that has brought you lots of business, putting it on YouTube can get you more mileage out of it. And best of all, you don't have to pay for airtime.
* How-to videos - While some Internet users just want to be entertained, many of them come online looking for information. How-to videos allow them to see how something is done rather than just reading about it. Businesses capitalize on this by producing videos about how to do things that relate to their products or services.
* Video from special events - If you've held or participated in a conference, seminar or other special event, posting a video of it on YouTube could get you lots of traffic. So don't forget to take your video camera along!
* Funny videos - Lots of Internet users visit YouTube when they need a good laugh. If you can whip up a funny video that features your products or services, there's a good chance that it could be highly rated and go viral.
A frequent mistake of YouTube marketers is just uploading their video and hoping for the best. Here are some simple steps you can take to increase your video's chances of success.
* Take care to put your video in the right category, and make full use of tags. Add tags that describe your business and products, as well as the video's subject matter. This will help users find your video more easily.
* Write a good description that contains keywords that one might use to find your video. Also, be sure to include your site's URL in the description.
* Be sure to allow embedding, comments and ratings. Allowing others to embed your video will give it more exposure. Making it possible for them to comment will generate discussion, which is also good for your video's success. And allowing ratings could put you higher in YouTube's search rankings if people like your video.
YouTube is an invaluable marketing tool. It gives businesses the opportunity to use the popularity of online video to their advantage. Anyone can create a video with Windows Movie Maker and upload it to YouTube, so why not give it a try if you haven't already?
By Peter Marino
Affiliate Marketing for Dummies?
Affiliate marketing basically means selling other people’s products for a commission online. Affiliate marketing is similar to offline sales where sales people earn a commission for selling a product; the difference is that all selling is conducted online.
As an affiliate marketer you will research and find products to promote on your website. Each time you make a sale through your affiliate link you will earn a portion of that sale. The commissions can vary from as low as 7% to a generous 50%.
The sales are tracked through your unique affiliate ID which is assigned to you at the time you sign up for a specific affiliate program. Your unique affiliate ID is tracked and each time a sale is made through your link it is recorded. A good affiliate program will give you plenty of tools for promoting their products as well as a comprehensive member’s area where you can track your affiliate sales and commissions.
Affiliate marketing is a good way to get started online. You can be set up and ready to go within a few days and there is no need to spend any time creating your own products or purchasing inventory. You are simply promoting other people’s products, which means the vendor is actually responsible for order fulfilment, customer service and anything else related to the sale – you simply refer the sale to them and get paid for doing so.
For example if you have a love of cooking, you can create a website around cooking related topics and include tips, recipes, and reviews of all your favorite cooking gadgets. You can then find affiliate programs online and promote some of those products on your website. You can find programs by doing a search under your chosen topic such as “cooking” and adding the words “affiliate program” to that term.
You can also find affiliate programs at places like CJ.com.
Although affiliate marketing is an easy way to get started online, there is a little more to it than just throwing up a few links and banners and waiting for the affiliate check to arrive. A good affiliate marketer knows it takes time and effort to make sales.
A good way to do this is by providing quality information on your website and only linking to affiliate products where appropriate. Another good tip is to review the products you promote so that you can accurately describe all the features - good and bad. Your customers will appreciate honest feedback and will be more likely to buy from you if you give them good quality information and honest reviews.
By Peter Marino
Google: A Marketer's Best Friend?
There are all sorts of tools available online that can help Internet marketers. There are keyword finders, SEO analyzers, do-follow blog lists and much more. But did you know that you can find out most of the information you need for marketing from Google?
Google is best known for being the Internet's most popular search engine. Over half of Internet users search regularly with Google, either at Google.com, through a browser search bar, or on sites with search engines powered by Google. But while relevant search results are one of the company's greatest achievements, it also offers numerous search options and products that can be of great benefit to Internet marketers.
Search Options
Google offers a number of search options that can help you scope out the competition. One of these is the "link:" operator. When followed by a URL, this will give you a list of pages that link to that URL. "Site:" is another useful one. Followed by a URL and keywords, you can find pages on any given site that contain those keywords.
Synonym search may also be helpful when brainstorming keywords for your site. You can search for synonyms by placing a tilde (~) in front of any search term. If you're starting a local business and want to know whom you'll be competing against, you can search for the category of business and location (for example, "hardware store New York City ").
Google Tools
Google has made numerous tools available that can help Internet marketers. Here's the lowdown on some of them:
* Google Trends - This handy tool allows you to chart the search volume of given keywords. You can enter multiple keywords separated by commas to create a chart that compares them to one another. Information about search volume in different locations and languages is also provided.
* Google AdWords Keyword Tool - Whether you use AdWords or not, this tool can really come in handy. You simply enter a keyword, and Google provides a list of related keywords with competition level and search volume. This is useful for finding the best keywords to target for a site, or for finding lucrative niche markets.
* Google Notebook - This tool is very helpful when you're doing marketing research. By using a browser extension, you can easily add text, images, and links to pages you've found online to your notebook.
Google is much more than just your run-of-the-mill search engine. It offers access to virtually any kind of information one could want. Marketers can use it to research their competition, find the most effective keywords and more. If you're looking for an inexpensive way to find out everything you need to know for a marketing campaign, look no further than Google.
By Peter Marino
Utilize SEO Tools
SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of making sure your website shows up on the search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN and so on – when potential customers are searching for your products or services. A search engine strategy will often contain several tactics including, meta data, content, and advertising. With each tactic there are several SEO tools available to make the job easier.SEO Content Tools –
Content is one of the most common and most effective tactics for increasing website ranking. The more relevant and informative content you have on your website the higher your page ranking. The following tools will make it easier to optimize your content:
Keyword tools. While the primary focus of content is to provide valuable information it is also helpful to optimize the content for a keyword or keyword phrase. Keyword tools can help you determine which keywords to use in your content.
Duplicate content checkers. Search engines often penalize a site if their content is being used more than once. It’s called duplicate content. In order to avoid this, and get the most use of the content you have written you can compare articles to make sure you’re not going to be penalized. Duplicate content also applies to meta tag descriptions. Yes, it is tedious but Google will show your website as containing errors if any of your meta tag descriptions are the same.
SEO Blog Tools –
WordPress Plug-ins. WordPress plug-in developers have created a number of tools to help blog owners optimize their sites.
Tagging. Tags are labels that people use to make it easier to find blog posts, photos and videos that are related.
Website SEO Tools –
Metadata has fallen by the wayside when it comes to optimization but all that’s required is a little attention to your web code and the tags. These include not only the keywords in the meta tags themselves but also the title and header tags.
Linking Tools –
Linking is a great way to increase your page ranking. However just any old link won’t do. The link has to come from a trusted and reliable source. This means you’ll need to create a linking strategy. To create this strategy, consider exploring what your competition is doing.
Some online tools enable you to enter a URL and see how many incoming links it has. This is great to check your own website but also so see what your competition is up to. To find out who is linking to you or your competition visit Yahoo and enter link:http://www.websiteurl.com with your website address in the space where it says websiteurl.
SEO tools are abundant. Spend your time analyzing and investigating each tool before you use it. They can be tremendously helpful to enhance your SEO strategy and your bottom line.
By: Peter Marino
Keyword Research is
Key to SEO
When you say the words “keyword search” to most internet marketers you’ll get one of two responses. You’ll see them groan and shudder or you’ll simply see them shrug their shoulders. The fact of the matter is that many don’t know how to or have never taken the time to do a little keyword research. It’s not difficult and the information can be invaluable. Once you know what keywords your audience is using to find relevant information, you can position your company so they the find you instead of your competition.The first step in any keyword research project is to come up with a few words to start with. You can pull them out of the air, do a bit of brainstorming – what do you think your clients might be using to find your business? You can check your Google analytics to see what they’re using or you can check the meta data on your competition’s websites to see what keywords they’re using. Pretty sneaky, right?
Once you have a handful of words to start with the next step is to choose your keyword research tool. They’re in abundance so you’re not stuck with the first one you land on. Google and Yahoo both offer keyword research tools and there are tools you can subscribe to. Make sure if you’re choosing one which you have to pay for, that they offer a free trial so you can make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Once you’re in the tool of your choice the next step is to plug in one of your beginning keywords to create some results. For example, let’s say you’re creating a surf instruction school and hunting for keywords to optimize your website. You may use ‘surf instruction’ for your beginning keywords.
You hit enter and now you have anywhere from 10 to 10,000 more keywords. Some have potential and some do not. Look for keywords which have good popularity. Meaning they’re used often. Yes some people may use the words ‘riding the waves’ but if only a handful are using those keywords they’re not going to generate much in the way of traffic or profits.
You’ll also want to look for keywords which don’t have a lot of competition. That doesn’t mean you don’t use the words “surf instruction” to optimize your website if that is the single most popular keyword phrase people use to find surf schools however if everyone is using that keyword to optimize their website it might be difficult for you to rise to the top of the rankings – which is ultimately the goal.
If you’re searching for keywords to use for search engine advertising then it will also be important to pay attention to the cost of the keyword or keyword phrase. It’s easy to blow an ad budget in a day with the wrong keyword! Not all keyword tools provide this information. If you’re going to be using search engine advertising, use that search engine’s keyword tool to generate results.
Keywords change over time so it pays to make keyword research a regular process. Some business owners are fastidious and are often looking for the next best keyword phrase, while others prefer to analyze their SEO on a quarterly or annual schedule. Take the time to make sure you’re optimizing your site and do a little keyword research – it’s really not so bad.
By Peter Marino
Create a Peel Away Ad
If you spend any time on the internet you’ve probably come across what’s called a peel away ad. They’re those pages where the upper right hand corner of the screen looks like it’s flipped back to reveal something. Sometimes you can see a little bit of what’s underneath – tempting you to click on it and other times there are just a few simple words to entice a click. The tool has become a very effective and unobtrusive method of advertising on a website.
Unlike pop up ads, peel away ads don’t interrupt the visitor as they’re reading. They don’t annoy. And unlike basic sidebar ads – they still capture the attention. Sidebar and banner ads, according to the results of many marketing studies, are visually avoided. If we’re not averting our eyes from them, we’re simply not consciously recognizing them anymore. They’ve become too commonplace to have a strong effect.
Fortunately, using a peel away ad is no more difficult than creating and using a pop up or banner ad. Wonderful software developers have stepped in to offer a number of quick and easy options.
Option 1 Using a WordPress plug-in:
If your website is based on a WordPress template then your most likely solution to creating a peel away ad is to utilize a plug-in. Typcially the step are as follows:
* Unzip the plug-in on your hard drive.
* Use the templates provided to customize an image. Modify or create two images (100×100 pixel and 500×500 pixel) in jpg format.
* Upload the folder in your plug-in directory of your WordPress files.
* Now login as admin in your WordPress dashboard, activate the plug-in.
Option 2 hire someone to write the code for you:
This option can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 depending on whom you hire and their level of expertise. Hiring someone also means you may need to give them access to your website cPanel which some business owners may not be comfortable doing. If you’d rather outsource this project
The first step is to decide what you want your ad to do and say. Design your ad
The second step is to post the project on a few freelance websites like rentacoder or elance
Gather quotes, view portfolios, ask questions and get a deadline in writing. Find out if they’re going to paste the code into your website or if you’re going to do that step. If you’re going to add the new code to your website, do you know how to do that?
Option 3 Use one of the many inexpensive peel away ad software programs.
This is often the most inexpensive and least time consuming process as well. Products range from free to $40 and enable you to create peel away ads/pages for your website in a matter of hours. Each software product typically offers several image templates to choose from and customize. Once you’ve created your ad, then they provide the code and directions for you to cut and paste into your website code.
By Peter Marino
Make a Viral PDF for Better Affiliate Marketing
If you've been publishing on the Internet for any time, you know that the true power of eBooks comes from making the eBook re-brandable. That means, you let your readers change all or parts of the affiliate-links in it thus giving them a great incentive to further distribute your eBooks. Before this smart little tool, you could only do this if you converted your eBooks into Windows-only *.exe files.
But now there is Viral PDF. This tool brings professional re-branding functionality to your PDF eBooks. It's a set of 2 downloadable Windows (any version) program files - a PDF Signer and a PDF Brander / PDF Rebrander. What you are able to do is take what you have created and convert it into a PDF and give it to your affiliates along with a small software application.
Your affiliates in turn take the 'Brand PDF' applications and update the links in your eBook (the relevant part, that is) and start giving it away!
So let’s outline what the Viral PDF does:
• Use unlimited, re-brandable links in your documents
• Brand even eMail-Adresses!
• Brand regular text!
• Set an expiration date on your PDF files!
• Put your PDF eBooks on your website!
• Use 'catch-all' tags!
• Even use Acrobat's "Base URL" feature, so you can hide your affiliate-links in your PDF files!
If you run or manage an affiliate program, then you need this product. It is worth the effort to push that button and pay because you won’t be sorry. You will watch your affiliates work harder to bring in profits for everyone.
By Peter Marino
First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing
Every entrepreneur knows the importance of niche marketing and that finding the right niche market is key to a successful business. The book from Author John Bradley Jackson will give the reader a deeper understanding of the term and offers practical advice.
John Bradley Jackson is a University lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Strategy as well as Conflict Management and Negotiation at California State University. He has a rich experience of sales, marketing and operations from working in industry. He also founded his own Sales and Marketing Consultant firm that focuses on small businesses and sales and marketing strategies.
Jackson gives you a wealth of information about niche marketing for every entrepreneur. He discusses over 100 topics and give practical solutions. The topics he covers in his book range from finding your company’s mission and vision, writing a vision statement, market research methods, optimizing traffic to website, podcasting, Google Adwords, direct marketing and more.
His book is laid out in easy to read chapters. It will give answers to all your questions about niche marketing and how to successfully implement marketing strategies for your business.
If you are trying to learn more about niche marketing
By Peter Marino
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The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses: Tips, Techniques and Tools to Improve your Marketing
Found the perfect product for the perfect business but you don’t know where to start when it comes to marketing? You say you want your small business to grow but don’t know how to make it happen? The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses
In this “toolkit” you will find:
• So, What Exactly is Marketing?
• The 12 Top Marketing Mistakes Growing Businesses Make
• Getting the 4-1-1: How To Assess Your Company’s Marketing
• Outside the Four Walls: Researching Your Market for Valuable Information
• Six Reason Every Company Needs a Marketing Plan
• Your Business Vision & Goals: Keeping Your Eyes On The Prize
• How to Identify Your Marketing Problems
• Targeting: Which Prospects Are Right For You?
• Marketing Strategies: The Key Thrusts of Your Plan
• How to Develop Marketing Tactics That Drive Your Business Forward
• And Much More!
Author, Jay B. Lipe, is the president of Emerge Marketing and has developed winning marketing plans since 1987. You will never struggle again when it comes to marketing your business. This is a book you will want within reach at all times.
By Peter Marino
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
Bestselling author, Seth Godin, compares marketing to an ice cream sundae. Godin describes the comparison - "All these tactics (blogs, SEO, e-mail, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, Google AdWords) are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor. If you start with ice cream, adding cherries and hot fudge and whipped cream will make it taste great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs . . . yuck!”
Godin refers boring brands to “meatballs”. The boring brands may still be beneficial but they do not attract by word-of-mouth, let’s take Budweiser for an example. Seth shares with his readers, “When Anheuser-Busch spends $40 million on an online network called BudTV, that’s a meatball sundae. It leads to no new Bud drinkers, just a bad case of indigestion.
In Meatball Sundae, Godin frequently refers to as “14 Trends”. These are trends that are changing the way ideas are perceived and spread in the New Marketing.
Here are just a few of the “14 Trends”:
• Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities
• Extremely short attention spans due to clutter
• Google and the dicing of everything
• Infinite channels of communication
• The shifts in scarcity and abundance
• The triumph of good ideas
• The wealthy are like us
• New gatekeepers, no gatekeepers
If you have a product or organization that just isn’t catching on, then you need to read Seth Godin’s book; 
By Peter Marino
Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers
You’ve heard about Web 2.0, but you’re not quite sure how to crack the code? Is it technology or is it a philosophy? The author, Bradley L Jones, interviews 20 of the greatest influencers like:
• Rodrigo Madanes of Skype
• Tim Harris of Microsoft Corp.
• Biz Stone of Twitter
• Max Mancini of eBay
• Alan Meckler of Internet.com
• Gina Bianchini of Ning
• Richard MacManus of Read/Write Web & Web 2.0 Workgroup
• Michelle Turner of Adobe Corporation
• Joshua Schachter of Del.icio.us
• And more of the great heroes!
Web 2.0 is a vague theory. The Internet is not just a means of retrieving information and displaying content anymore. It’s much more community driven today. The Internet is instantaneous and a place of networking and modernization. In Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers, Jones writes, “Web 2.0 is a concept so fluid that even the experts in the book can’t agree on what it means. Some feel there is no definition even necessary. But most agree on one thing: Web 2.0 is a sweeping tide that’s changing the face of the Internet.” Anyone who has an organization or business needs to take advantage of the great revolution for the Internet.
Still a little confused on what Web 2.0 is? You need to Web 2.0 Heroes and start a whole new way of using the Internet to your benefit whether it’s for your business, organization, or personal use.
Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers
By Peter Marino
- Index of Articles
Copywriting Tips that Can Make or Break Your Marketing Campaign
Article Marketing
Youtube as a Marketing Tool
Affiliate Marketing for Dummies
Google: A Marketers Best Friend?
Utilize SEO Tools
Keyword Research is Key to SEO
Create A Peel Away Ad
Make a Viral PDF for Better Affiliate Marketing
Index of Reviews
First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing
Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers
- For a more detailed presentation about SEO click the "Full Screen" icon on the lower right hand of the slideshow. You can get out of the slideshow by using the ESC key on your keyboard.