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Avenues of Promotion Simplicity

December 16, 2008 in SEM, tips | No comments

Avenues, streets, roads, paths, lanes, highways and byways all lead you in some direction or the other and the other thing they have in common is there are just way to many directions to go in. But maybe I can put  ” or are there”  after that last sentence.

The secret to getting out from under the avalanche of choices when it comes to promoting your business is simple. What’s the secret? Why it’s right in front of all of us, pick a couple of ways to promote and leave the rest on the side of the road. With hundreds of advertisers and social media mavens vying for your attention it is easy to think you need to do everything there is to do, you don’t.

Find one or two social networking sites to join, sign up with two bookmarking sites, grab a seat at the twitter fair, create content and get some links. Stir this for a while mix it with offline tactics and bake.

On an off topic note I found this list of Social Media 2009  Predictions over at Being Peter Kim and thought I would share it with you all. It is a bit hard to read in the viewer but can be made full screen with just a click on the box in the upper right corner of the viewer. It is not reolutionary but does offer a view to build on or tear apart as your needs in business dictate.

Read Marketing Blogs Everyday

December 15, 2008 in SEM, offline marketing | No comments

That’s right I said it, read Marketing Blogs everyday. Make it part of your routine like brushing your teeth or reading your snail mail. If you don’t have a feed reader get one and pick out 5 Marketing Blogs that speak to you and your situation.

Yes there are thousands of people who dole out millions of lines of both online and offline Marketing Advice, I’m sure it seems as attractive as putting you finger in a light socket trying to find just the right few for you. No need to fret here are two that will lead to more. The first is the Canadian Marketing Blog a rich source of great information and the second is the Church of The Customer a down to earth and straight forward look at everything.

Everything we do in business comes down to two simple things.

1. everything is local
2. everything is marketing

Now think about those two things as you go about your day building your business.

Writing As SEO

October 2, 2008 in SEM, opportunities | No comments

Creating original content to promote and market your website has many rewards that may not be obvious at first glance. The article you just wrote is well defined, well focused and clearly on a  topic that will inform and entertain your customers, clients and users but what can you do with it?

First you can submit your work to an article submission website (EzineArticles or Work) or have an article marketer do it for you. Second build a new page on your website that zeros in on the new article’s topic adding lists and hints that will expand on the topic without losing focus. Third build a new 3 page website using the articles topic as the focus, import all the info from the web page you just created but do remember you want to be creating something new and of value beyond what you just created. What I’m saying is expand on the topic don’t just copy the same stuff to every new page or site.

Every step in the process builds on the one before it. Your users will be able to choose a summary or dig deeper, you are giving them the choice all the while keeping them on one of your web properties. I hate to use the term but in this case it fits, this is a win - win proposition.

Now coming up with new, fresh and exciting ideas surrounding your product and service might seem nearly impossible. If you drill down in the subject almost any product or service will give you dozens and dozens of new ideas for articles, pages and websites that spin around the universe of your offering.

Guess what, if you focus in on useful information most of your optimization will be done for you. All the keywords and section headers will be waving at you to use them. Search Engines will see your value along with your users returning over and over.

I am adding an example of a simple article that a writer created to aid in promoting his book. Ellis Goodman published his new spy novel Bear Any Burden earlier this year and has written a series of quick articles talking about aspects of writing. You will see how he has focused on an aspect that informs the reader but he does not give all his ideas and thoughts away in one article.. He has countless room to write more and more and get more and more promotion. Read the rest of this entry »

Community Juice

September 25, 2008 in SEM | No comments

Online and Offline community’s give juice to your Search Engine Marketing efforts. This is the headline in my head when I opened my eyes this morning and I’m sure it is neither news nor a new idea to anyone who had spent even a tiny amount of time marketing theirs or someone elses website and business.

Social Networking, Social Media and Social Interaction on just about any level all do the same thing, they grow your business and organization. While all the shouting and waving about how great Social Media is has taken on epidemic proportions, one thing may be overlooked. Below all the hype there is a truth about Social Media and it’s not that it is revolutionary but that it is easy and that opportunities abound to connect with people who are interested in what you are doing.

I can hear people now saying ” my niche is small and there is no online community for me.” Small niche or no niche there is a good chance there is a community for you and if there isn’t you can easily start your own.

Here are ten you may not know about and there are hundreds more just waiting for you and your clients to join.

  1. Vinivino a wine lover community. If you are selling wine are you there?
  2. YouPlanet a community for travel.  Involved in any part of travel industry, do you belong..
  3. GameVee a community for game makers and gamers. do you belong?
  4. Folia plants and garden are what this community is about.
  5. Zeer if your business is centered around food then check it out
  6. Fubar here is a place to check out if you are in the bar or alcohol business
  7. Razoo here is a community based on making a difference in the world
  8. Retroland if your business touches retro anything then check this community out
  9. UnitedCats the name says it all, if your business touches on pets then check it out
  10. Eons this is a community for people 50 and over. is this your demographic then join

The above list is just the tip of the hundreds of social communities available for your business or nonprofit to join and connect with your customers and supporters. Join 4 or 5 till you find the 1 or 2 that best adds value to your marketing efforts.

Promote Your Idea’s Often

September 18, 2008 in SEM, tips | No comments

Promote your idea, your vision, your hobby, your product. That’s right get a blog and write about nothing, write about something. Why do I seem to be writing about nothing much and suggesting that you pay attention to what I’m saying? It’s because I want to emphasize how important content really is to the search engines and to your users.

If you create a blog for your organization or business and a couple of days go by without you creating any new entries don’t panic, just write about something relevant to the blogs purpose. You can rehash an old idea or you can review some blogs within your genre. If your stuck then give your readers an outline of your business, its history or why you started it.

I’m rambling along writing about something but this entry is not really focused and that is ok from time to time, your users will understand that you can’t always come up with an earth shaking subject to write about. The search engines will see you are sticking to regular relevant updates and will reward you for the creative work you are producing. Don’t misunderstand I’m not suggesting you scam the search engines with sub par content on a regular basis. What I am saying is that all the content on your website or blog does not have to be strictly perfect all the time. Of course if you are IBM or Microsoft and you can create a staff of workers that do research and blog everyday then your content better be very good all the time. If on the other hand you are a small business or nonprofit that is doing promotion on a part time basis then it’s ok to put something out rather then nothing.

And don’t forget the social sites like twitter and plurk after you have published your blog, let people know you have updated it. Also ask friends and colleague’s who have blogs to slip in a mention of your blog from time to time. Example:  I have a blog where I write flash fiction and poetry and I’m happy to put a link on this blog to that blog or to a friends blog from time to time.

Be creative in your promotional endeavors and never forget offline marketing to promote your website.

Do They Know? Will I Remember?

September 12, 2008 in SEM | No comments

Social Media has a growing place in the promotion of your business and your website, it can add traffic in huge numbers if you hit on the right strategy and are promoting something that people care about at the moment.

We all know about Eventful and Upcoming as tools that will help you to promote upcoming events and happenings on the web and to your followers. But with so many people to tap I recommend you use more then just the big two. Others worth checking out are Eventsbot, Twitzu, Involver and Zevents. All four offer different things as well as complementary tools, check out each one and see if you can fit it into your event and promotion road map. If they don’t fit don’t worry just move on, everyday new things are popping up to meet the needs of small business.

Now that you are a promotional track don’t forget to find a really good To-Do manager. In the Internet and Social Media world scribbling on a piece of paper will not cut the mustard anymore. There are scads of free and commercial To-Do applications filling up the web just waiting to make your life easier. You can do a search or you can check out these 5 to see if any will fit your needs. First up is Remember The Milk followed by Zirrus, then we move on to Life Tango, and HipCal, we finish up this list with Rqall. One of these just might hit the bulls-eye of your needs.