Business Blogs and Your Facebook Marketing Strategy

As the popularity of online social networking grows, small business owners are in a position to realize the need for a Facebook marketing strategy. The integration of a Facebook marketing strategy by business owners with traditional marketing schemes is available in the form of these two specialized blogging capabilities that go beyond your basic blog posts.

Facebook Marketing Strategy 1: Simplaris™ Blogcast. Through the Simplaris™ Blogcast feature, you can implement your Facebook marketing strategy with the promotion of your blog on Facebook that includes some basic features requiring little or no effort from you the small business owner.

• Automatic updates. As part of the Facebook platform, your blog can be automatically updated with your profile.

• Public display. There are three options for adding Simplaris™ Blogcast to your Facebook account:

  • Profile. By clicking on the add-a-tab “+”, you can select ‘Blogcast’ for an addition to your existing tabs on your profile page.

  • Info. In the same format as the Profile tab addition, Blogcast may be selected from the ‘Info’ page and added to your Facebook Info page.

  • Custom. Along with ‘Photos’ and ‘Notes’, Blogcast has been given its own custom tab, making using Facebook for business easier than ever.

• Limitations. In order for Simplaris™ to configure your blog to Facebook, you are required to enter its web feed rather than it web address.

Being technologically savvy is not a requirement for integrating Simplaris™ Blogcast into your Facebook marketing strategy. Simplaris™ as a viable component of your Facebook marketing strategy is an application focused more on the needs of small businesses rather than cosmetic technological features.

Facebook Marketing Strategy 2: NetworkedBlogs. A successful Facebook marketing strategy utilizes blogging through NetworkedBlogs. Included is a search option to take advantage of opportunities to connect with other bloggers with who also have created a Facebook marketing strategy to promote their similar interests.

• Directory.

  • Topic. Whatever your topic of choice, there is a category listed for browsing. Whether you wish to follow your fellow online marketers or need to keep track of your favorite sports, there is a blog for you.

  • Popularity. If you do not know where to start, select ‘Popularity’ under the NetworkedBlog ‘Browse’ link. Based on your geographic region, the top blogs are displayed for your perusal and selection.

• Discussion forum. NetworkedBlogs gives any user the capability of both creating and participating in discussion forums through the NetworkedBlogs home page on Facebook.

• Facebook feature. Once a specific NetworkedBlog has been selected, you may choose to list your blog(s) on your ‘Info’ page and/or your ‘Profile’ page for others to follow your in your online social networking footsteps.

• Limitations. NetworkedBlogs is not a blog-hosting site. It is a means of accessing blogs through Facebook to organize your blogs and blog feeds for quick and easy updates.

Formerly “Blog Networks”, NetworkedBlogs is a community of blog readers and writers who want to connect with one another and share their experiences. When developed as a part of your Facebook marketing strategy, NetworkedBlogs is a key way to take advantage of online social networking possibilities for a broader audience and higher web traffic.

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Email Marketing Strategy 2 Things You Must Know Of Your Subscribers

Average subscriber values (ASV) for an Internet marketing professional are those numbers that actually tell you if your email marketing strategies are working. Most often, ASV applies to email subscriber lists, but is not exclusive of other small business marketing registries.

Types of Subscribers

The value of a subscriber depends upon the direction of your campaign. There are often small business marketing plans that can only accommodate a particular niche of the whole Internet marketing population. By recognizing the value of certain target audiences, you can incorporate your search engine optimization methods to attract those groups and raise your conversion rates.

• Demographics. Depending on your product or service, there may be a certain demographic group to which you direct your web 2.0 marketing strategy. Those who fit into the audience profile are the ones calculated into any average subscribe value (ASV).

• Expertise. The value of your subscriber is directly related to the usefulness of your product or service. Subscribers are likely to have varying levels of knowledge. For example, subscribers considered to be experts may be web programmers or developers in search of a new browser add-on while other subscribers may be novices who need a quick how-to guide to customizing the browser toolbar.

• Commitment. The length of relationship can affect the average subscriber value in the eyes of the small business marketing professional. Those subscribers with an established history may be more likely to be considered valuable to an online marketer; however, new subscribers reflect a potential value that cannot be ignored.
  

By recognizing not only the current value of established subscribers but also the future value of potential subscribers, adjustments may be made to such marketing tactics such as search engine optimization and web site design.

Types of Subscriber Value

Subscribers are valued in various ways for their contributions to your Internet marketing business. Obviously, active subscribers are those given the greatest consideration when evaluating average subscriber values (ASV) against email marketing goals. However, subscribers also have influence in other areas that give them an indirect value worthy of attention:

• Email. Email is the primary tool when calculating your average subscriber values. Your email lists include your subscribers. Avoid discounting the email lists your subscribers have that consist of groups to whom they forward your emails.

• Feedback. No matter how long your subscribers have been with you, they are of great value when they provide positive feedback supporting your products and services. Providing an outlet for posting opinions is a cheap and easy way to generate additional subscribers without any tedious list building.

• Referrals. Word of mouth, or blog, is a highly valuable means of building email lists and increasing subscriber numbers. Although not necessarily measurable through conventional ASV calculations, the value of your subscriber willing to promote your product independently is priceless.
  

Average subscriber values (ASV) are key statistics in the development and implementation of online marketing strategies. Using email list building, search engine optimization techniques, and web site design strategies, the values of subscribers can be increased exponentially if the multiple means of active subscriber-ship are taken into consideration.

Image Credit to mikeblogs

Transparency and Truth in a Web 2.0 World… How to Build Trust

Utilizing an affiliate marketing strategy in a Web 2.0 world offers many additional opportunities for customers and potential customers. To set yourself apart as an affiliate marketer, you must establish yourself as an expert and potential customers must believe you are credible. Transparency is key to a successful affiliate marketing program. You must be careful to maintain a good reputation online using carefully thought-out strategies, but not manipulative tactics. Being open and above-board with your readers is the best way of establishing credibility. Don’t tell them; show them.

One way to illustrate your expertise and credibility as an affiliate marketer is to create and maintain a blog. Free services, such as blogger.com or wordpress.com, offer you a space to create your own blog with little experience needed. Blogging is one of the most important steps you can take to set yourself apart from other affiliate marketers. Just be sure to set yourself apart in a positive way.

Blogger.com

Blogger.com is a free blogging service. It is run by Google, so if you have a Google email account (Gmail) you can use that username and password to create your blog. If not, you can click on “Create your blog” to get started. You pick your blog name, and consequently your URL. With just a few clicks, you are ready to begin posting new content to your blog. The best way to show your credibility and expertise on your affiliate program is to begin posting about your industry. Set yourself apart as the expert in your affiliate marketing program and the customers will come. You can include links to your products within your blog posts. By establishing an affiliate marketing blog to attract the attention of search engines, you will draw a following of customers.

Wordpress.com

Wordpress.com is another free blogging service and is also quite easy to set up. Similar to blogger.com, you choose your blog title and the URL. In just minutes, you can begin posting original content to grow your affiliate marketing program. By adding unique content, you draw potential customers to your site through search engines. Your growth potential as an affiliate marketer is endless. Just be sure you are building a positive name for yourself because a negative reputation can spread much more quickly.

Search engines are constantly looking for fresh content so building a blog and posting original content will draw a following to your site – and to your affiliate marketing program. Remember that transparency is the key. Blogging allows you to build an actual relationship with your readers. Treat them fairly and they will become your customers. They are you greatest asset. The product you are selling may, and probably will, change over time, but your customers will stay with you and buy repeatedly – if they trust you!

image credits to galleryquantum

Social Marketing: How Google’s Friend Connect Can Impact Your FriendRank

Google’s Friend Connect is the latest marketing tool in a long line of Google greats. As with all Google gadgets, Friend Connect keeps all Google tools tied together through one account. Now, small business owners may have yet another new social marketing competitor in Google’s FriendRank. Through social networking sites like Friend Connect, Google is able to see who has the highest number of contacts, related links, backlinks, etc. Here are just a few sources of data that may influence your worth via FriendRank:

Memberships. By joining social networking sites like Friend Connect, small business owners can improve their standing with Google’s FriendRank and improve their status in the social marketing arena. Both Friend Connect and FriendRank allow subscribers to make worthwhile connections with those of similar interests to positively shape the commercial attitudes of those who participate in the social networks.

• Quantity. Your social marketing strategy can only be successful through networks with a significant number of members. By joining those groups with a large following, you can more effectively impact the attitudes and actions of fellow members.

• Duration. Memberships that are not well-established indicate a newness that does not bode well for an enviable position with FriendRank. Long-term memberships tell FriendRank that you have made significant contacts and are a respected member of your various communities.

• Type. By allowing universal logins with Google, Yahoo!, AIM, and OpenID accounts, Google’s Friend Connect broadens your networking capabilities. The kind of groups you choose to join can then influence your target ad appeal according to FriendRank.

Friend Connect simplifies the process of finding and making “friends” through multiple social networking sites. FriendRank then uses information from the groups you choose to determine place specific target ads. By tracking group memberships and activities, Google’s FriendRank will try to present the most influential members with the most appropriate advertisements.

Friends. Your mother always told you that you are judged by the company you keep. Now Google FriendRank is following through with her threat. Small business marketing strategies may need some tweaking to take into account the target audience of not only the business itself but also those advertisers who are doing some targeting of their own.

• Number. With FriendRank, it is not just quality but quantity. Limited friendships mean fewer opportunities to have a lasting effect the behaviors within relative social networks and put a good word in for various products and services. Friend Connect can help you more efficiently find those friends that will add to your social marketing strategies.

• Frequency. How often other members choose to add you as a friend can affect how popular you are with FriendRank. Some reports show that FriendRank will even go as far as using your friends’ names in their target ads to attract your attention to the otherwise obsolete advertising banners placed of various social media pages.

Being selective when choosing social networking sites is becoming more important in the social marketing realm. Rather than joining every site you can find, your small business marketing strategy must now take into consideration which sites will give you more credibility and a higher rank among online advertisers.

Publications. “Publish or perish” has resurfaced as the motto to live by. Now it relates to the social marketing arena and those who are affiliated with various social networking sites. What you say and where you say it can give greater credence to your online presence.

• Articles. Say what you mean and mean what you say. And say it a lot. The more relevant articles you post the greater your chances of being judged an influential member of the online social marketing community.

• Comments. Your opinion is valuable with FriendRank. Take the time to not only join various social media sites but also contribute to them. By posting comments that will be read and passed along to other members, you can impact the placement of target ads as well as the probability of others’ following your advice.

Small business owners have been encouraged to take advantage of the social networking sites to spread the word about their products and services available. Sharing their expertise through the written word now carries more weight with those like Google’s FriendRank, who want to know who is reading, what they are reading, and where they are reading it.

Social marketing has been elevated to a whole new level. As the old saying goes, it is not what you know but who you know. By scanning the information from social media sites like Google Friend Connect, Google’s FriendRank can create target ads that will most efficiently affect the likelihood of generating business. As a small business owner, you are under the watchful eye of others to see how effective your online presence is to advertisers.

image credits to Binkiexxx

Video Marketing: The Three C’s for Small Businesses

As anyone involved in small business marketing knows, attracting and keep customers is paramount to success. The latest and greatest invention for small business entrepreneurs is establishing a video marketing strategy. Although there are many advantages to marketing with video, there are Three C’s to which you may refer when deciding whether to delve into video marketing for your small business.

C-No. 1: Cost.
The A-number 1 priority for small business marketing professionals should be the cost of advertising. With video marketing, your advantages include:

• Competition. As a small business marketer, you are able to increase your visibility among larger, more prominent competitors. By participating in the video marketing game, you are keeping the playing field even, regardless of the size of the team.


• Cut-backs. As the economy continues to decline, it is to your advantage to find more productive ways to spend your advertising dollar. By reducing your traditional advertising methods and increasing marketing with video you are able to remain competitive without jeopardizing your financial future.

As small business marketing plans continue to adjust to the demands of a weakened economy, video marketing continues to open doors for those small business competitors who need an innovative yet cost-effective means to get their message to the masses.

C-No. 2: Contact.

Through easy video marketing, you are able to establish personal contacts more easily without the demand of one-to-one exchanges. Marketing with video can open up other avenues as they relate to your small business contacts:

• Search engines. With video marketing, you increase your search engine results to include additional marketing strategies. A higher search engine results position results in an increase in web traffic and potential customers.


• Links. Take advantage of the linking capabilities available through the internet. By networking with sites of similar or related content, you can expand your number of contacts exponentially.
  

Make every effort to develop efficient means of making and keeping contacts to both increase and maintain web traffic. Video marketing can help you connect with the broadest of contacts through search engine indexing and link building.

C-No. 3: Coverage.

Forget demographics for a moment and realize the coverage potential video marketing has for your small business. Video has a universal appeal for any audience you wish to target.

• Local. Take advantage of the video craze and enhance your local marketing strategies with the support of marketing with video. With your knowledge of the local marketing landscape you can increase your reach and enlarge your customer base with an effective method of getting and keeping your customers’ attention.


• Global. There are obviously certain limitations to small business marketing and a global economy. Through online video marketing, you are able to reach those customers who might otherwise never know of your existence.
  

Although not all of the potential customers you reach with video marketing are within earshot, they are all within virtual reach with personal messaging through video marketing.

Video marketing is an established and efficient means of connecting with any audience. With video marketing you are not confined to a specific audience; rather, you have the open field on which to play. Marketing with video opens the door to a broader target audience and increases the amount of web traffic simply through the universal appeal of the approach.

image credits to punch for lunch

Blog Marketing: Give Your Small Business a Boost with a Business Blog

The Ins and Outs of Business Blogging

Business blogs are yet another tool in the small business marketer’s informational cache. As is the case with any approach to internet marketing, blog marketing has a few ins and outs that must be addressed.

• The ins:

  • Easy to use. Business blogs are not unlike any other weblog. With the overwhelming abundance of blogging technologies available, all you need for a successful blog is a computer, a mouse, and a complete thought.

  • Easy to produce. Small business marketers generally do not have the available funds to contract with an internet designer or software developer to promote his or her business. Blogs are the most cost-efficient way to convey a copious amount of relevant information without the investment of advertising.

  • Easy to manage. All that is required for managing a business blog is regular updating. Because you do not have to learn the lingo found in the secret world of web designers, you can quickly and easily keep your customers informed through your blog.

• The outs:

  • Necessity of time. As is the case with any small business activity, there is a time factor involved with the maintenance of a business blog. The best way to manage your blogging time is to create a schedule of regular updates and follow it.

  • Necessity of material. What if you just do not have an update for your business blog? Try these tips when short on material:

    • Short of making something up, find relevant links and post a few comments on how they relate to what you are marketing.

    • Answer some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If they are frequently asked, they deserve a reply.

    • Post a picture or video of the week and add your own caption or comment.

  • Necessity of self. Some small business marketers may find blogging too informal or “unbusiness-like.” Quite the contrary. Through your blog, your customers can get a glimpse into the brains behind the business, making you more real and your information more meaningful.

Me, The, and FREE: What Could Be Better than FREE?

As a first-timer, a “newbie”, to the business blogging world, it is best to seek out the most user-friendly weblog publishing site. There are many from which to choose, but some are more widely used than others, making them a more likely place for searches among those searching for specific business information.

• Great Google-y Moogly. Blogger is Google’s version of the free weblog. The greatest thing about Blogger is that it is automatically linked to other Google gadgets that you and your customers may subscribe to, such as Google Friend Connect or Google Reader.

• The Three Ws.

  • WordPress. WordPress may be found in two forms: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. WordPress.com is managed by the developers of WordPress created to make blogging as simple as possible without the drudgery of learning coding and other challenges of technology not embraced by the general user. WordPress.org is designed for the user planning to use a web host (perhaps your own domain) and has the luxury of time to invest in blog maintenance.

  • Wetpaint. Wetpaint is a source of opportunity for anyone wishing to join a broader community of information swapping. By creating your business blog through Wetpaint, you can join the mix of social networks and discussion forums and increase your web traffic and customer base.

  • Weebly. No, Weebly is not the internet product of Weebles. Weebly is a hosting service that is geared toward the simpler side of blog-and-forum sites rather than the social side. They offer the basics of design templates as well as the drag-and-drop feature for adding site content.

Business blogs are not brain surgery, but they are an essential component of the successful small business marketer. With user-friendly formats and blogger control of content, business blogs are a great low-cost alternative to expensive web site development and maintenance.

image credits to Leonie²

Video Marketing Online: Keywords Are a Key Step to More Website Traffic

Video marketing has become the number one priority in 2009 for internet marketers who are searching for an increase in website traffic. When implementing video into your online marketing strategy, it is important to remember that keywords are vital to getting more website traffic and longer website visits. Take into account these suggestions for maximizing keywords in your video marketing strategy:

Tip 1: One is the loneliest number.

• Although the selection of keywords is crucial to generating more website traffic, do not limit yourself to just one or two general words. Brainstorm the keywords that directly relate to your site and broaden them to include synonyms and other similar terms.

• Make your keywords specific for your targeted customers. If you really want to generate sales results, choose several appropriate keywords that will attract genuine customers rather than those who are just window shopping.

• Use keyword combinations that give your customers more opportunities to access your site and your video. Using these "long tail keywords" as opposed to single words will multiply the number of search results returned through the search engines.

Tip 2: Variety is the spice of life.

• Even a minimal amount of keyword research can result in more website traffic. Which keywords are “hot” and which keywords are not? Using obsolete or unfamiliar keywords will certainly not generate visitors to your site.

• Utilize keyword research tools, such as Google’s AdWords, to find out which keywords are the most used in internet searches. Knowing how potential customers are searching can enable you to follow their patterns and increase website traffic.

• Take advantage of commonly misspelled words. With spell check software and search engine keyword optimization, many people are not conscientious about the correct spellings of their searches.

Tip 3: Role play.

• Approach internet marketing videos from the perspective of the customer. It is the customer you want to attract; therefore, consider why a potential customer might visit your site and list all keyword possibilities that a customer would use to search for and find you site.

• Maximize video marketing by creating a video the customer wants to see. Combining ideal keywords with a video supports what your customer has searched for. If your keywords include coffee, coffee beans, and Starbucks, a video about English tea would not only confuse the potential customer but likely guarantee the customer would never return to your site.

• Use video marketing to the advantage of the customer. With the right keyword selection, the customer is directed to your site for a video that offers something for his or her efforts: first glimpse at new product on the market, the opportunity for a limited time offer, etc.

The right keywords can make or break your attempts to increase website traffic to your site. No video marketing strategy is complete without thorough keyword research prior to integrating video marketing into your web site. The more research you are willing to put into keyword selection, the more website traffic you will receive in return.

image credits to Fray Bentos