What makes the perfect business?
Well before I jump to that conclusion, what I would like to clarify is to make it the perfect biz, you would have to virtually have no expenses and make a whole lot of money making other people's lives better for almost nothing. That's not really the case here. For those of you who have small businesses and want to improve their standing, you have to take it a level further and you can only do that by learning the various methods that can bring people to your website.
In this article, I will mention the reasons why you need to learn some of these topics and what kinds of problems it will solve when you have trouble driving website traffic.
Posting on the free online classifieds like Craigslist, Backpage, and Kijiji.
Generating traffic using MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Squidoo, Ezines, Press Releases, and any website that provides expiring links.
Generating traffic using Google Adwords
Personal development - How you change your mindset from what you have now to what you need to have being an internet marketer
Posting On Craigslist
In pay per click, Google AdWords is the king, but in the online classifieds, Craigslist is the king.
Craigslist gets 8 billion hits every month. That's way more than what local newspapers would get, so why put your ad on a local newspaper that charges an arm and a leg to put an ad when in the first place, you can simply put an ad for free.
However, posting on Craigslist is not that simple. For example, if you put an ad in there and if a banned keyword in your content matches the ones in their filter, your ad doesn't go up. That means that if you have the keyword "craigslist" in the content of your ad and it matches their filter, it doesn't go live. If it has a keyword such as "c.r.a.i.gli.st" and it doesn't have a filter that matches this word, your ad may go up.
Also, if you're using an email address to post 20 ads, you may be able to get away with it, but since you can assume that it is logged, you may have to refrain from using that same email address. Simply using another email address will resolve the email address limit.
If you're using an Internet connection with a single IP address, Craigslist may log that address as well. If so, you must find a way to switch your IP address or your ads may not go live because of it. As long as you have a tool that changes your IP address, you should do fine. Wireless broadband cards work well as far as changing IP addresses.
Your best bet is to be able to change the content, your email address, and your ip address. If you have all combinations, you have a better chance of getting your ads to go up.
There are some tools that you can use to maximize your posting efforts. However, I strongly suggest that you know your way around the online site you desire to advertise.
I won't promise that you'll get some sales. It depends on how your write your ad.
No promises that your ad will stay up. Anyone can remove your ad and there's nothing you can do about it. What's your best bet? Simply repost your ad.
The same concept goes with Backpage and Kijiji.
Now On To Web 2.0
What is this deal with Web 2.0?
When I first heard about it, I never got it. It was pure jargon to me. Yes, I did say, so what, what's in it for me.
I was taught by several internet marketers that you must provide the benefits for the products/service you sell. Otherwise, your sales campaign is put to a halt. If you can't explain what your product does, you won't be able to get to second base with your prospective buyer.
So let me tell you what I know about Web 2.0.
Social networking sites, e-zines, blogs, press releases, and yes, Craigslist are classified as Web 2.0 technologies.
Social networking sites - these are ways you can build your warm market. Myspace, Facebook, and Friendster are good examples of social networking sites. You meet other people and you tell them about yourself, the who, what, why, when, where, how, or whatever else applies to you.
You use it to build relationships. By building relationships with these people, you also build trust. When you build trust, one day, someone they know will find a need for your product/service. Guess what, your name will be the first one that will come up. Because you have built a relationship with your contacts, they may provide you with a referral.
This is how you can generate your sales, thorugh referral marketing.
Don't forget Digg and Squidoo. These sites are used to recommend articles to those who have accounts. Links that go through both sites are indexed by Google.
To make a long story short, you use social networking to build your warm market.
E-Zines - This is sort of like a magazine, except that it's online. It could be in the form of a web page or it could be part of an Adobe Acrobat file.
It's an alternative to sending out a paper copy of the same magazine. For example, when I was working for the federal government, I was getting a copy of the Federal Computing Magazine on paper, then they added the option of providing an electronic copy of it in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Yes, it can be in the form of a web page that primarily go on e-zine websites.
The benefit of an e-zine is they are indexed by Google because they believe it provides value to the reader. Since Google will give priority ranking to web pages that provide valuable information, assuming that it's optimized for a keyword, e-zines are search engine friendly.
All you have to do is write articles about what products/services you market. However, you also want to be able to provide information about the who, what, why, where, when, and how the product has an impact on who's going to use it.
When you write up your articles, you must make sure that it follows a particular pattern.
Blogs - Blogs are Web pages which are updated frequently, written from the point of view of an individual, written in an informal tone, and usually expose an RSS feed for syndication.
Blogs provide another convenient avenue for writing about personal experiences. They often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life or works of art.
Either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
They are porous to the world of texts and facts and opinions on line. In addition, they grab whatever they want with impunity—news, gossip, pictures, videos.
As far as ranking is concern, they are given rankings by Technorati based on the number of incoming links and Alexa Internet based on the Web hits of Alexa Toolbar users.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic.
There are many different types of blogs, differing not only in the type of content, but also in the way that content is delivered or written. Few personal blogs rise to fame and the mainstream, but some personal blogs quickly garner an extensive following.
As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.
Press Releases - Do you use online press releases for your marketing promotion or to send out a word about your latest product announcements. Do you know the real power of press releases. However if you have a blog and a PRweb account, you should definitely try to make a blog post about one of the press releases and check this out. I have been using press releases regularly for creating a buzz, announcing new products or services and getting strong incoming links to improve the organic search rankings. One of the ways is to issue press releases when there are notable developments in the company. Please note: Content of press releases is accurate as of release date.
Because press releases are date sensitive, Google indexes press releases to give articles classified as new developments priority in the search engine ranking, thus it's search engine friendly.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords ads connect you with new customers at the precise moment when they're looking for your products or services. With Google AdWords you can reach people when they are actively looking for your products and services. You create your own ads, choose keywords to tell us where to show your ads and pay only when someone clicks on them.
It's one of the most effective ways to do just that. In addition, it also provides advertisers with number of useful tools like geographic targeting, negative match, dayparting, keyword tool, ads diagnostic tool and other useful tools for efficient management of campaigns.
The first engine to charge advertiser on a formula dependent on quality score and maximum bid price.
If you want your website to have presence on Google, Adwords is a quick and simple way to purchase highly targeted cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, regardless of your budget.
You can have a complete control on your ppc campaign, making advertising easier. If your goal is to build visibility on search engines quickly, then Google AdWords is an essential option to explore.
It is worthwhile for anyone to open a Google AdWords account and experiment with how paid listings may help drive traffic to a site, or use the service as a keyword research tool.
Learn to use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to your advantage Maximize existing and familiar keywords--and remove negative search phrases Increase conversion rates and determine which traffic-tracking methods are right for you systematically test ad copy and develop a plan for ongoing keyword discovery.
Based on your marketing budget, you can adjust your ad campaign based on the ROI data you collect.
It can help you gain new customers and retain customer loyalty through smart ad copy and personalization.
Zoom ahead of your competitors by using AdWords rapid feedback cycles filter out inappropriate or irrelevant prospects through the use of negative keywords, exact and phrase searches.
To maximize every penny you spend on Google Adwords, it's critical to have a highly structured campaign tailored to your specific business model, your specific target market, and your specific keyword phrase industry. If you're ready to spend less and make more money with your Google Adwords campaign, we can quickly show you, and teach you, how to maximize every dollar you spend with Google Adwords.
With great traffic, Google AdWords is today the most preferred brand for advertisers to start sponsored ad campaigns. It is a highly recommended Pay Per Click service which can be used to drive targeted traffic towards your site. Done right, Google Adwords might possible be the most effective marketing tool anywhere. When you create a Google AdWords ad, you choose keywords for which your ad will appear and specify the maximum amount you're willing to pay for each click.
Ready to learn the Google Adwords system? Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords and over 170,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle, Amazon's new wireless reading device. AdWords For Dummies is slightly more for beginners (as is typical for The Dummies Series), while the "Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords" is more advanced.
Want a great start in getting your business to take off?
Learn how to dominate your competition by learning the art of Google AdWords as a means of assisting you with solving your problems increasing website traffic.
Remodel Your Mind
In order to succeed in Internet Marketing, you must understand the obstacles you will run into. Changes in outside forces is something we don't have control with, but we shouldn't drop dead because we're blindsided with a change in any of those business forces, like the barriers to entry. One example is Craigslist implementation of phone verified accounts on both the For Sale and the Services Categories. Seems like everyone decides to punt when this came into play.
Today we can Remodel Your Mind for a better day. When you learn something better, your remodel your mind and either delete that which didn't serve, or file it someplace, in case you might need it again, used in good intent.
In conclusion, including these modules as part of your personal development allows you to better the health of your business. It doesn't matter whether you market on the free online classifieds, use pay-per-click, specifically AdWords, Web 2.0, or train yourself to a more business mindset. Although these modules will help put your business in the right direction, it's your will and desire to do the work, have a better handle of the forces outside your business, and a system that allows you to accomplish your business tasks.
Only then, you would get your business as close to being the perfect business.
Keywords:
perfect business, online classifieds, trouble driving website traffic, generating traffic, remodel your mind, web 2.0, social networking sites, ezines, e-zines, pay-per-click, build relationships, press releases
