Friday, March 27, 2009

Create a Marketing Plan That Gets Good Results

Today's Good Marketing Tip: Marketing Plans

If you're looking to succeed with a basic marketing plan, then youll need to focus on some core elements of a plan that targets the right audience and produces a result. For your marketing to be truly effective, you should consider using multiple media and a number of touches.

There is so much competition today that the messages you use need to be incredibly focused. The impact of any campaign is highly correlated to the quality of your list and the effectiveness of your offer.

Over the past twelve years I have discovered that marketing results are relatively consistent when sound marketing practices are applied. These techniques can be effective in virtually any industry and with any type of campaign you have. Consider developing your marketing campaign using these strategies:

Set targeted goals. Before you get started think about the specific goals you wish to achieve. Many marketers focus on generating some type of conversion but you need to define what conversion means to you. Some individuals are just looking for a sale while others are seeking a lead or download. Before you begin your marketing campaign, identify what action you want respondents to take and how you are going to measure it.

Focus on segmentation. Do not attempt to market to everyone. Choose a specific segment and focus your energies there. If you do, your campaign will be more successful. You can increase your chances of success tremendously when you focus on a specific market or niche. Review your current customer and find others like them if you wish to generate a positive ROI.

Select a few key messages points. What are the messages that resonate with your audience segment? There may be some key message points you have when describing your product or service. If so, use them to create a baseline and try to improve in later campaigns. You need to talk to your prospects in the language that resonates with them if you are going to grab their attention and gain their trust.

Test your offers. The only way to run a successful marketing campaign is by testing various offers. Your offer is an essential component for driving results. Your best bet is to test multiple offers simultaneously by splitting your list or testing offers. Once you find and offer that works, try to beat its results during the next campaign.

Use an integrated marketing approach. Dont settle for a single email, post card or ad. Rather, discover the media that your segment uses to get their information, do research, and buy their products. This will help you determine the best way to reach them. Once you develop a campaign, tie together as many of these media types to convey your message and offer.

I have found that using these techniques are paramount to producing a favorable return on your marketing investment. In addition be mindful of campaign timing. Even if all of the above criteria are met, your campaign may still fall flat if you have not exposed your audience to the right message at the right time.

Be sure to review each of the aforementioned steps before creating your next marketing campaign. Your marketing is only going to be effective if you set specific goals, segment your market, focus on key messages, and create a compelling offer. I encourage you to experiment with different media to get your message across.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Understanding Search Engine Optimization and SEM For Marketing Success

Many individuals new to web marketing have some questions about search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Are they one in the same? How are they different? SEO and SEM have many similarities but are not the same.


First, lets focus on how search engine optimization (SEO) and search marketing (SEM) are similar. Each of these online marketing techniques requires a basic and advanced understanding. SEO requires knowledge of search engine and how to effectively optimize a website or web page. SEM requires knowledge and understanding about online marketing, online advertising, and keyword marketing.

Both online marketing methods can be rather complex yet at the same time relatively simple. SEO can be boiled down to this. Where your site is ranked on major search engines is a direct result of your understanding and application of best practices in the area of SEO.

SEM success is based on an understanding of running online marketing campaigns across various advertising networks. The largest networks are Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Each works differently but at the same time, the general premise is the same. You place an online ad that displays when users type in specific keywords that you identify. If a browser clicks on your display ad, you pay a fee regardless of whether or not they convert into a customer.

Search engine optimization is unique and different from search engine marketing because the organic result which appears in search engines is driven from your optimization techniques. These techniques are broken down into on page optimization and off page optimization. On page optimization is closely tied to web site design and off page is more associated with in bound links to your website.

The result is that SEO drives organic traffic. That is to say that after users complete searches on major search engines like Google, the resulting list is based on search engines returning the best result determined by their unique algorithm. When users click on these results you do not pay. Organic search is usually referred to as free traffic.

Search engine marketing differs in that you pay when users take an action. Unlike traditional advertising you do not pay for your ad to display. You do however pay when a browser clicks on your ad. The amount you pay varies on the competitiveness of your keywords and the position in which you want your ad to display.

Anyone doing business online really needs to study and become and expert in both SEO and SEM. These two disciplines drive your online success and can either make or break a legitimate online business. Learn more by subscribing to a blog or reading information online. Each piece of information you add can have a significant impact on your results.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Google Improves Behavioral Marketing

Did you hear? Google is changing the way they advertise. Things just got that much more interesting. Here is the email I received directly from Google...

"We're writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site's privacy policies. You'll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.

Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user's previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. "sports enthusiast"). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the "sports enthusiast" interest category. To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310.

As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557 to ensure that your site's privacy policies are up-to-date, and make any necessary changes by April 8, 2009. Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we're unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.

For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to this upcoming enhancement."

So Google finally figured out what we've been discussing for year... target your offers based on good segmentation and BEHAVIOR. When you do, watch your marketing results improve!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Shocking Video Reveals Profitable PPC Campaigns

Hi all... as always, the Good Marketing Tips Blog is here to provide you with access to the same tools I use to achieve online marketing success. Google Cash Detective has had a significant impact on my online PPC marketing. Google Cash Detective is opening it's doors back up... fortunately for me I joined the first time! Learn more below and be sure to check out this FANTASTIC video that reveals all...

Chris Carpenter is revealing profitable affiliate campaigns
- keywords, ad copy, affiliate product - the whole 9 yards!

He's got a cloud computing technology and claims to be bringing FULL TRANSPARENCY to the PPC marketplace.

http://www.gcdetective.com

This video was just released this morning, and it's going to change everything.

The Google Cash Method is now on steroids!

Talk about informative! You're not going to believe what you see, and I'm sure you are going to love this...

...as long as it's not one of your hard earned affiliate campaigns that he's showing off.

Seriously, he's got a step by step process to find profitable campaigns and to see months of actual Google Adword's history on who's promoting hot affiliate products and with exactly what keywords.

He has the secret to starting pay per click campaigns that start turning profits IMMEDIATELY.
Forget costly trial and error!

This is the most systematic and rational approach to profitable affiliate marketing that I've ever seen. This is how you build an online business!

Chris set me up on the system, and I can't believe what I'm seeing. Talk about powerful knowledge that you can use right away. I can't believe he's selling this!

Seriously, check it out

http://www.gcdetective.com/


Talk soon,
Michael

P.S. If you opt in, and you SHOULD, you will get real campaign data that you can implement right away and sooooo many ideas for finding new campaigns that you may be busy for weeks!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Win With Article Marketing

For anyone doing business online, article marketing is one of the most popular ways to improve your search engine optimization efforts. With the introduction of article submission software, the task of distributing your articles across the Internet is easier than ever before. There are a number of rules you should follow if you want to get the most from your article marketing.

In this article, I will give you some article writing and submission guidelines that I've personally used to improve the overall impact of my submissions and guarantee that articles are placed on web pages with a high Google PR.


The value of article marketing is that your content has a life beyond a single web page. Website owners visit many of these article aggregation websites to find relevant content for their website, blog, or newsletter. As a result, your article can continue to be published for quite some time after it is submitted and posted. The real value of article submission is when bloggers provide a link back to your website in exchange for the content you have provided.

Timely And Valuable Content Pays Dividends. When creating an article, spend more time on the planning phase than the actual writing of the article. You want to make sure that the information you provide is related to something current and of interest to your potential audience. By doing so, other website owners find true value in the content and post it to their website or blog.

Make Sure Your Article Is Long Enough. Too often I see valuable content that is only a few words short of a powerful article. Many article submission websites have a length requirement of 500 words or more. I like to meet that minimum by at least 35 words so that sites that do not count prepositions still measure more than the minimum number of words.

Use Your Keyword Phrase Within Your Article. When writing an article about a particular subject, choose a keyword phrase that helps to promote your website, product or service. This allows search engines to easily find and classify your content related to specific keywords.

Submit Your Articles To Top Article Directories. In order to get the most from your article marketing efforts, find top ranked article websites using an article submission tool, software, or application that can provide an indication of a web sites age or Google PR. By doing so, you'll be able to spend more time submitting to web sites that can provide value to your online marketing efforts.

Use Article Submission Software. There have been a tremendous number of improvements in the area of article marketing during the last two years. The market offers a number of article submission tools that can automate or semi-automate the submission process. Although nothing can fully replace authoring your own content, article submission can be made easier with the help of article marketing software and technology.

The use of article marketing is paramount to improving your online search engine rankings. Now that online tools and software have been developed to enhance the effectiveness of your article marketing, significant time should be spent finding the right tool for you. This eliminates the need for wasting significant time writing and or submitting articles to the right directories and getting the results you're looking for.

Article marketing continues to be a great way to improve your websites search engine ranking. With the help of original content and links back to your website or blog, search engines take notice and assign your site a great deal of value.

Anyone doing business via the Internet, then you must consider article marketing as a key search engine optimization strategy. Not only can article marketing help you promote your website, but original content is viral in nature and builds your traffic to your website over time.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Making A Living With Google Adsense

Making a living on earning Adsense commissions isn't all that realistic. However, Adsense commissions are a great way to supplement your income. Ask website owners today about their earnings and you'll find that many supplement their income easily with the help of Adsense advertising. Ive learned how to increase my Adsense commissions over time and will share with you all Ive discovered.


Making money via Adsense is based on a number of different factors including which ads you display and where they appear on your website or blog. Here are some key factors to consider before placing your Adsense ads. The first is ad placement. Certain locations on your page are more successful at generating click through than others. Google has even documented the ideal placement of ads and determined that ads located above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold. Ads placed near content blocks and navigational items tend do well because users are focused on those areas of a page and take action.

While this information about ad placement is useful as a guide, I strongly recommend that you consider your users first when deciding on proper ad position. Think about user behavior on different pages and what will be most useful to them and their navigation of your website. You'll find that what you think is the most optimal ad position isn't always what you expect.

For example, on pages where users are focused on reading a specific article, ads that are placed directly below the end of the content tend to do very well. It's almost as if users finish reading the content and ask, "What can I do next?" Targeted ads can answer that question and encourage users to take action.

Ad formats. Different types of ads perform better than others. This largely depends on page content and organization. Many advertisers find that large rectangles in content areas work best, while leader boards produce less revenue. Other ad sizes like sky scrappers are usually the worst performers even though they command the largest amount of space. The key is to experiment and measure the results to see which ad sizes and formats work best optimizing revenue.

Adsense Ad Color Palette. When your ads blend into content click through rates can improve. Sometimes however Adsense ads that contrast with your web site colors can show the best click through rates. Test a variety of ad colors to determine if different palettes generate different results. To determine which ad variation will work for you, test, test, test.

Number of ad units on a page. Websites are allowed a maximum of 3 ads, plus one set of ad links, and one Google search box per page. Maximize the allowed number based on the resulting look of your page (you don't want an overkill of ads). Users going to your page and reading your content may ignore the banner or rectangle at the top of the page, but may click on the ad at the bottom of the article.

Experiment with the factors above and see which combination works best for your particular website. Remember that not all sites do well with Adsense ads. Even if you get lots of traffic but your visitors are not interested in looking for ways to spend their money, they won't be interested in your ads and won't click through.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Make Money Selling Affiliate Products

If you are new to internet marketing or know your way around a website, you may have thought about making money online by selling affiliate products. Affiliate programs are a popular method of earning an online income. Some individuals make a living doing nothing other than selling affiliate products.



Lets begin by defining the concept of affiliate marketing. Product manufacturers rely on website and blog owners to help them sell their products and services. Affiliates find a product they are willing to sell and promote the product online. For each sale they generate, they earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing is such a great way to earn a living online. Why? The reason is simple. With the help of affiliate marketing, you don't need to start your own business or develop your own products. Doing so requires a good deal of capital and a firm understanding of business practices.

Affiliate products are sold by placing an affiliate link on your website or blog. You can even include your affiliate link within the author section of your articles or forum postings. Each time the link is clicked and users are converted through the publisher's website, you earn a commission.

A question I often get is where to find publishers products to begin selling with affiliate marketing. Fortunately, there are a number of websites that bring together buyers and sellers such as Commission Junction. You can browse publisher's products and their affiliate programs. Find one that is aligned with your niche or level of expertise, and start selling.

There are a variety of methods for choosing products that could sell well on your website or blog. One of the best methods is to think about what your website audience needs. Are they searching for products or services? Do they have a particular problem that a product can solve? Research affiliate products on Clickbank and find the right offer. Place your affiliate link and start promoting.

Most affiliate marketers own either a website or blog. But not all do. Many earn a living online simple by promoting affiliate products in their articles or through pay per click advertising. It's recommended however that if you want to succeed online, you build your own website or blog. There are a number of resources to help you get started such as ezinearticles or Blogger.

Even if you have your own website, you can jump start your affiliate marketing efforts with the help of publishing articles or forum posts in your niche. There are a significant number of affiliates that make sales using this method.

Review your online assets and determine if you have a good starting resource. This could be a website, blog, or jump page. It could also be your profile on social media sites or articles you've written. All you need to do to begin is choose a product that meets a need for your market and post a link. You will earn commissions as soon as individuals click through your link and buy the product you're promoting.

 
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