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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Google Adwords Guide


You probably have already heard about the marketing tool from Google.com on the Internet. Their advertising service is called “Adwords” and allows you use Google.com for marketing. Your ads will be displayed on Google’s website when people initiate a search. Your ads can also be displayed very targeted among many thousand websites that partner with Google in a program called “Google AdSense”. Adwords is the Google.com version of a pay-per-click advertising model. That means users click on your ad and will be redirected to your website or a specific URL that you have selected when creating your ad campaign.

What do you need to know about Adwords? Adwords is a way to spend a lot of money on advertising very very fast. BUT – Adwords is also a way to spend marketing money very selective to a targeted audience. Adwords can be very expensive for the advertiser if not properly planned and tested.

When you setup a Google Adwords ad campaign, you choose certain keywords for which your ad will appear on search results on Google.com. You also specify the maximum amount of money that you are willing to pay for each click. Remember - the Google Adwords program is a PPC (Pay per Click) model and you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad and hence visits your website.

It is very important to select the right keywords for your business ad. Going with too generic keywords that everyone will not be very effective and very expensive. Play a little bit with the Adwords keyword and campaign settings just to get a feeling how expensive the generic keywords for your business and industry are. You will realize soon that you need to be creative and careful with the usage of keywords.

Google recommends using different spelling variations and plural versions of your keywords to reach the best target audience. This is a good approach, as not every one of your potential new customers will search for a keyword in the same way as everyone else. Some people will use plural versions and others will use singular versions.

Exact matching of keywords in Google user queries requires you to place square brackets around your selected keywords. Example: [web hosting]. Your ad will now only show when users search exactly the phrase ‘web hosting’. Your ad will not show if other words are included in the search string or the words are entered in a different order.

Another keyword matching option is the phrase option. This is very similar to the exact matching of keywords in a search in the sense that the keywords must all be present and in the right order. However your ad will still show up in search results even if other words are present in the search. To make use of phrase matching you must include your keywords in quotes. Example: "web hosting".

Negative matching is the final option available for your Adwords advertisement. This option allows you to block your ad being shown if a certain word is present in the search query of the Google user. This allows you to reduce the number of possible clicks on your ad in non-relevant searches and therefore to keep your cost low. It also helps you to make sure that your ad is not shown to users who will not be interested in your products. If your keyword is 'web hosting' but your web hosting is based on the Linux operating system and not based on a Windows Operating System then by using negative matching you can choose to have your ad not shown for search queries with 'windows web hosting'. In this case 'windows' would be your negative keyword. You simply place a dash in front of your negative keyword to use this option. Example: -windows

Using the here described ways of selecting keywords will help you to be more successful with Google Adwords. Google also allows you be very specific for which geographic area your ads will be displayed. You go from global to country and even state or city specific settings. Especially local businesses now will have it much easier to use Google Adwords for their specific local markets.

Well, you got the idea how to be very specific how you select your keywords and combinations of keywords. But how do you actually select the right keywords? In order to get the most out of Adwords, you must have a list of great keyword and phrases. If your keyword list is not good enough, you will be punished with paying too much for your advertising. Write down the top search terms that you can think of. Ask friends and family how they would use Google to find your product (without searching for the business name itself).

A competitor of Google actually offers a free tool, which will allow you to find out how popular the keywords are that you selected. Find this free tool here and use it for your advantage:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Create a list of the most popular keywords. Now add words to the actual keywords. Use words that would describe your specific product or service. Now use these phrases or word combinations when setting up a Google Adwords campaign to find out how much you would have to pay per click to get your ad onto the first page on a Google search.

If the keywords selected by you are very expensive to use you should consider rewording or using different combinations. Maybe concentrate on a certain niche to find lower priced keyword options.

When testing new campaigns make sure that you limit your exposure by amount of money you want to spend per day as well as you should set a date / time limit. It’s easier to activate a campaign again if it works just fine for you. If you fail to set limits you might spend lots of money in a very short time – money you can’t get back. It is gone ….

Another way to save money on your Adwords advertising campaign is to wait for the end of the month. It’s funny, but many folks follow a plain rule to start their advertising in the beginning of the month. By the time the 25th of a month is there they have spend most of their money on their campaigns already. For you this means that the prices for many popular keywords might be more affordable for you.

If you are advertising specific products with your ads, link to the specific product page and not to your homepage. 95% of the people who click through to your website will not really be willing to start another search on your website to find the product mentioned in your ad.

Conclusion

Frequently revisit your campaigns and compare prices and results. The Internet is a fast changing environment. What works one day, might not necessarily work the next day. Keep track of everything – maybe create a spreadsheet.

Friday, April 10, 2009

10 Tips For Successful Facebook Marketing


There are a ton of social media websites that you can participate in today like Linked In and Friendster, and they all have their good and bad. The best way to choose a community to participate in is to look at the people who have already joined. For me, Facebook is quite possibly the best sites for networking personally and professionally. I also use Linked In and Myspace. Of all the social networks, Facebook is the best place when it comes to all around marketing and networking.

I have been using Facebook for the past two years, and it is an attractive tool for marketing to add to your marketing strategy. Following are ten ways you can use Facebook to introduce new people to your for FREE!

1. Make a Top-Notch Profile: This is absolutely the FIRST thing that you must do to make an impact on Facebook . Think of your Facebook profile as part of your branding. A effective profile will include a photo of you. Don't use the one of you at a Christmas party, unless that's what your selling. Make sure your new Facebook profile is complete. You should include your contact information, your web address (this is so important), education, work experience and your personal interests. A complete profile is the only way to go.

2. Add Friends: This is what makes Facebook a great platform - the ability to make friends, build relationships and foster them. The more relationships you build, the more worthwhile your marketing efforts will be. You can use Facebook's own tools to find friends that are already on Facebook. Once you add your friends, you can search for kindred spirits. Make their acquaintance, become their friend, build a relationship. One cool feature on Facebook is that you can see friends of your friends. This will help you build a extensive network in no time.

3. Join Facebook Groups: You can join groups within Facebook that are associated with what you do. There are groups for wealth building, coaches, and experts of all kinds. Almost every supposable type of professional service provider has some type of an online group. I belong to several groups on Facebook and have made hundreds of new contacts this way.

4. Create your Own Facebook Group: Can't find a group that really makes sense? Create your own! You can add members, publish articles, carry on discussions, and probably build some long lasting relationships. And even if you find great group to belong to, start your own. This gives you the opportunity to be the trendsetter!

5. Syndicate your Blog Using RSS: You can syndicate your own blog on your Facebook profile page. This inherently means that every time you make a post, it will automatically show up on your profile page. More Exposure = More Readers = More Leads = More Business. And the bonus is the back links to your site. I syndicate headlines from three blogs on Facebook.

6. Comment on Other Peoples Profiles: Are you a fan or devotee of someone's work? Reach out to them on Facebook! Many of my business acquaintances check their Facebook messages more regularly than their email. They are also more likely to respond to Facebook messages. Don't feel comfortable sending a message to someone you don't know? Don't worry! Leave them a "just saying hi!" or "I enjoy your work!" blurb on their wall. All profiles come with "virtual walls" where friends and acquaintances can leave messages. The more messages you leave on your friend's Facebook profiles the more exposure you get!

7. List your Events: Launching a New Service? Create an events page and invite all your friends and acquaintances. You can even see who RSVPed and get feedback from your guests. Marketing doesn't get much simpler (or cheaper!) than this.

8. Send Virtual Gifts: Want to show your appreciation for someone? Send them a virtual gift. You can choose from a bouquet of flowers to a potted plant that actually sits on the your friends profile and grows over time (plus hundreds of others). With all the 3rd party applications for gift giving available, what are you waiting for. This is a proven way to build long lasting relationships!

9. Use Some Cool Apps: Facebook has literally tons of applications that were built just for the site. Gaming, music, movie trivia and more. When you use an application, you get to invite your friends to use these interesting little applications (Apps). So just like number 8 above, this allows you another way to stay in touch with your Facebook friends. Again, this helps you build long lasting relationships.

10. Create a Community: Perhaps Facebook's greatest benefit is that it lets you to build a community. It provides you a group of people who are perpetually connected to you, and they are open to hearing what you have to say. Write on people's walls, give them feedback, and introduce them to each other. Start building your brand and leveraging Facebook for business building!

Facebook is a great place to introduce yourself to a ton of new people who may also become customers and/or clients. Just keep one thing in mind: don't get too carried away and spend all your time there. Facebook is a tool, part of your marketing strategy. Use the tips above, use them wisely and have a little fun at the same time.

FastForwardLeads is dedicated to helping individuals and small businesses generate leads, convert those leads in customers/clients and build a web presence that works for them. We can show you how to make your online business profitable.

What Is Attraction Marketing?


Attraction Marketing seems to be ‘the next big thing’ in both online and offline marketing tool kits. The obvious question is ‘What is Attraction Marketing?’ however, two better questions would be ‘Why should I care?’ and the question every entrepreneur, vendor or organisation should ask before they do anything ‘What’s in it for me?’


In order to define Attraction Marketing, it seems logical that one must first describe marketing. This, in itself, would easily fill another article – there are literally hundreds of definitions in thousands of textbooks, articles and websites. A theme common in the majority of definitions is that Marketing relates to the many forms of communication that take place between a product or service vendor and the target audience. This is quite separate from the activity of selling, which refers to the transaction where goods or services are exchanged for an agreed value – normally measured in a unit of currency. In the simplest of terms we can say that marketing is the process by which a customer can be persuaded to conduct a purchasing transaction.


If this is our working definition, what has attraction got to do with persuasion I hear you cry? Well in short not a lot and that is the key. It takes a lot of effort to persuade someone to do something or to buy something that they have not yet already decided to buy. Effort, in this instance, equates to time and money. If you do not have a limitless supply of cash, the task of persuading someone to buy your product is going to be near impossible, especially when you consider your going to be competing with some very big budget advertisers. Can you really out market Coke or Pepsi? Do you want to compete head to head with Nike or BMW? I think not!


But let’s approach this from a different angle. What if you didn’t set out to persuade anyone to buy something? What if you just let people search for you? Already this sounds cheaper and easier because your potential customers are now looking for you. And thanks to Google and the other Search Engines, consumers have an almost limitless variety of choice. This choice includes the big name mega brands and all the other not-so-big or not-so-mega brands. The Internet has, to some extent, levelled the playing field. If a potential consumer has want that is currently unsatisfied they can search for a product or service that they believe will meet their need.


And this brings us back to Attraction. It is a well cited statistic that it costs five times as much to win a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. The same must be true in the broader world of Marketing. Convincing someone that they have a need is expensive. However, persuading someone who already has a need that your product or service is better than your competitors is a much cheaper exercise. Why? Well the potential buyer has already qualified their own need; they have already convinced themselves that their need can be met. It is your job to attract them to your particular corner of the market, whether that is your Internet site, your company’s office, your shop or bar, in fact wherever you do what you do!


Attraction Marketing is the practice of allowing pre-qualified buyers to find your product offering. If, at the same time, you can show them that it meets their need and in a better way than your competitors can, you probably don’t even have to worry about the sales transaction. After all they came looking for you, it’s not like you had to sell them anything…

www.FastForwardLeads.info

Thursday, April 9, 2009

You Can Double Your Website Traffic And Sales Using Forum Marketing


Do you need more traffic to your web site, and more sales? If you do, then you need to consider an often neglected side of web site promotion which is called forum marketing.

Most web sites make use of forums to provide the element of response from user to owner and vice versa. These forums take many forms, and include the standard forums, discussion boards, bulletin boards and currently blogs where the visitors to the web site can leave their comments on the site.

Marketing has always revolved around relationships. The basic element of relationship from the aspect of online marketing is to weave an element of trust between the potential purchaser and the vendor or web site owner. Once there is this element of trust, even the tiniest bond that has been sown between the potential buyer and seller, it becomes easier for the potential buyer to take a further step to buy the product. That is why many marketers are establishing forum boards and blogs to interact with clients and to provide support and to answer queries.

These forum boards provide a fertile ground for you to test out forum marketing for your products.

You need to compile a list of the discussion boards and blogs that are related to your product or service line that you are going to market. Then on a daily basis, visit these forums to read their postings. These forums are the best sites where newbies to internet marketing would congregate to seek free resources, or request information or advice from more experienced forumers. When you see a post where you can respond, make a brief informative post, and more importantly make sure you leave a reference to your web site in your signature line. This confers on you two advantages. Firstly, you gain a backlink to your site when you leave your website address in a much visited forum, and secondly, forumers who read your post will tend to visit your web site by following the link in your post.

Some internet marketers channel all their visitors to a squeeze page and not to a sales website directly. This squeeze page is a sign up page where you get the email address of the visitor in return for a free download of a ebook or report or software. By using this squeeze page, you gain targeted leads.

Statistics show a potential buyer would need to be exposed at least 3 to 5 times before he becomes interested to take the next step to purchase anything from you. By getting his email, you can email him on a regular schedule or use an autoresponder to channel your marketing message across.

The most important part of forum marketing is to identify a group of marketing forums and blogs related to your product or services that you are selling, from which you can then launch off. Once you have the list of forums and discussion boards, it becomes a daily affair to spend enough time to visit these forums and to post to them. Beware though, forum reading can be addictive, and you can be spending a whole lot of time on reading and posting to forums. Track your leads, and as you continue to do your forum posting daily, you will see a steady increase in your web site traffic and your sales.

www.FastForwarLeads.info

Earn Money Online And Work At Home Based Business



It may sound cliché but it is worth repeating. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn money online. This internet business involves a revenue partnership between a web merchant and one or more affiliates, whereby the publisher or affiliate gets a commission for referring clicks, lead or sales to the merchant’s website. Once you are an affiliate marketer, then you are in business.

And you should take it seriously, like what successful entrepreneurs did for their business. But there’s one question that usually bothers an affiliate marketer wannabe: Is it possible to make a living being an affiliate marketer? The answer is YES! It can even bring you to the elite level or super affiliate stardom if you really focus and work hard on it.

An affiliate marketer is a website owner that is usually engaged in promoting one or more merchants and their affiliate programs. As mentioned, an affiliate marketer receives a commission every time his/her site visitor clicks the merchant’s site, sign-up, or buy the product or service offered by the web merchant. Most often, affiliate programs give a commission per sale. This affiliate commission can be a fixed dollar amount or a fixed percentage. Commission payment based on a fixed percentage level per sale can be more gratifying for the affiliate marketer if he/she is promoting and reselling high priced merchandise.

Affiliate marketing can provide a full-time profit for the affiliate marketers and it is among the few work from home opportunities that is fully automated. In other words, affiliate marketing makes you enjoy the flexibility of working for yourself and a choice to enjoy your life while making an income. The work of an affiliate marketer is uncomplicated – you just have to refer people to someone else’s offer or you simply just need to promote the products and services offered in your merchant’s web site. If the merchant gain a profit from that customer, then a portion of that profit will be given to you as a commission.

But you should remember that aiming for successful online business like this one is not an easy task to accomplish. And it can’t be achieved overnight. If you want to make a living being an affiliate marketer, you need to find out and embrace some tactics and put everything in their respective place. It requires hefty time commitment and of course, blood and sweat. There are three important traits that you need to develop if you want to do well in this field, these are patience, persistence and thirst for knowledge.

Since it is your role to introduce possible buyer to the seller, you need to be equipped with some strategies and be engaged in some activities that will surely increase you affiliate commission. Join in chat rooms that are related to the product and services you are promoting. Make a free ebook containing advertisements and link of your affiliate website.

You can also start your own affiliate program directory and you can make your own affiliate program ads. Using a testimonial and personal endorsement ad can also help. Try to use a signature file in advertising the product you are promoting. Involve yourself in a web ring and join on web discussion board. Moreover, you can create your own private website and use it as a free bonus for those who purchase the product or service that you are promoting.

These are only few ways that will help you enhance your money making experience in the internet. You still need to know more tactics if you want to make a living being an affiliate marketer. Don’t forget that you have to be a great email marketer for you to promote your merchant’s goods and services. In fact, some successful affiliate marketers resort to bulk email marketing or they may employ email marketing software that can even lead to spamming.

Make a newsletter or free ezine and use it to advertise the affiliate program you are promoting. Super affiliates do this; they send this newsletters and ezines to customers with or without their approval. Aside from email and newsletter marketing, you also need to be good in search engine optimization and in link exchanges. The latter take the most important part in assuring that your website ranks well in search engines.

Equipped with expertise and necessary traits, you are more likely to generate more income from your website. Bear in mind that in affiliate marketing, you can gain income without a limit. Though not all affiliate marketers earns a big profit, still, it proves to be correct that you can make as much or as little as you want. So, who said that you can’t make a living being an affiliate marketer?

About The Author:

Discover how you can create a turnkey internet marketing system that builds massive downline for you, attracts hungry prospects automatically, and generates income non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Find out more here: www.FastForwardLeads.info

Protect Your Affiliate Links From Theft


It's now possible to protect yourself from one of the largest growing internet scams, the theft of your affiliate links and the loss of your commission.

In recent years more and more people have become aware of affiliate links and people promoting others products. A lot of the time they are suspect of very long links, made confusing and lengthy by peoples affiliate ids, or if in doubt delete the id, so they're just left with the web address.

This causes you to lose your commission or they change the ending of the link to their id and get the commission. This is a very common occurrence among click bank users.

Viral URL gets you around this by cloaking your link in another id, an ID you choose so it's easy to remember. This means that should the person who sees your link go to change it after all your marketing efforts, it will render the site useless, it cannot be picked up. And they'll have no choice but to click your link.

Viral URL will provide you with a safe, impossible to crack link, and guidance on how to use it and promote it best. This affiliate program comprises of 20 promotional tools all aimed at helping you succeed with your ventures, and getting your website known. It also provides you with some brilliant email templates to push the boundaries even further.

It's all laid out in easy to understand explained steps, so you don't feel overwhelmed with all you can do.

Security is one of the key factors in affiliate marketing. If you do not adopt proper security measures, then your business will be at high risk. One of the most important ways to restore security is to protect your affiliate links. Do not take them for granted. A bit of carelessness on your part in regards to affiliate links may cost you a lot of money.

If your links are tampered with, then all your hard work will be rendered useless.

An absolutely invaluable feature in Viral URL is the tracking statistics of the links it provides the user with, and the flexibility of domain names. In the cloaking section you can create a link, fully protected by Viral URL, tracked and recorded as well so you can analyze the stats, and assign this fully protected, fully traceable link to any domain name you own.

You will always feel confident and comfortable when using Viral URL and it helps secure your links and commissions. This is a very powerful program for all affiliate marketers, especially click bank users and one step closer to getting rid of internet fraudsters and protecting your business.

Find out about protecting yourself here: www.FastForwardLeads.info

Myspace Marketing - How to Market Your Business for FREE on Myspace


Myspace.com is the world’s largest social networking website. It is the cool place to be if you are in your teens, 20s and 30s. I have also found that it can be an outstanding free marketing tool for social business and websites.

So what is Myspace.com? Myspace is a website where anybody in the world can create a free “personal” web page (i.e., my space). Once you have created your personal web page on myspace, then you can connect your page to other people’s myspace pages by clicking on a link to request to be a person’s friend. Once that person agrees to be your friend, then you and that person can email each other, chat with each other, leave comments on each other’s myspace pages, and read each other’s blogs. There is no limit to the number of friends you can have and some of the more popular people on myspace have millions of myspace friends and have actually become Internet celebrities and have been featured on talk shows.

Over the past year I have been conducting test marketing on myspace for a couple of my clients and I have discovered that myspace can be a very good free marketing tool for businesses. However, myspace is not for all businesses. The types of business that will do well having a myspace page are the “cool” types of businesses that want to market to people in their 20s and 30s. Businesses that will have luck marketing on myspace include bars, clubs, “hip” clothing stores, and cool Internet websites.

Here is how to market your business on myspace.com:

1. Go to myspace.com and create a free profile. Make sure to talk first about yourself and then about your business. However, you must consider your myspace page a personal page where you talk mostly about you and a little about your business. Do not just talk about your business because if you do, people will not want to be your friend. You need to focus on the personal aspect such as, “hey this is me and my life. And by the way I run this Internet website that sells cool t-shirts.” If you think of myspace as a place to network and meet friends FIRST and market your business SECOND, then you will do well on myspace.

2. Once you have created your myspace page, click the browse link to find the type of people you want to market to. You can search by gender, age, location, ethnicity, etc.

3. Go to each person’s page and click their “Add to friends” link. The person will either approve you or deny you. If they approve you, your myspace page and their myspace page will be connected as being friends.

4. To market your business, post friendly personalized bulletins. When you post a bulletin, a link to your bulletin will be posted on each of your friend’s myspace pages. If you have 5,000 myspace friends, than you can literally have a message sent to all 5,000 of these people for free. However, remember that you must be personal with your messages. Talk like you are talking to your best friend. Do NOT talk to people like customers. Myspace is a place for friends and you must respect that.

5. Post friendly comments on your myspace friends’ pages and include a link to your website. Then, everybody who goes to your friend’s myspace page will see your comment and your link. Some will click on your picture to become your friend and some will click on the link to go to your website.

Learn More in: www.FastForwarLeads.info