How to Turn Website Visitors into Customers for Your Creative Business

So you're attracting lots of visitors to your website. But if you're a freelancer or running a creative business, you need those visitors to become clients and customers. Otherwise your site is like a bucket with a hole - draining away your time and money.1. Work out what they really want.
Finding out what your customers want is the beginning and end of your marketing efforts. Get this right, and you can make mistakes with the rest of this list and still make sales. Get it wrong, and you will struggle no matter how well you execute the rest.

If you're a service provider working closely with clients, this is relatively easy - since clients will tell you about their problems, challenges, loves, and hates. They'll let you know when you're giving them what they want - and vice versa! So pay attention to what they tell you and use it to improve your service - and develop new offerings.

If you're selling products or artworks without so much interaction with your customers, it's a little harder but still doable. Take every opportunity to meet with your customers and talk to them - in 'real life' as well as via social media.

Working out what your customers want is an ongoing process that involves trial and error. Here are two questions that can help you get the answers faster:

• Which products/services/artworks are my customers most enthusiastic about?
• What do they buy from your competitors that you could do better, or with an original twist?

2. Show them you mean business.
When a new visitor lands on your website, what's their first impression? Does it look professional or amateurish? Up-to-date or neglected? Popular or obscure? No prizes for guessing which qualities are more attractive to buyers.

And do you make it obvious this is a business website, where you want them to buy from you or hire you? They aren't mind readers, you know!

Don't say: "Hi, I'm Rachel, welcome to my photography site, I hope you enjoy the pictures!"

Do say: "Hi, I'm Rachel Reynolds, a photographer based in Boston. Welcome to my site - you can browse and buy my pictures in the gallery."

 

 

3. Make your offer crystal clear.
What do you want people to DO when they come to your site? 'Buy my stuff' or 'hire me' should be at the top of your list. Next up is to subscribe to your blog or newsletter, sign up for a free trial, or do something else that moves them closer to buying.

Make a prioritized list of these actions. For each desired action, you need to make an offer (invitation, call to action).

Particularly if you are selling a complex product or service, you need to make it clear exactly what you can do for your customers, and how it will benefit them. The more specific you are, the more believable your claims, the more of an expert you will appear.

Don't say: "I'm available for portrait commissions."

Do say: "I paint Vinyl Art, portraits of musicians and entertainers on vinyl records made by

Social Media Presence More Important Than Social Media Ads

Yet marketers have concerns with the communities they've built on social sites

Social media marketers feel that having a presence on social sites is more important than advertising there, but there are still challenges related to keeping a community running online.

In July 2011, Microsoft Advertising and Advertiser Perceptions surveyed social media marketers in six countries around the world and found that 74% of them thought it was very important to have a presence on Facebook, but only 57% felt the same way about advertising there. On Twitter, presence also carried more weight, with 47% of respondents saying they thought it was very important. But in Twitter’s case, there was not as much of a difference between presence and advertising, at 42%.

Of the marketers surveyed, 72% agreed that measuring return on investment from social media was too hard, an oft-cited challenge of social media overall. More specific to having a brand page or account, 56% of marketers said turnover was too high and 52% said their fan or follower base was not target-appropriate.

Looking at social media budgets gives more insight into how marketers are keeping their communities engaged online.

Social media marketers reported that 48% of their budgets are used to attract new members to

Marketers struggle to harness social media - survey

Oct 11 (Reuters) - Marketing chiefs feel overwhelmed by the growing volume of customer data on websites like Facebook and Twitter, and while they realise its potential value they consider themselves ill-equipped to harness it, an IBM study found.

Only 26 percent of chief marketing officers track blogs and just 40 percent track any online communications, while 82 percent still rely on traditional market research to shape marketing strategies, according to the study.

A few top consumer brands, such as Coca-Cola , Nike and Starbucks -- are using high-profile social media campaigns to great effect to find out what their customers want and to communicate with them.

But most CMOs are struggling to prove that investments in social media marketing would yield returns, according to the survey of more than 1,700 CMOs published on Tuesday and carried out in face-to-face interviews from February to June.

"The perfect solution is to serve each consumer individually. The problem? There are 7 billion of them," said one CMO at a consumer-products firm in the survey.

Some 82 percent said they planned to increase their use of social media over the next 3-5 years.

IBM, along with other technology firms and big advertising agencies, is seeking to capitalise on the need

Use The Power Of Facebook to Catapult Your Web Presence

Currently Facebook has over 750 million active users. This means the Facebook community is over 2.4 times the population of the United States and it's growing rapidly every day. The marketing potential of this site is just incredible. If you are doing any kind of online marketing for your business and are not using Facebook then you are missing out on thousands of potential customers.


It is very easy to begin marketing on Facebook. If you already have a personal Facebook profile with a reasonable number of friends, then you already have a head start. For your marketing purposes though, it is usually a good idea to create a separate fan page for your business. If you use your personal profile for marketing purposes, chances are many of your Facebook friends may not be interested in what you have to offer and may eventually "de-friend" you if they feel like they are getting spammed. By having a separate fan page, your friends have the option to either "like" your fan page or not but you can still keep them as a friend on your personal profile.


Suggesting your fan page to your friends may be a good start to developing many Facebook followers but it shouldn't end there. Here are some other methods for increasing your Facebook fan base:

• Add a link to your fan page from your personal Facebook profile page.
• If you have a following on Twitter, you can link your Twitter account to your Facebook fan page.
• Add links to your fan page from your website and on all emails you send out.
• Add a Facebook "like" button at the end of your blog posts.
• Create videos related to your niche, add them to your fan page and your website or blog.
• Use custom Facebook applications to draw people to your fan page.
• Give free gifts for becoming a fan. This could include a free report, eBook or instructional video.
• Entice people to become fans by entering them into a drawing for a prize giveaway.

Marketing your products or services on Facebook can be very effective but you have to be careful with your approach. Keep in mind, most people do not come to Facebook to go shopping. They come to socialize and keep in touch with their friends. If you are too aggressive with your sales tactics, you may turn away some of your fans who think you are spamming them.


The best way to market on Facebook is by building the trust of your followers. Send them what they want by posting useful information, tips and videos about certain topics relating to your niche. Make sure to promptly respond to comments and messages from your fans. They need to

Common Submission MisconceptsFive Common Misconceptions to Achieving Success with your Online Business

How successful is your online business? Are you achieving the monetary rewards that you’d hoped to achieve when you set up your Web site?


If not, you may have fallen prey to one of five common misconceptions to achieving success with an online business.


Misconception #1: If you put up a Web site, people will come. Regretfully, this is far from the truth. Competition is fierce on the Internet, and you must learn how to compete in order to have a successful online business. Putting up a Web site is the first step, but doing nothing more will ensure your site’s failure


Misconception #2: Amateur promotion will render professional results. Many people believe that they can purchase a handy dandy software program that will submit their sites to 999 search engines and directories, and their promotion efforts are over. The truth of the matter is, the majority of the traffic to most Web sites comes from the major search engines and directories, so submitting to 990 other ones is simply a waste of time and won’t bring you any success.


Misconception #3: Submitting your site to the major search engines and directories is all you need to do. Wrong. Think of it this way: there are 10 search results per page for most of the engines. Most people won’t go through any more than three pages of search results before giving up and trying another search. So, only the top 30 rankings really matter. If your site is #3,429 out of two million results, how much traffic do you think you’ll get?


Misconception #4: META tags are the key to success with the search engines. Truthfully, very few of the major engines even look at META tags any more. So, sticking META tags on your pages won’t bring you traffic and sales.


Misconception #5: The key to success on the Web is achieving top 10 rankings for keywords

Internet Marketing or What’s That You Said? by June Campbell

Planning an Internet marketing strategy? Will you get the best ROI from a CPA, CPC, PPL, or a hybrid model? And how will you track your CPM and determine your CTR?

HUH?

If you’re new to business and trying to learn how to market on the Internet, your first reaction will be complete bewilderment. Come to think of it, why am I suggesting this happens only to people who are new to business? I’m betting you’d find Fortune 500 CEO’s who don’t know their PPC from their CPA

Egads! And they say government employees talk in acronyms and jargon. They never came up with anything close to what you’ll find on Internet marketing forums and bulletin boards.

Daunting as it is, you’ll need to know this stuff eventually. So, pour yourself a strong cup of something and plow through these definitions:

ROI (Return on Investment)

If your $1000 advertisement results in $1500 in sales, your ROI is $500.

Impression

The number of times a banner or advertisement is served (displayed) on a Website. If 10 people visited the web page containing the banner, you would have 10 impressions. If one person viewed it 10 times, you would still have 10 impressions.

Hit

This is a (poor) method of measuring Website traffic. A hit is registered each time a browser request is made from a web server. If you have a web page containing four graphics, each page display will count as five hits.

Page View

This is a more effective way to measure web traffic. A Page View refers to each time a page is displayed. So, if you have a web page with four graphics, each time the page is displayed counts as one page view but five hits.

Unique Visitors

This is the number of individuals who visit your site in a defined time. If 200 people visit your site this week, that is 200 unique visitors. If one person visits your site 200 times, that is one unique visitor.

Stickiness

This refers to the length of time that a visitor spends at your site over a given period of time, or sometimes to the number of web pages that your visitors typically download.

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

This is the cost of obtaining a new customer. You divide your total acquisition expenses by your total number of new customers. For example, if your $100 ezine ad produces 30 new customers, your CAC is $3.33.

CPM (Cost Per Thousand)

This is an advertising model based on the cost of 1000 impressions of your ezine or web ads. If

My Top Six Link Building Strategies For Beginners

In this article I want to cover off back links, what they are, why you need them and how to get them. Now if your just starting out you’ll have heard of these but certainly I know for Sam & I when we first started out in internet marketing there’s so much info to take in, it blows your mind so I thought a brief explanation, beginners guide if you will might be handy, so here goes…

What are Links?

Broadly speaking Links are a ‘link’ between your site and another, so as an example you may find a site in the same niche as you links to you because you are not the same but complementary to one another – that’s the basics. You then get ‘one way links’ & ‘back links’- now stay with me on the detail here because One-Way links are also termed back links.

But the unique thing about one-way links is that they do not return a link to the website linking to them, in other words they are not reciprocal. One-way links convey a message to the search engines that the website is so interesting or useful that the other websites had to tell people about it. One way links are the preferred back link for any website owner, so hold onto the concept as we move on.

How Do You Get a One-Way Link?

One way links are achieved is when your website is deemed to have great information and unique content that other websites believe is worthy enough to be referenced by them and shared elsewhere – hope that’s clear and everyone understands it.

Bear in mind also a website will naturally link to another that has content that will consolidate its own site standing. Here are just a few ways you may be able to get or acquire a one-way link status. They are:

Top Tips for Obtaining Back Links

1. Submitting your site to the major online search engine directories such as Yahoo! and Dmoz.org. When you have your link in these websites, your site value will automatically increase.

2. Submit articles to articles directories. There are so many article directories you can submit your article to which will provide you with a back link to your website. Again, as I’ve commented before, if you are submitting manually, still stick to the key directories – that’s where the traffic and ultimately the links will come from.

You can be sure that if it contains quality content someone will click and link back to you. Also

How the Buying Cycle Affects Your Keyword Research

Keyword research may be the single most important factor contributing to your online marketing and SEO success. The keywords you select will determine who can and can’t see your site for any given search. Incorporating the right keywords into your content helps increase your online brand presence, drives targeted traffic to your site, affects what search phrases your site ranks for and more. Missing out on important keywords, or putting the wrong keywords on the wrong pages, means missing out on potential clients and customers. If your site isn’t ranking for the right keyword, you might as well be invisible online.

Sites need to choose keywords on a page-by-page basis based on two things. First and foremost, you have to choose keywords that accurately reflect the content on the page. Search engines rank individual pages, not sites as a whole. Secondly, you have to choose keywords based on the intent of your target audience. That is where the buying cycle comes into play.

When a searcher is at the beginning of their buying cycle, they are usually in research mode. They’re just “shopping around,” bouncing from site to site to gather information from numerous sources, which they will use to influence their future purchase. For instance, first time parents might spend a couple weeks researching baby cribs for their new nursery. Who are the big crib manufacturers? How much do their cribs cost? What kind of reviews have their products received? What kind of crib is best for newborns? First time parents have a lot of questions, so they turn to friends, family and the search engines for answers. They might use search phrases like “baby crib styles,” “top rated baby cribs, “nursery furniture” or “nursery design ideas” to get them started. These are informational searches.

Depending on the kind of information someone is looking for, they may or may not be looking to make a quick transition from research to buying. For instance, someone scrolling through Yelp reviews, trying to decide where to eat lunch that day is going to make a quick decision. Someone looking to make a big purchase (like cars, electronics, furniture, etc) might spend more time researching their options.

As consumers move through their buying cycle, then tend to search using more long-tail keywords. Instead of searching for “baby crib,” the first time parents search for “portable folding crib bedding set.” These searchers have a better idea of what they are looking for and are searching for a specific thing. They might search for a company or product by name or include buzz words like “buy” or “order” in their search phrase. As consumers near the end of their buying cycle, your chance for converting them goes up. They are looking to make a final decision.

So what does this all have to do with your keyword research?

You have to decide what kind of visitors you want finding your site, and then put yourself in their

Getting Good Traffic Flow

Everybody who has an online presence knows the importance of a targeted audience. If you want your site to gather more number of visitors, there are certain steps that you have to take. For starters, the content has to be original and rich. Search engine optimization of content with the right kind of keywords is important, but that does not mean you go berserk with the keywords. Ensure that you write content that is targeted at humans and not at search engines.


The next step is to get your site listed in as many directories as possible. You will be able to get direct traffic from all of the directories that you submit to. It will also improve the popularity of your link. When it comes to Google that is very important. Also make an effort submit your site to as many search engines as possible. Each country has its own regional search engine which is popular there. If you can submit your site to these, it will be more accessible to people around the world who may be interested in the kind of content you have to offer.
Ads by Google


Getting links to your site is very important. The best is to write to the owners of websites that are

9 Ways to Communicate a Rock-Solid Identity

Branding has been a business buzzword for many years. But the term has implications far beyond corporate logos, mission statements and theme songs. Effective branding is all about telling customers who you are, what you do and how you do it.


Despite recent tragedies in the U.S. and the bad rap that the Internet has received over the past year, more people are spending time and money online than ever before. That’s why it’s vitally important for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs alike to use the Internet to make an impact.


Here are nine tips to help you carve a focused identity online.


1. Define your brand up front.
When visitors arrive at your web site, let them know immediately what you do and why they should care. Far too many web sites shroud their identity in flashy graphics and ambiguous slogans without telling people what the company or person actually does. View your Web site through the eyes of a new visitor. Does it spell out exactly what your brand stands for? If not, redesign it so your purpose and identity are unmistakable. For example, Terri Lonier’s Working Solo site at www.workingsolo.com does a good job of establishing her as a resource for freelancers. The opening paragraph lets visitors know exactly who the site is for.


2. Lead with what you do, not who you are.
It may defy logic, but making your company name the most visible element on your home page may not be the most effective way to reinforce your brand. A Web-based or e-mail marketing message should state a benefit right off the bat. Which of these paints a clearer identity: The business name “Dog Owner Central” displayed in large letters or the more specific description “Training tips for busy dog owners”?


3. Use a real person as a figure head.
The online world can be a cold, mechanical place. Your branding efforts are more effective when you add a recognizable, consistent human element. Think of the way Dave Thomas promoted Wendy’s. If your company has a CEO or spokesperson who is closely identified with the company offline, make sure that connection carries to the cyberworld. If you run a business by yourself, by all means, put your name, photo and personal message on your web site. Nothing creates mystery and distrust more than a site that is void of a human contact and asks visitors to send e-mail to the “webmaster.”


4. Develop a fan-club mentality.
Most online marketers try to generate readers, visitors or users. I encourage you to switch gears and create fans. “Users” are people who visit your web site, subscribe to your newsletter or buy your products and services. “Fans,” on the other hand, cheer you on, rave about you to their friends and eagerly follow everything you do. Which would you rather have?

Online Marketing Through Social Networking Sites (Part 2)

Keep it Real
Just as with every new communication technology, there are those who use the medium in overbearing, unwanted ways. Social networking sites are no different. The key term here is “networking,” give and take. According to Bob Baker, author of MySpace Music Marketing, social networking success stories have one thing in common: “They’re all about the ping-pong effect ? It’s you sharing yourself with and getting to know dozens, and then perhaps hundreds of people. In turn, those people mention you to their friends.”


It’s NOT about posting, sending and otherwise spamming hundreds or thousands of others. Because interaction is a key feature of these sites, the potential for backlash is enormous. Social networking sites are back-and-forth communication forums, not broadcast media. Annoy or abuse people and they’ll tell the world.


So what can you do on these sites? How exactly does one share his/herself and get to know people?


Basic Online Marketing Principles
There are certain basic online marketing principles that apply when networking online. Among them:
- First and foremost, no spam. Communication should be individual and meaningful, not bulk, impersonal nonsense.
- On a related note, do not use automated software to post generic comments or messages in bulk.
- When emailing or messaging, unobtrusively remind people of what you do through your signature. Include your name; clickable Website URL; tagline or short mission statement; and/or other contact information in the signature.


Finding Connections
—– Sidebar on Terminology. Those you connect with are termed differently across different social networking sites. “Friends,” “connections,” your “network” and “subscribers” all describe online associates. Here, I use “network” and “connections.” —–


A critical component of successful networking (both in the physical and cyber worlds) is finding quality connections. On social networking sites, first think about the types of people you want to connect with (see “Whom to Interact With” in part 1. Then use a variety of methods to find them:
- Use the site’s search features to find connections by their psychographic or demographic features (religion, age, gender, geographic location, interests, likes/dislikes, etc.)
- Each time you find a new connection, look for additional connections in her or his network.
- Study comments on your connections’ pages ? or those outside your network with similar interests ? for potential new connections.


Approaching People to Become a Part of your Online Network
After finding potential connections, approach them about becoming part of your network. Ways

Online Marketing Through Social Networking Sites

Social networking online is one of today’s hottest trends. Many, however, wonder how social networking can help their careers or businesses and exactly how to get started with this online marketing technique. Here in part 1, I will help you get started. In part 2, I will explain some techniques for expanding your presence and building a quality network of online contacts.


What is Online Social Networking?
From a conceptual standpoint, online social networking is no different than traditional networking and socializing. You meet people and get to know them by sharing information about each other. Those you like and/or share interests with become part of your “network.” The marketing magic kicks in when those in your network start talking about you. Your reputation spreads by word-of-mouth.


The Internet and related technology have taken networking to the next level, expanding each individual’s reach and exposure through online marketing. Where traditionally people gather in person to network–at the same time and place as others–members of online networking groups are not limited by time or geography. Each group member can interact 24/7 from any location worldwide. Consequently, online networking techniques are very different from in-person networking.


How To Interact Through Social Networking
Ways to interact are numerous. The first order of business is to decide what your marketing goals are with respect to social networking. While “finding new friends” is a sufficient personal reason for social networking, business marketing goals need to be more specific. Are you an individual looking for a job or freelance work? Do you want to gain exposure for your product, brand or company? Are you looking for potential employees or contractors? Do you want to get prospects interested enough to visit your Website or contact you? Your goals will dictate what you put on your profile and social networking home page, as well as who you look for to become part of your network.


After you’ve decided on your purpose for online networking, choose which social networking Website(s) you will participate in.


Where to Network Online
You can find a comprehensive list of social networking sites here, at Wikipedia. I am familiar with those listed below. They will give you an idea of the range of opportunities you will find at social networking Websites:


Yahoo! 360 (360.yahoo.com): Yahoo!’s social networking site is in beta as of this writing. The unique feature here is your Yahoo! 360 space is cross-promoted with other Yahoo! products, such as with your reviews on Yahoo! Local and your Yahoo! Groups. Like many social

Search Engines prefers websites with plenty of words

The "experts" in the field say that a page in a website, should not have less than 500 words to have a chance of competing for a place in the Search Engines. This is only 1 aspect of the problem of being visible in the Search Engines of course, but it is a good start.


When you decide how you want your website to look like, keep in mind that design might not be the most important factor, writing enough of copy for the search engines to be able to find you, might be more important.


You need to have a good amount of copy for Google and other Search Engines to pick up what your website is about and what it is that you are offering.


Don't put too much effort in shortening your copy. My clients keep saying to me that people don't want to read too much text. This might be right. So keep the most important information at the top of your website and maybe more outstanding than the rest. However, you need words for the Search Engines.


Try to implement as many headings and sub headings as you think would look good and work with your copy. Google reads them as something very important, so use good keywords for your business.


Text that is bold will also be picked up by the search engines as more important information. Try sometimes to make important word within your copy highlighted if it makes sense.


Link important keywords in your copy to different pages within your website. Links are read by the search engines and they are important.

Initiating Web Marketing Efforts

Web or Internet Marketing strategies form the cornerstones of your online business, and outline in general terms what is required to make your business a success. The foremost step, prior to initiating any campaign or marketing scheme is adequate research; without which, even the best of the strategies would fall flat on their face. Any marketer must be willing to spend some time on studying and researching the market and learning the basics prior to starting up any program on web marketing. Post the research is over; care must be taken to set up an online page or a website that would serve as a platform for potential customers to know more about you and your business.


Contrary to popular perception, a website must be more user friendly than aesthetically beautiful to look at as any visitor would first notice how easily information is made available on the website than how good the graphics are or how pretty the arts are. Since, most of the users have slow dial up connections; hence more the number of images and graphics would be there on your website, the page would take more time to upload; it would further bother the visitors who are looking for some worthwhile information on your web page.


There is no doubt that over time, ecommerce sales have continued to rise as more and more people turn to the internet for their shopping. It's much easier to take a quick commute to your computer, surf the net for a short while, and purchase what you are looking for than it is to go out to a store for the same thing.


The website must be created with a view to save time and provide useful information as quickly as possible and any banners, logos and graphics that are coming in the way of accessing your website, they should be done away with. Respecting the visitor's time and reducing the number of imagery and utilizing the many optimization tricks of web design to keep the visitors hooked. Constantly improving your website usability isn't time-consuming, nor is it expensive and it's certainly not difficult. It simply involves common sense and dedication to the task


Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/initiating-web-marketing-efforts-5049027.html#ixzz1SkT0zAwP
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Five Things You Should Know About Web Analytics

Web traffic alone doesn't generate sales. Answer these questions as you track your web-site metrics.


As an online marketing strategist, I continually come across business owners who rave about the number of visitors coming to their website. The irony is that website traffic alone doesn't generate money.


I ask these business owners questions: Where is the website traffic coming from? What Web pages are visitors landing on the most? What percentage of visitors return to the site? How many visitors convert into customers?


Their lack of answers shows they're concentrating on volume and not on quality, and I guarantee their sales are suffering as a result. It doesn't matter how many people visit your website if those people are not the "right" people -- the type of people who will buy something from you someday.


Good website analytics take the mystery out of wondering who's visiting the company website and why. You don't need to be an online marketing strategist to use them, either. There are plenty of website analytics packages for sale on the Web, but you can get started free through Google Analytics.


The Google service provides you with a line of code to plug into each of your website pages, and you can then start tracking. You can get a breakdown not only of how many visitors came to the website, but how long they stayed, what site they previously came from, what search terms they used to reach the website, and which pages they visited the most.


Here are five points to consider as you start delving into the numbers:


1. Do your website visitors already know you? The whole point of the website is to link you with potential new customers who have never heard of your business, not people who may be merely looking up your address. A well-designed website should only have a small percentage of visitors, maybe 5 percent, who have used the company's name to find it.


2. Are you bringing in potential customers? Let's say you're a tennis gear provider. People who find your website searching for "tennis" probably aren't going to help you. They likely won't help you if they searched for "tennis racket." You want the people who searched for "Dunlop tennis rackets," or better yet "Dunlop Aerogel Titan." They know what they want, and they will buy from you if you're offering the best deal.

What Do 76% of Consumers Want From Your Website? [New Data]

76% of consumers say the most important factor in a website's design is "the website makes it easy for me to find what I want."

What does this mean for marketers?

Don't obsess over the visual design of your website

Do obsess over the usability by your customers and prospects

Don't worry if you or the CEO think your website design does not look pretty

Do worry about the conversion rate of your website (Are people finding what they need and completing their tasks?)

Don't use flash, heavy graphics, or tons of video

Does Your Presence Look Expert to You?

The Living Web

People speak and write a lot about personal branding. Online that breaks down to presence which in simple terms is reputation and focus. Both become enhanced when we highlight our expertise in a strategic and consistent fashion.

7 Tweaks to Your Social Presence to Reflect Your Expertise

Experts have authentic skills, knowledge, and experience. But some of us with those exact traits have more insight to making sure those traits shine through. Here are 7 ways to manage your online presence to be seen as the expert you are.

Walk your own path. Be the expert you are, not the expert someone else is. You can’t be compared. You’re not a fanboy or a fangirl. Differentiate what you offer from the start. Play to your strengths. Check your social networking profiles — at Facebook, SU, Twitter, etc. –to see that they underscore the same differentiated traits.

Focus on ONE thing Make that one thing particularly suited to you. Be a “go to” person for a specific problem. Then find a way to meet that need that no one else can do the same way you do.

Write expert answers and content – LinkedIn question and answers are a great place to do this. Seek out questions about your chosen point of expertise throughout the Internet and write thought, precise, actionable answers to them. Give information, examples, AND analysis. Occasionally offer evaluation, synthesis, or predictions.

Always know what’s happening with folks who need what you do. Join the sites and the offline groups where your potential customers and clients hang out. Refer and promote customers and clients whenever you can. Sometimes they’ll need a helping hand and they’ll remember the expert who helped them out.

Know your niche in detail. Get to be friends with Google Alerts and discovery services. Follow key terms around the Internet.

Be an expert at helping colleagues. Don’t be shy about sharing information. Talk with them. Visit and comment on their blogs. Ask them for an interview. Guest post now and then. Help others in visible ways — on your blog, on Twitter, through Facebook groups.

Go deep. (Don’t be shallow.) Find out what researchers are thinking so that you can offer the highest quality, relevant information and analysis. Add information to the conversation that no one has found.

An expert to most people is someone who more knowledge, skills, and experience than we do . . . never discount how much expertise you’ve gained or it’s value.

Liz Strauss 2008

Local Marketing Matters

Why should you market locally? Here are some good reasons:

Online business directories

• Several people go to local online business directories especially when they\'re seeking local solutions.
• It\'s crucial to submit your website to as many local directories as possible, not just the major ones. The reason for this can be explained with an analogy. Imagine your website is a marble, and a local business directory is a stack of marbles. Someone who\'s looking for a solution gets to select a couple of marbles from the stack and then choose their favorite one.

With a hundred different local directories out there, not everyone will be picking out of the same stack. Some directories are more specific while others are broader. Therefore you really want to make sure you\'re putting yourself in a position to be found, regardless of where people are searching for your products and services.

Facebook

• Facebook Places is targeted, social, and local. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. If somebody uses Places to check in to your business and you\'re offering a deal, their friends

How to write an engaging 'about me' story

Your ‘About Me' page is probably most important in building rapport with your reader. More often than not, after they have a quick scan of your home page, this is the first page that they will want to read because it will validate you as an expert and justify you as someone to listen to. This is the opportunity for your followers to get to know all about you and it doesn't matter if you are new to this industry; every one has knowledge and life experience that they can share with others.


You need a compelling story that will build trust and credibility and something that fully connects with your readers. If not done properly, I guarantee you, it will cost you money because you will lose the prospects interest and they won't return to your blog.


So how do you do this?


Here's my advice. Now you don't want to exactly copy someone else's format because you need this to be genuine and authentic so let you story evolve as naturally as possible but I do recommend you cover the below points.


1. Brand yourself. Who are you? You generally have 20 seconds to make an impression so make sure at the start of your post you are engaging and show your self in a positive light.


2. The benefit of following you. What will they get from your site? This is vital in narrowing down your target audience. If someone hates dogs, you cant' sell them dog food can you? So make sure you are clear in what you are about so that you also don't lose anyone who may love your content but doesn't know what it is you are sharing.

3 Viral Ways to Advertise Online

There are many ways to advertise a business on the internet but the most efficient strategy is to use a viral campaign to deliver your marketing message! Viral marketing has a long history of acceptance and success and these methods have translated over well onto the internet! Combining both the technology and global audience found online has served to only increase the potency of any viral campaign.

Here are 3 tactics anyone can use that offer the potential for any marketing message to go viral online.

Video

In the age of high technology many have gravitated towards visual imaging as their preferred means to be entertained or get informed. YouTube called attention to the popularity video has with internet users and now web-cams have placed this medium more directly into the hands of the individual. This now allows for greater participation along with more creativity making the use of video a very effective way to launch a viral campaign!

Social Networking

This platform is the very essence of what viral marketing is all about. Be it an interesting