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Archive for July, 2008


Tips For Link Swapping

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Anson Hall | Filed under: Search Engine Optimization
by Anson Hall

You should probably know that content is king. The content of your site is very important in order to drive more traffic to your site. In fact, there are various ways to drive traffic to a website. One of the ways is to exchange links with other sites.

In the past, webmasters would exchange links casually. They would not consider if they should have link swapping with a certain site. However, you should never do that. You have to think about it carefully before you exchange links with the other sites.

You may wonder what you need to consider when you exchange links with other sites. Of course you may consider issues such as the pagerank of the site. Besides this, you will also need to consider other issues.

It is a must for you to consider the degree of relevance of the website when you are planning to exchange link with this site. You will only decide to exchange links if the website is relevant to your site.

Some webmaster may think that it is not a good idea to have link swapping. Link exchange may lower the search engine ranking. However, this should never happen if you are exchanging links with websites which are relevant to your site. Exchanging links with websites which are not related to yours may do harm to your site.

On the other hand, it will help the search engine ranking of your site if you exchange links with related sites. Relevance is always important when you are doing link swapping with the other sites.

In fact, link swapping is not only about search engine ranking. You are trying to exchange links with the other sites in order to drive traffic directly from these sites. As a consequence, you should also consider the positions of the links on the sites.

The last thing you have to keep in mind is that, link exchange is only part of your link building campaign. The number of links from link swapping should never exceed 25% of the totally number of links you are trying to build.

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What is Lead Generation?

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Terry Stanfield | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Terry Stanfield

Every working business owner should have a sales lead generation program in place. Some of them can be as simple as getting referrals from existing and new customers. Some can be as elaborate as a lead generation service. Whatever method the business uses lead generation is an important aspect of business life.

Lead generation is a method used by businesses to create new customers. An existing business may have customers, but with only a few customers businesses cannot survive, so then it becomes essential for the business to find new customers.

Finding new customers is a constant process. Every business may have more than one method in place to produce new customers, but they all will have at least one. Depending on the financial situation of your business, you can find low cost lead generation programs to use or you can hire a lead generation service to provide you with a list of qualified leads.

If you are going to use a lead generation service, make sure to choose a reputable company who will stand behind the qualified leads you receive. If you are going to pay for leads, make sure you are getting qualified leads. You want the prospective clients to able to use your product or service.

If you are not getting qualified leads, you might as well get the names out of your local phone directory.

If you are going to use a low cost lead generation, make sure the method you choose will narrow down the list of prospects to those prospective clients who will most likely use your product or service. It is possible to make sales from cold calls however the percentage is much smaller than with qualified sales.

Every business needs a good sales lead generation program working for them. If it is not working well at increasing your sales, then you might look closely at the method you are using in order to find any changes, which might need to be made to improve its performance. If it still doesn’t work, try implementing a different method.

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Setting Goals without Getting Burned Out

Jul 30, 2008 Author: lassell durbin | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by deflotte durda

Successful people are very driven in life. Anyone who has a drive in life has some sort of direction. That map is provided by goal setting.

Setting goals for your self is quite painless and easy. Just ask your self , “What do I want to accomplish in the next six months?” The catch is to not set too many goals, because you may become overwhelmed very quickly.

It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed by having too many goals and to just give up. The key is to start off setting realistic goals. Pick just one goal that can be accomplished in a few days or a week.

When you accomplish your first verbalized or written goal, you will start to feel a sense of self worth. This will provide the strength to go out and set your next goal. It really can take off like wildfire, but you need to build the foundation first.

Let’s say you want to get back into good physical shape. Setting a goal of swimming one hundred laps and then working out at the gym for two hours is not very realistic. Even if you accomplish it, you probably won’t go back to the gym for three months.

If you want to get back into shape, it’s not going to happen overnight either. If you choose swimming as a means for your goal, don’t expect to join the Olympics. Start off with just five or en laps a day.

Within a month, you may actually be able to swim forty or more laps in one session. This is a foundation that you can now work off of for life. These easy but mid term goals can be extremely effective.

Whatever you do, try to schedule the specific day that you are going to accomplish your goal. If the goal is time sensitive, but too broad, you may find yourself procrastinating. Don’t think about it too much either.

Writing your goals down can be very effective. It helps you to keep them in sight. If you are aware of what you want to accomplish, it will be that much easier.

Once you get the feeling and sense of accomplishment that comes with goal setting, you can move them up a notch. You might allow three months to accomplish a mid term goal. With other goals, you may want to put them on the five year plan.

Every person who does something wonderful usually had a game plan before they broke through. Hindsight is 20/20. One day you might look back and realize how that one goal turned into a bunch of others that kept leading to bigger and better things.

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Find the Perfect List

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc. | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.

Most of my professional experience has been in conducting direct mail campaigns, many of which were of the multi-million-piece variety. Here is my take on how the file has evolved and how new, more useful and effective methods have evolved, paralleling the development of surprising new resources.

In contrast with previous huge-quantity mailing, today’s marketing strategy calls for smaller “micro-mailings” as the most effective approach. Presented here are details about steps you might want to take following the current methods for creating, segmenting, profiling and producing test lists. This approach is vastly different from the procedures that training used to prescribe - but field experience always differs from static classroom rules to some degree, doesn’t it?

Methods are constantly changing and a classroom presentation is always at least a little behind the latest developments based on real-world conditions.

For example, in the past, professionals who ran large direct marketing campaigns for Fortune 100 companies added millions of names every quarter to an in-house database. They applied the newest profiling methods. They sliced and diced their already “high-responder” segments to achieve THE PERFECT LIST!

Targeted Networking Comes of Age

What smart marketers do now - and what you probably should do, dealing with the same kind of campaign - has little similarity to this older, more systematic, routine approach. Often the challenge is to run a boutique-type consulting firm, using telemarketing methods to generate B2B meetings for very small clients. If your business presents this kind of marketing challenge, you can use a similar approach effectively. A good name for this approach might be “Targeted Networking”.

In this kind of business, the goal is to link professional service clients in cooperative groups with others who serve the same market. Campaign respondents meet with clients in related businesses, and together they create relationships. These associations then blossom into lifelong referral partnerships, thereby creating new revenue streams for clients.

Using this method of list creation results in lists comprising as few as 25 to 100 records, unlike the huge lists created in the older marketing milieu. However, when you create these “small” lists, you will be mail-targeting industries carefully for their relatedness, giving THE PERFECT LIST a new meaning. Compact dynamic enterprises can not afford to waste money on non-responsive mailings.

Using this approach, you still must produce great copy and produce extremely professional packages. But, don’t test creative presentations or special offers - rely on THE PERFECT LIST. Use the Internet to research each mailing file to make sure each list entry passes the criteria making it a legitimate choice. Manually research each mailing file before proceeding, assuring that all relevant, special criteria is kept in mind. Analyze candidate entries by mining data from on-line directories, Web sites, physical or online phone books, local library resources (right on company computers,) or hardbound lawyers’ guides, to name a few. When no public data is available, do a little creative detective wok to find ways to obtain industry-specific data from friends who are willing to lend lists that are allowed to be mailed. Compare and combine your research across multiple sources, and then contact organizations directly by phoning to learn an individual’s name for addressing purposes. No two lists will look the same.

It is necessary for you to go through all this trouble because no ready-made resources are as suitable or useful as the specifically targeted and accurate ones you will create. When you stumble across a great list online, it’s usually outdated — which, of course, can happen the day after the list is posted. So, in using available material like this, confirming mailing names by phone is a necessity.

Micromarketing List Generation Micromarketing list generation is data mining at its purest. Although it may seem an unusual method to build micro-lists, the largest list vendors and direct mail ships build their own lists this way. They purchase parts of lists from various sources and combine them - not manually, of course - to result in a composite record that contains all the relevant data ready for profiling and segmentation.

Your profiling must be a bit more hands-on. Base it on your client’s historical success. Consider relevant questions. What size firm, industry and geographic area typically wants to meet with him or her? What is the title of the individual who is generally the best referral partner? With these questions answered, replicate this profile, and use it to create a list of other professionals.

Technology: Helping the Little Guy, Too

This type of small-scale targeting is the example of how technology - especially in-house computing, the Internet and telephone communications - has made it possible to alter the way businesses can mine data and compile lists. It has made data mining more effective for specialized applications. Since creating even small lists manually is time-consuming and expensive, we could not economically perform these kinds of services twenty years ago. Using this approach you, and even the smallest of clients, can use direct marketing successfully.

The list in this new, carefully crafted form - formerly just one element in the entire direct marketing mix - is now the core of modern success.

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Online Email Marketing

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Ray Lam | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Ray Lam

Online email marketing has become a very important and crucial marketing plan for many companies offline and online. When you have just finished creating a product, the success of your product is largely dependent on how good you promote and endorse it. Online email marketing is just one of many efficient ways to endorse your product on the internet. Listed below are five keys to making profits with online email marketing.

When applying an email marketing strategy, you really need to consider the software that you use to collect subscribers as well as track your email advertisements. If you do not have the proper email marketing software that will store your subscribers and track your marketing results, then you are just playing the piata method of marketing. You are just hoping that you hit a home run with your email marketing. The key to successful email marketing is to track and monitor every single detail of your email campaign.

Something that you may want to test with every email marketing campaign you initiate is the email open rate. It is important to know how many subscribers actually open your email to read your message. Whether or not someone will open your email is largely dependent upon the subject line of your email message. If your subject line triggers the right response, then you can almost be guaranteed that your subscribers will click to read your email message.

When implementing your email marketing strategy, you must also test and track how many of your subscribers actually respond to your message by clicking on the link within your email message. The clicks you track will determine a ratio known as the CTR or click thru rate. This ratio is important in determining the responsiveness of your email list to your messages. If your average CTR is low, then you may have to provide higher quality information to your subscribers in order to boost your list’s CTR.

Pay attention to the title or subject line of your email. The subject of your email is usually the first thing a reader will see when he opens his or her email inbox. Therefore, the subject will determine whether or not your email will get opened so that it could be read. That is why the subject line is highly important when it comes to doing online email marketing.

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Sale Lead Generation is the Key to Business Success

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Terry Stanfield | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Terry Stanfield

In order for a business to success and remain in business, they must determine the best method for sale lead generation. Each business has it’s own unique features, which must be taken into consideration before deciding on a method to create new potential customers. Because this can be difficult to figure out, sometimes the process of trial and error must be used.

One of the first steps a business needs to take is to determine their target market. A business could target their efforts of attracting potential clients who are in a particular type of business. For some types of businesses the target market might still be too broad. They will need to determine even more factors about the businesses in need of their products or services..

Once a business has determined their target market, they will need to look for creative methods of creating new potential clients. It is up to the business to work at developing a relationship with the decision maker as a way to get their business. A business without a method of sale lead generation will not remain in business for very long.

There are a number of methods, which can be used to generate new customers. Probably two of the most commonly known are television and newspaper ad. While these methods of generating new customers may work for some businesses, but if you need business clients, newspaper and television ads will not work for you. The chances of a decision maker of a large corporation watching a television ad and calling you about your product or service are somewhere between slim and none, so you are forced into look for other options.

If you are selling a product or service, which only certain types of businesses are likely to buy, then you will have to get creative in order to find a method where you will be able to reach that particular group of businesses. Depending on the type of product or service you are selling, there may be a trade show where someone in your company can set up a booth or a kiosk. You will get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of the audience you are targeting. Your company will then have the information it needs to contact your target audience with letters, phone calls, or catalogs in an effort to establish a relationship with that company.

Sale lead generation is not an easy task to accomplish. However once you have decided on several methods of sale lead generations, which work best for your company and type of product, your business will be headed in the right direction on the road to success

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Proven Strategies to Build Your Article Marketing

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Bob Hamilton | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Bob Hamilton

Are you looking for more traffic from your article marketing efforts? By far, the more effective way to achieve that goal is by increasing the number of article you write and submit every day. That’s right, it is that simple. You can magnify the results of your article marketing by magnifying the number of articles you produce, which will increase the number of inbound links..

The goal isn’t to sacrifice the quality of the articles you produce just because the quantity increases. In fact the goal should be to never compromise the quality of the articles that you produce. We will discuss tactics for growing your article marketing in this article.

Outsource your article writing to a qualified professional. Just writing a few articles everyday without help can be time-consuming and wearing. Increasing your total article writing output can be literally impossible without help. Offloading the draining task of writing will allow you to produce and submit more articles. It will also enable you to focus your efforts on those parts of your business where you can get even more results.

That’s where a ghostwriter comes in. A highly qualified ghostwriter can provide relief while still meeting your article writing standards of excellence. Invest the time to thoroughly investigate the qualifications of every professional you consider. Examine their experience, their expertise in your niche, and their credentials. Provide expectations regarding article length, delivery deadlines, and other special requirements. Make sure your ghostwriter will make you proud of the articles that are created in your behalf.

Make use of an experienced article poster. Manually submitting articles to hundreds of article directories and article submission sites takes many hours. You could be spending those hours performing other critical tasks for your article marketing business. That’s where a qualified article poster with the right credentials comes into play. As with your ghostwriter be sure you thoroughly investigate their credentials and examine their references before making a final decision.

Follow the same process as you did for the ghostwriter regarding tasks, credentials, reference checks and requirements. Minimize the work for your article poster by providing the articles ready to go. Submission requires providing a keyword list, an article summary, the resource box, and the suitable categories for the articles to be posted. The charges for a qualified article poster vary according to the number of article submission requested.

Your articles must be submitted daily. This rule must consistently be followed to maximize your article marketing results. This daily practice serves many purposes. First it continues to reinforce the fact that you are a knowledgeable expert in your chosen niche. It also serves as a means of continually growing the quantity of inbound links to your website. Those inbound links will serve you well as the search engines reward you with every-higher search engine rankings.

A commanding resource box is a must if you are to successfully win over the readers of your articles and then sway them to visit your website. You can increase traffic to your website by offering a free product or if you make a list of the benefits of visiting. All of this combines to achieve your article marketing goals of more website visits, an increase in the number of opt-in subscribers and ever higher sales results.

To your article marketing success!

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Benefits of Targeted Generated Leads

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Terry Stanfield | Filed under: Guerrilla Marketing
by Terry Stanfield

If you are using generated leads and your sales have not increased by a significant amount, you might want to check into telephone lead generation. By using the telephone to generate leads, the telemarketer can ask questions, which will narrow down the market to those who are most likely to be interested in utilizing your product or service.

You will be able to determine whether or not the business is a good prospect by the way they respond to the questions asked. This is considered a targeted lead because it has sifted through a large number of businesses, the majority being those with little or no interest in your product or service. This will avoid wasting the time of your sales personnel.

If you have not done so, you will need to determine the type of business who is in need of your product or service. Pay attention to the type of business, their current situation, the number of employees, and other useful information. All these qualities will help you determine your target audience and in able you to find them through their responses to specific questions. Be aware you don’t narrow your search so much you miss out on sales you could have had. You could inadvertently rule out some businesses in need of your product in an effort to narrow down your target audience.

As you are finding the qualified prospects you need, you can also include questions, which will give you some feedback. You would be able to find out the likes and dislikes of those using your type of product or service, even if it is not your product or service. This will inform you of the dos and don’ts. You will have the opportunity to correct a mistake before it is made.

Setting up a telemarketing department in your business can be costly. It may however increase your bottom line enough to offset the cost. This may ultimately depend on the cost of your product or service. If your company has no desire at this time to start a telemarketing department, there are companies you will do the telemarketing lead generation for you. This is a decision your company will have to make based on the numbers.

By using telephone lead generation, your sales personnel will have a better chance at making a sale. Your sales personnel will be working with target generated leads, which should increase your sales by a significant amount. Since so many things must be worked out through trial and error, you may find yourself changing the questions until you find the right questions to ask.

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The Differences between Hanging and Pop-Up Displays

Jul 30, 2008 Author: Amy Nutt | Filed under: Advertising
by Amy Nutt

The type of display you use for your trade show booth is something that is going to make a difference in how you do business. The idea is to stand out and be unique amongst the rest, so you must figure out which kind of display is going to be the one to fit you best. Two of the displays you may find that you have to choose from are hanging displays and pop-up displays. Each may look the same as each other, but the truth is that they are very different. It is important that you know those differences so that you can make an informed decision regarding which you should use.

Hanging displays

Hanging displays are rather true to their name. They actually hang over top of your trade show booth. They also make for a great attention grabber because they can be seen from far distances. You don’t have to have one of those booths that aren’t seen until the individual is standing right upon it. They can see it from across the way and make a beeline for your booth.

The downfall is that these work best at trade shows that are conducted within an arena or a convention center. That way the trade show booth owner has a ceiling to hang the display from. If the show is outside, then there is nothing to hang it from unless you build an incredibly tall pole that allows you to hang the display. It is then that you’re putting your display up against such elements as wind and rain. You would also have to transport the pole and building such a contraption could prove to be expensive because you would have to somehow make it compact for transport. That might be why you never see hanging displays at outside trade shows.

Pop-up displays

Pop-up displays are different from hanging displays in that they don’t hang. They come in a number of sizes and materials. Display assembly is quite easy because the frame is built to simply pop-up. An example of a unique pop-up is one that is 20 feet long and 8 feet high. It sits on the ground and actually has a wave shape to it. This makes it unique compared to pop-ups that may be one simple curve and sits upon a tabletop. However, tabletop pop-up displays are also great to showcase items you may have. You can also place lighting above the pop-up to enhance your display. Any type of lighting is going to make a difference and pop-up displays allow for that.

Another great thing about pop-up displays is the fact that they can be used both indoors and outdoors. That way you don’t have to fret if your next trade show is going to be outside. You can still use your pop-up display to bring attention to your booth.

Maximizing your presence

You can maximize your trade show displays by using one or both of these display types. If you’re having an indoor trade show, you can use your hanging display and your pop-up display. If you find you’re going to be outside, then you can just use your pop-up display. Both are very effective in bringing a crowd to your booth and you’ll find that you’ll earn a return on your investment because of the ability of these tools to attract a crowd to your booth. Just remember that you have to spend money to make money and that purchasing the right trade show displays is one of those instances. Just make sure you look around and see how much more business you are achieving against those who do not employ any type of display.

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by Eric Lindmeier

Selecting the right trade show booth can be a difficult task. How do you pick one that best showcases your company and corporate image? Follow these simple tips to smooth the way to finding a booth.

You’ve got an important trade show coming up in a few months. There’ll be thousands of people attending this show important people in your industry - decision makers. You need to make the best impression possible. So how do you do that? With an eye-catching, professional trade show booth.

But with literally thousands of options, how do you narrow down all the choices and pick the trade show booth that best represents your company? There are three main factors to consider: size, style and price range.

The range of sizes for trade show booths nowadays is incredible! You can get something from as small as 10×10 feet to as grandiose as a hulking 50×50-foot display. You can even get a 30×100-foot trade show booth that simulates actual office space. The type of booth you choose ultimately depends on your business needs, your style and your budget constraints.

Do you want a simple backdrop with a couple of countertops? Or are you looking for an elaborate display (configured with a reception area, display rooms and conference space) that has more square footage than the average apartment in New York City?

Whatever you decide, you have to make sure your trade show booth characterizes your business well - and that it’s approachable. Ensure that your booth adequately represents the company culture, its products and overall goals.

Portable trade show booths come in an enormous range of styles, sizes - which means they also come in a wide range of prices. You can get a perfectly serviceable trade show booth for well under $500.

At the other end of the scale, you can spend upwards of a quarter of a million dollars for an elaborate, high-end double-deck trade show booth with all the bells and whistles.

Nicely positioned in the mid range are well-appointed booths that can adequately reflect your company’s corporate image and style, while not permanently entrenching your marketing department’s budget in the red.

Regardless of the size and style of booth you design or select, be sure it appropriately represents your business and your industry. If you choose well, you will have a portable trade show booth you can proudly depend on for many years to come.

When shopping for your trade show booth, be sure to check out the idea gallery at Expo Marketing (www.expomarketing.com) for inspiration and suggestions. The design pros at Expo Marketing can work with you to design the booth that’s just right for you.

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