Online Marketing

Last month, I had discussed how to get opt-in emails for your marketing campaign. While all is good and well with opt-in emails, there’s something even better than that — double opt-in emails. The difference between double opt-in emails and opt-in emails is that in collecting double opt-in emails, subscribers are required to verify their email accounts while in collecting opt-in emails, people can enter random email addresses. A double opt-in email eliminates the probability of inputting emails of other people. Ensuring that the email addresses you’ll be sending your newsletters to are active might mean a higher conversion rate especially if you ask them to verify their email address for downloads or info related particularly to a certain niche.

To be able to get double opt-in emails, you can do anything tackled in how to get opt-in emails. The difference being you would have to require them to confirm their email addresses. When trying to convince people into jumping in with you and entrusting you with their email addresses, you better have a strategy to convince them. Always talk about the benefits for them is they join and not of the benefits you would get. However, try not to be TOO smarmy because it turns readers off, too.

Offer your subscribers specific discounts and privileges if they choose to verify their email address. One way is to offer membership which would grant them access to materials set aside only for members. Direct mail to double opt-in emails could be one of the most successful marketing methods you’ll do. All you got to keep in mind that you’ve got to convince people that there’s something in it for them and take it from there. Make your own combinations and implement the one which works best for you.

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Landing pages are specifically created for link and traffic-building campaigns. Basically, you use this landing page’s URL to promote in social media web sites — bookmarking sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon and even sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The debate however, lies in whether you should integrate the landing page with the rest of your web site or if you should make a separate one for the linkbait, which would be the content of the landing page. Both has their own pros and cons. Let’s examine them separately.

If you integrate your landing page (which for web sites and blogs, as was said, would contain linkbait), your regular readers might not all approve of it. Perhaps on your first marketing campaign using the technique, it would be accepted. After a few more efforts, however, they’re not going to like it. One way to go about it is to use the same domain and create a page completely sequestered from the main page. Make sure you can’t navigate to the linkbait so your regular readers won’t be able to see it. You can incorporate it to your web site later on by linking to it. You could also go out of your way and create a different template for your landing page.

If you choose to go with NOT integrating your landing page with your main web site, the downside is that you won’t get immediate traffic to your main site through your marketing efforts. It would be later on, when you use a redirect to drive returning visitors to your web site. You can even use a whole new domain. To drive traffic to your web site, link to one of your existing articles or anything within the web site.

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When you’re selling or promoting something, most of the time, you go for broke and try to sell to everyone and to no one in particular. While this MIGHT work, it might also limit conversion rates. Why? Well, you’re talking to everyone in general. When you sell, you need to appeal to the emotions and hence, take things more on a more personal level. Concentrating on a target audience means you’re creating content for THEM specifically, not for everyone in general. When you create content for a target audience, they will be able to relate to it more.

Now, when you’re targeting a specific group of people, you could build your selling point with them in mind and no one else. One way to ensure that you’re talking to a target audience is to build a means with which to communicate with them. Newsletters are a basic form of target marketing. Collect opt-in emails and sent out newsletters to your members. When people sign-up for your newsletter, this means they’re interested. You could also create a membership-based portal wherein which you require people to sign-up before they can read/hear what you have to say.

Before you’re able to market effectively to a targeted niche, you need to have had studied their details or profiles before. If you’re targeting the older crowd, take note of what works for them and what doesn’t. Same thing goes for any other target audience. It will be slow at first and you’ll go through many processes of trial and error but once you truly GET your target audience, everything will go smoothly. The game to play with regards to narrowing your audience down is not to expect quantity. Although you’re preaching to a smaller crowd, at least you know the crowd listens.

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I had listed several of my web sites and blogs in directories in an attempt to promote them. The question is — did they work? Well, they did bring in SOME traffic. I didn’t get a huge percentage of traffic from my links in directories, but it’s not like I did things right. Listing web sites or blogs in directories is one way to build backlinks to your web site.

1. The Higher the PageRank the Better

To those who are PageRank-conscious, getting your web site or blog listed in directories is a good way to build juice PR backlinks. In order to make it worth your while, you might want to find high PR directories. What’s great about high PR directories (more than just the PageRank itself) is the fact that it’s well-linked and hence, there’s a chance you’ll get a good surge of traffic from it.

2. It Might Not Always be Worth Your While

Think of it like this — you have a blue shirt. You place your blue shirt in a rack full of other blue shirts. Does your blue shirt get noticed at first glance? No, I don’t think so. Unless someone’s really surfing and digging for links in your niche, you might not get noticed at all. The answer to this would be to…

3. Go For Paid Featured Link

Many directories, if not all, offer to make your link featured for a small monthly or one-time fee. If you want to get noticed at first glance, then consider paying for a featured link.

The best combination therefore, is finding high PR directories and paying for featured links. Increase your chances of visibility and go for both quantity and quality. The more high PR blogs you can submit your link to, the better your chances are at directory marketing.

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I’ve discussed email marketing before as a way to promote your goods or services. To be able to run a successful email campaign, you must first, of course, have a list of email addresses to send your newsletters to. In many web master forums, selling email lists is rampant. While I don’t care much if people do buy and sell email addresses, I don’t recommend the practice. Many buyers find themselves being cheated by scammers and frankly, I find it unethical. The best way to get email addresses for newsletters, of course, is to get opt-in email addresses. There are various ways to encourage people to give you their email addresses. Here are a few:

1. Offer Free Downloads

If you have free ebooks you’re giving away or free articles, free software, free templates or anything similar in nature, give the people the benefit of a free download. The more unique your freebie is, the better. For example. It’s best if you distribute something you’ve made or written yourself so those who’re interested have no choice but to give you their email addresses since they can’t get what you offer elsewhere.

2. Offer Free Courses or Tutorials

I am now part of a mailing list because I signed-up a few days ago for a podcast on freelance writing. This would be more effective if you’re already an authority in your niche though with proper promotion, it could be effective for anyone.

3. Offer Privileges

If you have a members-only forum or resource center, people are bound to sign-up to gain privilege to enter your domains. You can also offer continuous privilege like a weekly free lecture or a weekly download.

These are only a few of the ways to collect opt-in emails. With a bit of imagination and experience in the field, you’ll be able to think of more ways to collect emails.

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In SEO Checklist, I wrote about how using expired domains could up the traffic of your blog or web site. I had discussed about it in SEO terms but in truth, expired domains are perfect for online marketing. If you’re looking for that initial burst of traffic to your new web site, then an expired domain could help you out. It might not be, however, viable if the expired domain is already widely known and you’re planning to build a brand around it. Not that an owner of a popular domain would let it expired just like that.

Anyhow, since now we know that expired domains could be beneficial to internet web site marketing, how does one go about getting an expiring domain name exactly? First, it’s not as easy as backordering the domain name in GoDaddy or anything similar, most especially when the domain you’re aiming for has marketable qualities.

The process of domain expiration takes 75 days in all. The first 40 days of the expiration would be the initial phase. The current owner could not use the domain anymore but re-registration does not incur extra costs. After 40 days, the owner is given a chance to redeem the domain for a price. The last five days of the expiration phase would lock the domain name, after which it will be available for grabs. The period wherein which domain names are first available for grabs is called “The Drop.”

When the domain name is in The Drop, you can then enlist the help of any of the three domain-grabbing bodies: Enom.com, Pool.com and Snapnames.com. Each of the three has its own rules — it’s up to you which one you prefer. For best results, it might be best to enlist the help of all three. To help you on your decision, read Mike Davidson’s personal experience in snatching newsvine.com.

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If you’ve ever come across a sales copy before, testimonials are not alien to you. If you like watching home television shopping like my sister and I do, just for the sheer fun of it, you’ve heard a gamut of testimonials on a product before. Most of the time, my sister and I end up rolling on the floor laughing because everything sounds so scripted. If you scour writing job boards, you’ll always find someone asking for testimonials to be written one time or another. Just imagine how many more other similar ads there are which I haven’t seen? However, did you know that it’s not only unethical but also illegal to use fabricated testimonials for anything?

A law in the United States’ Federal Trade Commission states that product testimonials should always be truthfully given by real consumers and should not have been fabricated. Doing so otherwise would be against the law. It’s not hard to get authentic testimonials though. The first thing you need to do is find your target audience — it would be no use to try and promote in a niche totally unrelated to yours. When you’ve found your target audience, then you can start scouting for testimonials. How? One way is to give out free review copies to a set number people.

Always remember though, that when scouting for testimonials, not anyone would do. People tend to scoff and glaze over the testimonial section of the copy as I do. If you want to add verisimilitude and credibility to your sales copy, make sure to get reputable personages to endorse you. Seek well-known people in your niche and ask if they’re willing to try something for free in exchange for a testimonial if they like what you offer. Do this and people will end up reading your entire copy, even the testimonials which could result in a higher conversion rate.

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Wikipedia has become a famous resource in the recent years. So famous, in fact, that many marketers try to use the user-content driven domain to promote their services, goods or themselves. In effect, many schools see Wikipedia as an unreliable resource and I’ve talked to many teachers who told me that they won’t accept papers which credit Wikipedia as one of the sources (too bad, kids). Over the course of my freelance writing career and my discovery of internet marketing, calls for experienced Wikipedia writers by companies and individuals are abound to those who’re willing to undertake the task. What they do is have people create Wikipedia profiles which will appear as if they had nothing to do with it and that the profile was entirely voluntarily created.

While this technique works for some, blatant promotion is always deleted in Wikipedia. Wikipedia, despite its infamous reputation, is still an encyclopedia and not a marketing tool. I must admit, however, that many of what we do read in Wikipedia might all as well be instigated and commissioned by the companies profiled. The question is, should you use Wikipedia for online marketing and promotion? It’s all up to your discretion. I won’t get into a long morality-centric speech about how it’s not right to use an encyclopedia for promotion. While I do not recommend and advise on using Wikipedia, in the end, it’ll all be up to you.

If looking your name up in Wikipedia and finding something you had commissioned to be written pleases you, then by all means, don’t let this article stop you. Won’t it be great, however, when you find your name in there without you knowing anything about it at all? That would mean you’re doing your job and the people have become aware of your name or your company.

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There are people who start in internet marketing with substantial capital. They have the money they need for everything — web site design, web site content, search engine optimization among a whole lot of others. The rewards you reap, of course would be great. After all, you need to spend money to make money — it’s only natural. However, the lack of money shouldn’t hold you back from venturing into online businesses. If anything, you should be more challenged to make it happen because with the right technique and approach, it is possible.

If you don’t have your own web site, you can settle for something free for now. Blogger and Wordpress.com are good candidates. All you have to do is choose a template and tweak the look to your liking. You could also use free hosting with a paid domain if you have around $10 to spare for the domain name. If you really have nothing in your pocket currently though, the free services will be just as good. Since you don’t have the money for anything, you should know that only hard work could make you see any kind of return. Not having the budget for promotions means you have to work doubly hard than anyone with the capital.

Networking is the key to success for bootstrap marketing. The more people you know, the more successful you’ll be. You can post in various blogs and forums with a link to your makeshift web site. Of course, don’t forget to load your temporary web site with content first. You can then proceed to making everyone aware of your existence. Be visible in high profile web sites of your niche. You could also choose to promote and market through social networking web sites or job boards like craiglist and gumtree. In the end, it all plays down to perseverance and the iron will to make it work.

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In the not-so-far past, the concept of marketing through the World Wide Web was just an idea — something which could materialize in real life in the future. When it started, people found a variety of ways to market services and products online, each one more ingenious than the other. This only proves the fact that although everything in this world is dynamic, the World Wide Web is even more so. Shifts in trends are felt within minutes and new trends are started every second. Therefore, it’s only natural that changes from year to year would be drastic. Sarah Novotny, a senior editor in Charge of Adotas, has predicted trends in online marketing for the next year.

In a nutshell, Novotny conjectures that internet marketing for the year 2008 would be more personalized and end-user oriented. For one, marketers would make full use of the data available to make a promotional experience more appealing than general advertisements. One instance of that would be localized advertisements. Search results would yield establishments and business closer to home. Advertisements would also determine where a user is coming from and would flash localized advertisements. We’re also looking at localized cost per clicks. This can be considered both favorable and unfavorable to advertisers. For one, they might see a higher conversion rate. On the other hand, it diminishes the instance of international customers who are existent, albeit, perhaps, not too many.

The year 2008 would also center on user generated content as well as a more specialized user experience for consumers. Virtual worlds would be the new “in” thing in internet marketing and big-name corporations would invest to create virtual worlds centered on their products. Internet marketing advances up to pace with technology and human interest. The farther we get in technology and the as long as the human mind gets bored with the old, internet marketing will progress more as time goes.

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