Tag Archives: online marketing

Simple Marketing Tips For Black Friday & Cyber Monday



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News





Some Simple Marketing Tips For Black Friday & Cyber Monday


just a short email this week since I am extremely busy gearing
up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since I do a lot of targeting
to the “gift markets” especially corporate business gifts, I have
been updating my pages with the constant flow of offers/discounts
coming from the different companies which I promote.

Regardless of whether you’re promoting affiliate or your own
products… you should be taking advantage of next week and the
following weeks leading up to the Holiday Season. These have
always been my most profitable times, especially the days following
ThanksGiving.

Although I must sound like a broken record and I know not
everyone reading this is into online marketing, but targeting
the “gift markets” is still one of my most effective ways to earn
online revenue. Getting buyers when they are ready to buy is
the whole key.


Obviously, someone looking for a gift is ready to buy.


Now you can target different kinds of gifts: wedding gifts,
graduation gifts, christmas gifts, holiday gifts, birthday gifts…
any occasion where people give gifts to loved ones or colleagues.

If you’re selling your own products – try to find a way to
promote them in any one or all of these gift niche markets.
This can be an easy way to boost your sales.

Since I am into affiliate marketing, many if not all of the
companies I promote, have special holiday discounts and deals.
Combining these holiday discounts with the gift market has
been a winning formula for me.

It has proven very effective since promoting holiday gifts with
special discounts will increase your sales. People are in the mood
to buy a gift but in these harsh economic times, they also want
a bargain and a way to save money. Just give them what they’re
looking for on your web pages.

While I promote products mostly through the big affiliate networks
such as Commission Junction, LinkShare and Shareasale… another very
good one for me has been Amazon.

Now, I find Amazon commission rates to be rather low compared to what
you can get through CJ and the other networks. However, there is a catch,
and it’s rather significant. Over the years, I have found that featured
Amazon products on my sites have a much higher conversion rate than
anything else that I have tried.


That is, you will get less for selling Amazon products but you will
sell more of them.


One of the major reasons I believe why this is the case has to do
with trust. Online buyers have come to trust Amazon. They know
they will get fast service and they will have few problems if
they want to return an item. This reputation or trust has been
built up over the years and can prove very beneficial to your
online marketing.

Another reason Amazon products convert very well is the low prices
offered. Prudent shoppers know where they can get a good deal and Amazon
is one of those recognized places that’s in the back of everyone’s mind.

Furthermore, another reason why I believe Amazon products sell so well
has to do with the very convenient way product ads can be placed on
your site… an image is given and the buyer just has to place the
cursor over this image and more information pops up – usually the price
appears, along with consumer ratings. Very effective.

Regardless of whether you’re heavily into affiliate marketing or just
want to earn some extra cash from your site or blog, I would strongly
recommend trying some closely related Amazon products. Tying in these
products with the upcoming Holiday Season gift market could prove very
effective for you – I know it works for me and my sites.

If you still have trouble finding buyers or visitors to your site
who are in the right “mindset” to buy, I would suggest you use this
handy tool from Microsoft which tells you the commercial intention
of your keywords.




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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Double Barrel Web Marketing Tactics



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Double Barrel Web Marketing Tactics: Writing Content Which
Will Rank High In The Search Engines & Pull In The Sales





Creating top ranked web pages which convert…


If you go the SEO route you will have to write web content which
will rank high in all the search engines. Plus, if you’re into web
marketing, that very same content will have to convert into sales or
leads in order for you to make a profit. It’s what I like to call
my “Double Barrel Web Tactics” and I have been using these simple
tactics to earn a full-time income from the net for over 5 or 6 years.

Not that that’s any kind of feat to brag about since countless individuals
are doing the same thing and probably doing a much better job at it. But
I have picked up a few tricks over the years which had helped me along
the way, one of the most important is writing top ranking web pages which
convert into sales.


Create SEO Empowered Webpages


First, in order to get those pages to the top of the search engines,
especially Google, I follow some simple SEO rules. They can be summed
up as such:


– Concentrate all the content around one central keyword phrase for each web page

– Include this keyword phrase in the Title, Meta Tags, Headline and in the URL

– Place this keyword phrase and variations of it throughout the page

– Have a column of related keyword links on each page

– Have very simple site construction with all links no more than 3 clicks from the homepage

– Build valuable one-way links to this page from keyword rated sites around the web

– Use Twitter, Facebook, Youtube… to promote each page


Choose Your Keyword Battles


Further more, you must use keyword phrases which are competitive for your site.
Picking long-tail keywords which have less traffic but still bring in sales,
is one way of doing this. Targeting really competitive keywords is rather pointless
unless you have unlimited funds and resources to build links and/or buy PPC traffic.
The average webmaster is better off choosing keyword phrases where he/she knows
they can compete and rank high in the search engines.

One good site which will tell how much competition your chosen keywords will have
is Google’s Keyword Tool. It will also give you some estimation of the amount of
traffic each keyword phrase receives each month. All valuable information to help you
pick your keyword battles.



Writing Webpages Which Convert


For me this is the most difficult part of earning an online income – writing web
copy which converts into a sale or a lead. Keep in mind, you don’t always have to
sell something, many companies will pay you 10s of dollars just to supply them
with a lead or potential paying customer. I sometimes find this is much easier
to do than making an actual sale.

My online marketing tactics are very basic – I give my visitor a strong incentive
or reason to buy from my site. I find using simple discounts, coupons and free trials
to be one of the most effective ways to make a sale or capture a lead for the companies
and products I am promoting. Giving those online shoppers or customers 10%, 20%, 50%
or more OFF will usually convert well. So too is offering bonuses, discounts and coupons
if they buy from your links. For leads, offering a Free 30 Day Trial works the best.

But never forget, visitors who use your site also want information about the products
or services they’re buying. Giving them clear unbiased information will go a long way
in capturing a lead or sale. Providing customer reviews and feedback is another way to
increase your conversions. So too are customer testimonials and video reviews.

Another tactic I use is picking keywords that have a high probability of commercial
intent which is more likely to bring in revenue. Just finding those customers and
visitors who are in the right mind-set to buy is the key. Targeting certain keywords
such as best deals, discounts, coupons… and targeting certain niche markets such
as wedding gifts, corporate gifts, holiday gifts… have done very well for me.
People are actually searching for a special gift and are ready to purchase.

One handy tool for determining the online commercial intention of your keywords
is Microsoft’s Adcenter Laps. It will give you a good starting point for choosing
which keywords and niche markets you should target with your web pages.

Online marketing is not some mysterious formula, it is merely a double-barrel process
of keeping all your SEO ranking factors in order and targeting customers when they’re
ready to buy. You build up your rankings with quality one-way links while offering the
resulting traffic valuable information and a good solid reason to buy from your web
site or page. Using special deals, discounts and coupons will go a long way in boosting
your conversion rates. So too, will targeting certain keywords that have great online
commercial intention or potential, such as the gift niche markets. Try this simple Dual
marketing tactic and watch both your traffic and sales increase.




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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Google Instant – Implications For SEO & Internet Marketing



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Google Instant – Implications For SEO & Internet Marketing




Here’s a more detailed follow-up to last week post on Google
Instant. After only of a week of testing, I believe these
recent changes within Google will have more impact than
I first thought. Here are some of my views and findings…



Google Spot!








While reading Harry McCracken’s rather insightful article on Google Instant
in PCWorld, I was reminded once again, how narrowly focused my own thinking
has become in regards to Google. I keep forgetting, not everyone is into SEO
or Internet Marketing (lucky bastards), and that Google search has a function
outside of SEO.

I keep forgetting that the general public actually uses Google for online search,
there are millions of web users out there who have been using Google Instant to
find out the weather, the latest Lady Gaga outfit or which flat-screen HDTV to buy?
Of course, I know this to be the real function of Google, but if you’re a full-time
search engine marketer, your perspective is solidly aligned to all the SEO elements
– keyword rankings, link building and content placement in the most dominant search
engine in the world.

Basically, you will be more concerned with how Google Instant will impact those
top keyword rankings, your click-through rates and most importantly, what effect
will it have on your conversion rates and sales? More specifically, how does this
instant search impact the display of your listings in Google and what are the
long-term ramifications this instant display will have on your online marketing?

There are even some so-called experts which say Google Instant will be the end of SEO.
This is a rather foolish notion since the underlying structure of using optimized
strategies to obtain top rankings in Google or any other search engine, has not changed.
We still have the emphasis on quality content, high quality backlinks and on-page
ranking factors.


In the background nothing has changed, in the foreground everything has
changed. Well, somewhat.


Google Instant is a game changer for online marketers simply because it changes
“How” your listings are displayed. Not only is the faster speed a factor but Google
is guessing or rather dictating what the web surfer is searching for so Google’s
influence on what’s displayed has increased 10-fold. They are displaying results
not only based on rankings BUT on what their data tells them you’re looking for?
How big a role this other compiled data and web users histories plays in these
suggestions only Google knows.


Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google has been quoted as saying, “Never underestimate the
power of fast. Quick, quick, quick – we want to help you right now… we can understand
things like what you really meant.”


Only time will tell what effect this “jumping the gun” or “making up your mind for you”
will have on Internet marketing. The long-lasting effect of Google imposing its results
on the web searcher will no doubt have some strong impacts on web marketing. Getting
those first suggestions when a surfer types in just one or two letters… will become
the real money-makers in terms of online traffic and sales.

Those companies and products which pop-up first will gain in market share and importance,
but hasn’t this always been the case with getting those first place keyword rankings in
Google? Yes, but now Google is giving the searcher options and planting seeds/suggestions,
which Google has done in the past but not at this speed. The implications for online
marketing could be enormous, assuming of course, web surfers actually use this function
because Google does give users the option of turning off Instant search. In our hurried
fast-paced world, one would reason, web searchers would not turn off this function, although
if your Internet connection is too slow, Google will automatically turn off Instant search
for you.

From a marketing angle, webmasters must now note Google’s keyword suggestions which quickly
pop-up and target them in their SEO efforts. Analyzing and targeting which keyword phrases
Google are displaying in your niche market will be vital to capturing the majority of traffic.
Surfers will click on Google’s suggestions to find what they’re looking for on the web.
Getting top rankings for those 4 or 5 suggestions will become important if an online marketer
or webmaster wants to cover/corner all the search territory in their niche. Whether you actually
target these keywords would really be determined by their commercial intent probability which
can be discovered by using Microsoft’s Adcenter Laps
and of course, the amount of traffic each keyword gets each month.

Another area of concern has to do with the ever-decreasing space for organic listings
on the new Google Instant interface. With the drop-down menu and depending upon how many
paid listings are shown, there may only be room for 3 listings instead of five or more
above the fold. Keep in mind, we are mainly talking about lucrative keyword phrases which
will also usually have three Adwords paid listings in the spots where organic search results
were formerly displayed. Searchers are lazy, they will probably not scroll down, especially
if they see different listings popping up as they narrow down their search. So your SEO has probably
gotten much harder since you will now have to aim for the top 3 spots – thanks Google.

Of course, savvy online marketers know the real gold is in the long-tail keyword phrases
which surfers use to find what they’re looking for on the web. Google Instant could possibly
play havoc on this whole process because before the searcher finishes typing in the long 4 or
even 5-word phrases, they would be exposed to maybe 4 or 5 pages of Google listings… chances
are great that searchers will click on one of these listings before they finish typing,
especially if the listing contains a part of the searched for phrase.

Marketers will have to closely analyze their own web stats and conversion rates in regards
to Google Instant. I am seeing little change in my own online marketing… traffic has dropped
on some sites and risen on others, subscription rates are up and sales are steady. Other web
marketers have seen a bigger jump in traffic and sales from Google Instant.

What really concerns me is the fact that Google may not only be pre-judging their rankings but
also your mind. They are playing a much bigger role in how you decide which listing you click.
Granted, this is probably drawn from unbiased data but will the influence of top-brand companies
be more dominant in Google’s Instant results?

Another general concern, will the display of so many listings make it harder for your site or
page to be clicked? Will giving the searcher so many options so quickly, lower your chances
of getting that click-thru, even if you have the top spot in Google? The laws of probability
and human nature say your chances have diminished somewhat in this new instant search environment.
Not good news if your livelihood depends upon getting that click.

There is also a Star function which “logged in” Google users can click to
bookmark their personal choices, these listings will be at the top under
“Starred Results” if you search the same keywords again.

However, many of these changes and no matter how fast Google gives you their search results,
will not change the fundamental principles of good SEO practices. Keyword positioning will
still get you to the number one spot in Google for your chosen phrase if you have the time
and resources to create quality content, build quality one-way backlinks and use good on-page
optimization. Besides the smaller emphasis on organic traffic, the only other real concern is
in the degree to which Google will use their suggestions and how much those suggestions are
based not on SEO ranking factors but on users’ histories and compiled data. Even with this concern,
Google Instant, even at warp speed, doesn’t negate the importance of getting those top rankings.


For many search engine marketers, like myself, it’s business as usual. Full speed ahead.

To read more on my first impressions of Google Instant go here:


Google Instant Search – Faster Than The Speed Of Type




Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

Did you find the above information helpful? If so, why not
help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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