Category Archives: Marketing

Social Media Guide for Your Business

Social Media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Linkedin are all great and easy ways to market your business. They have not only connected people more often; they have also brought more brands closer to the public. However, many businesses fail to use it properly and so they are not reaping all the rewards they could be. When used well the benefits of social media are enormous and this article provides reasons why your business needs social media.

Building Brand Awareness

  • Social Media drive traffic to other corporate channels (official website), and help reach new and growing audiences.
  •  Talk about your culture, employees, what you offer, and who you are as a company.
  • Share valuable content; this way, your company will be perceived as a leader in your space.
  • Share customer success stories. People want to be associated with a successful brand.

Build Your Sales Pipeline

  • Informal conversations on the social web, where majority of your products are spending time, can be disguised as leads.
  • Post a facebook link to your website where more information about your products is available.
  • Collect e-mail signup details from followers who opt-in to exclusive offers and reports.
  • Encourage feedback and let customers add reviews and share your content their networks.

Make Customer Service Personal

  • Helpful feedback publicly shows the responsiveness of your organization to clients and prospects, helping you build a positive brand perception.
  • Reply to customers asking for help or have complaints about your products.
  • Build relationships and reward your most loyal and influential customers.
  • Educate your customer by posting links to service centers, proper product handling, and other relevant tips.

Make Events Social – Online and Offline

  • Event marketing via Social Media fosters a community full of shared content and experiences, driving higher attendance and awareness of your event.
  • Give exclusive benefits by luring customers to become parts of the in crowd by offering incentives.
  • Remind everyone by sending tweets about the event few days before they take place.
  • Share content from the event. Broadcast replies to questions and photos taken at the event.
  • Run a contest that can generate excitement and awareness by raffling off passers and gift packs.

Launch a Product over Social Media

  • Social networks can create hype around product launches, and since people are more likely to trust information from friends and connections, the messages becomes more effective than those shared on traditional channel.
  • Build up teasers and excitement without giving away all the details of a new product.
  • Illustrate in a video why customers should be excited about your product.
  • Allow submissions of new product ideas like names or design features.

Free Email Marketing Tools

Before social media, email marketing was the best way to get in touch with customers. But while the former is getting way ahead when it comes to customer engagement, sending e-mails can still be an effective way to get messages across the right into user’s inboxes. You can start creating e-mail campaigns with these free tools online.

MadMimi.com, Mad Mimi is for people who want email marketing to be simple, powerful and fun. Without any prior skills, you can create email newsletters, marketing campaigns & autoresponders that can reach email mailboxes everywhere.

MailChimp.com, MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results.

SimplyCast.com, You can upload your data to their powerful list management tool or sync it to many of the leading CRM services. This keeps your data clean of bounces, unsubscribes and duplicates.

CleverElements.com, Email marketing should be simple and intuitive. Clever Elements helps you create, send and track beautiful email newsletters. With no programming experience and without having to deal with all the details.

CampaignMonitor.com, Campaign Monitor makes it easy to attract new subscribers, send them beautiful newsletters and see stunning reports on the results.

 

 

 

Friendster is Back: Shifts to Gaming to Lure Users

Pioneering Social networking site Friendster is staging a comeback-but not to compete with  Facebook. Friendster, Inc. which is now owned by Malaysian commerce and media firm MOL Global Pte. Ltd., has reformatted the site into a gaming platform to lure more users.

MOL Group Chief Executive Ganesh Kumar Bangah said that the new Friendster, which has been for nine months, will generate revenues through “micro transactions” or when gamers buy additional capabilities for their games.

“You pay basically to level up within the game. You play it for free, but if you want to succeed with the games, you have to pay a certain amount,”Mr. Bangah said in the interview. MOL Group has partnered with local Internet Cafes, where players can buy cards for the additional capabilities. They may also offer them in convenience stores in the future.

 

Most Popular Social Bookmarking Websites

Social Bookmarking sites are used to bookmark interesting web pages and useful articles, which may be useful to you at some later point of time. Earlier, people used to bookmark web pages for their personal use, but with the introduction of various social media sites, people have started sharing such web pages to their friends.

With so many social bookmarking sites available today, it’s often difficult for a beginner to know which site is the best one to join. Many people become members of several social bookmarking sites so they can make comparisons and see which one they like the best. We have here a list of some of the most popular social bookmarking sites and features that each one has to offer.

  • Twitter is the largest social networking and micro-blogging site. You can easily share your blog content over E-Mail, SMS and instant messaging using Twitter services, and it propagates rapidly among users who have signed up to receive your content
  • Del.icio.us uses tags to allow users to bookmark and share content they like. Other users can find that content through searches on those tags.
  • Digg is one the most popular site when it comes to functionality, overall design and is ideal for meeting people and finding new sites. Readers vote on websites by “digging” them. It is popular also as a social news site, offering late breaking news stories in many categories.
  • StumbleUpon has been around for a while now but recently has gained in popularity among social bookmarking sites. Once you download the StumbleUpon toolbar, it’s very easy to use. When you find a website you want to save, you click on the StumbleUpon icon on your toolbar, which happens to be a thumb up sign. If you see an article you do not like, you give it a thumb down.
  • Reddit is a social bookmarking site that uses a karma system to rank websites and stories. The votes that websites get affect their karma points, which determine how high or low the websites will be when searched. If you’re looking for a simple site (it’s definitely no frills) and one that caters to social news as well, Reddit just may be what you want.
  • Furl allows users to save copies of web pages as they appear at the moment they’re saved. That means the exact page will be available to users to view or share at anytime even if the original page has since been changed or deleted.
  • Fark allows users to submit links to content they like and want to share, but those links are evaluated by Fark administrators who determine which links appear on the Fark home page.

Above are some of the most popular social bookmarking sites used by millions of users all over the world. These sites are used to bookmark interesting web pages as well as to create backlinks to the user generated content and receive massive traffic.

HostGator Special Promo

When it comes to getting your website preparing a hit, you have to plump the most suitable hosting aid provider. The best one will make positive that your site is running without any complication as well as delivers trustworthy customer support. An ideal web hosting firm should have good reputation, a brand, easy on your pocket and should be able to contribute good services. HostGator is a web hosting firm and helps you to get discounts and great services as well.

Established in 2002, HostGator has been a world-leading provider of web hosting service. They offer Shared, Reseller, VPS, and Dedicated server packages for both beginners and professionals.

HostGator coupon will make it possible for you to start enjoying the same quality hosting services over 230,000 customers are currently enjoying. The best part of it all is that with the coupon you would get these services at almost half price. Their web services are currently being enjoyed all over the world across different continents. Below are the coupon codes that you can avail for special promo:

25% off: INFOBITZ25OFF

$9.94 off: INFOBITZ10FF

HostGator coupons are especially practical for clients who want excellent services at cheap costs.

 

Traits of a Successful Internet Marketer

Success is never guaranteed in life, neither is it assured in internet marketing. But, among the wide group of successful internet marketers there are distinguishable traits that these individuals possess. These characteristics are tangible and in many cases they are characteristics that are evident in every successful individual across creed, culture and career. In internet marketing, it is all about putting your own fortune into your own hands. Successful characteristics include a strong mental approach and determination. Develop these attributes and you will be able to steadily build your own future.

Here are some fundamental traits of the success-oriented mindset shared by today’s most effective online marketers:

They follow their passion. Enjoying your work is something most people aspire to, but pursuing your passion can also translate into good business. The most successful online vendors are passionate about what they do. That passion is critical to success, because if you’re going to work this hard, you need that passion to keep you motivated.

They work hard. To be successful online, you don’t need a university degree, or even a resume.  But if you’re just starting out, you do need to be prepared to work really, really hard. If you really want to succeed in internet marketing world you must have the ability to push yourself onward and upward. The ability to motivate yourself into scaling greater heights is a talent which will bring you to long term prosperity.

See also: How to Become a Successful Freelancer

They Have  Strong Sense of Self-Belief. Successful internet marketers are confident in themselves, they have a strong desire to achieve and they believe that anything is possible. This mindset is what separates them from the underachievers in this industry and it is the fierce force that catapults them to the height of success.

They seek out information, and enjoy learning. Whether it’s reading articles, networking, or attending industry events, successful marketers understand the power of information. The Internet is constantly changing, so even very experienced online marketers constantly seek out new knowledge. Rather than seeing learning as a chore or a threat, they appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to get advice from peers, improve their strategies, and find new ways to grow their business.

They invest in their own efforts. Becoming an affiliate does not require massive financial investment, but you cannot build a million dollar business by spending twenty dollars. It just can’t be done. Successful online marketers spend a reasonable amount of money buying tools and software, educating themselves, learning about their industry. Don’t be afraid to do the same for your business.

Passionate about marketing. Without passion your drive and motivation will be limited. Successful marketers are passionate about what they do and the passion that resides in them pushes them and inspires them to achieve impossible goals. There is a true love for their career and even though many of them do not have to continue working for more then a few hours a day they choose to keep at it because their job injects more life into them

These traits are clearly evident in every successful internet marketer and it is important for you to recognize what they are in order for you to embrace these characteristics and make them a part of your persona.

Basic Types of Online Advertising

Online Advertising is becoming the most useful and effective medium for selling products and services.   It is easy to do and can give instant results; more and more companies are using it nowadays. Even for regular business, online advertising seems a practical and smart endeavor. The internet is the most populated market today.  And to think the internet reaches all parts of the world, it is definitely a wise business move to advertise online. Online advertising also targets methods that are allowing companies to reduce costs and ones that are more efficient in reaching consumers that can’t be tapped by traditional venues.

Find out which type of paid online advertising will work best both for your own business and for your website.

Banner Ads. The first form of advertising launched for the web, banner ads draw attention to the product or service being offered. It is packaged through a small rectangular frame that follows a basic HTML code. When viewers click on the banner, it will lead to the business’ page where the rest of the details about the company are shown. Banner spaces are sold either by banner views or by the number of clicks to receive per day.

Text ads. It is presented simply as plain text-based hyperlinks that are enumerated at the sidebars of websites. Text ads are common in e-mail messaging, but are now branching out to more web pages. Although this format is not appealing as graphical ad, text ads have the advantage of downloading instantly, plus these are not affected by blocking software.

See also: Placing Ads on your Website

Display Ads. The exact opposite of text ads, display ads are graphical presentations that use eye-catching exaggerated visuals to catch the viewer’s attention. This form of online ad is very experimental in terms of shape, size and placement, and is encoded using Adobe Systems Flash or GIF. Display ads are used more for stronger branding of a particular product or service rather than for getting direct responses from viewers.

Pop-up Ads. Probably the most hated form of online advertising, pop-up ads can contain text, graphics and even sounds that emerge on a separate window before you are able to access a particular website. Entrepreneurs are discouraged to use this kind of web advertisements because of the resentment shown towards this kind of online advertising.

These are some of the online advertising techniques that you can consider using. You can either do just one or a full-blown advertising campaign. Either way, it is guaranteed you will get favorable results.

How to Become a Successful Freelancer

In the midst of this Cultural Revolution, internet has brought the ability to globally communicate to such an extent that people can fully interact without ever meeting in person. It is becoming more common for the average person’s work day to involve getting out of bed and logging on to their computer than to commute in to a 8-5 job. This has given the online freelancing community an incredible platform for grown.

If you’re one of the people who have decided that the corporate world is not for you and now treading the path of self-employment. Indeed, being a freelancer has its pros and cons and there are necessary steps you must take if you hope to make a successful career out of it.

Maintain your focus
Self-employment may give you more control of your time, but that doesn’t mean you will have more free time to do anything you want. A proper mindset and self-discipline is needed to make success happen.

Build Relationships with Your Site’s Visitors

Having a business website, and maybe even good traffic, is one thing. But, getting business from that traffic is a whole different story. To get new customers online, you must create personal relationships with the people who visit your site. Recently, Facebook and Twitter have lulled many businesses into thinking that posting and blogging content on the social venues are the only means of motivating discussions on the web. But many businesses have substantial amounts of content on static web pages from product and service description to photographs that can be turned into customer talking points. Here are four good reasons you should consider opening your website content to comments.

  • People like to feel that their opinion matters and that your business listens. They also like to see what others are saying about your business and what you can offer. And they also like to see what comments their comments attract, which makes your site open to more visits.
  • Comments give you a better understanding of your customers and site visitors. They can also inspire new or improved products and services.
  • As users post comments, they generate fresh content for you– and that can help boost your ranking on search engines.

Online Advertising Tips: Placing Ads on Your Website

As online media continues to attract advertisers, it is important to understand what works in this area and how consumers react to this new form of marketing. Basically, the purpose of online advertising is to drive more customers to your Website, as well as to make them visit your location and increase awareness about your products and services. Many people do not understand that if you want people to see your website you have to use some sort of online advertising, otherwise nobody knows your site even exists.

Here are some basic principles to guide you in placing ads on your website.

Focus on your site content first. Do not forget that you are the primary player here, the entrepreneur who invites advertisers into your business website. The digital platform has been created to market your own product first and foremost, and has allowed for other business to come eventually.

Keep it simple. In a similar scale, the more cluttered the ad, the lower the viewership. In the bigger picture, the more ads blinking or popping out of your site, the less attractive it becomes to readers. For better recall of the ads and for higher traffic in your web page, organize the look of your site and strategically choose the placements of your chosen campaign.

Allow visuals to stand out. The first things that eyes notice are the elements that are included in the foreground and background of an ad. Visually aggressive ads are more likely to succeed in holding the interest of the viewer for more than ten seconds since it lures him in to the message the ad would like to send across.

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: suv | Thanks to trucks, infiniti suv and toyota suv
Your Ad Here