Internet Marketing - Why is Web 2.0 Essential to Your Business?

By Daegan Smith

How many popular sites do you know? Do you have any reasons why they became what they are today? Web sites such as Flickr, Propeller, Digg, MySpace, StumbleUpon are the only few of the many sites popping all over Internet. Most of these sites tag any kind of content like audio, video, graphics, articles, photos, etc. The difference with these social bookmarking sites to a conventional search where you acquire inclusive results for key words, these sites produce results based upon what other people labeled and have crated their popularity by casting their votes. If your Internet marketing business uses Web 2.0, you'll likely gain a lot of members thereby increasing your profits.

How Web 2.0 improves your business?
Social interaction and bookmarking sites marked as Web 2.0 also include wikis, podcasting sites, blogging, and video sites. So what makes these sites used by a good number of people? Those sites differ from the rest because the content in them can all be user generated. Just like Flickr and Facebook. Like what happened to YouTube, when it was purchased by Google, the number of people who visit has greatly increased. Sites such as BlinkList, del.icio.us, or Scuttle allow you to tag web pages, blog posts and any other written content. Google Video and Flickr allows you to share your photos to other members of these sites.

How Web 2.0 works for your business?
For example, when you visit a Web 2.0 site and you observed a blog entry, do you notice that at the end of the post, there is a bookmarking button? When you become a member of sites like this one, you are required to complete your profile and allow you to post anything unless it breaks the site's rules. After your post, do you notice you are obliged to describe your post and tag the fitting keywords? Yes, that's how it basically works. When people look for information in search engines, tags are generally helpful. People find immediately the written content they may be looking for. In addition, what makes this sites so cool is that they are open to anyone who views them. Moreover, if you don't want any other people who can view your content, you could possibly do so by setting your profile to private.

Applying Web 2.0 to you Internet marketing business
Web 2.0 is indeed an amazing marketing method for your Internet marketing business. If you create your own Web 2.0 site, make sure your rules are properly imposed by all members so it continues to run and attract more people into visiting it. Or, if you wish to start your own internet marketing business immediately without creating your own Web 2.0 site, you may tag your posts and that of the others. Just make sure you follow the rules so you won't be banned from the site. When people look for key words and have found any of the words you tagged, they'll see your products and services. If these people purchase any one of what you sell, then you generate sales. What's more, it doesn't cost you anything. Thus, when you go about joining an Internet marketing business, make sure you are using Web 2.0. There are many people who seem so far at making their online business successful. That's because they are not using Web 2.0. Make sure you're not one of them.

http://www.DaeganSmith.com is an Expert Online Marketer "Learn How To Make $85,147,717 Per Month While Quickly AndEasily EXPLODING Your Network Marketing Organization by 7,141 People Without EVER Buying Or Calling a Single Stinking Lead?" Get Your Free MLM Wealth CD Now! http://www.easymlmprofits..com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daegan_Smith

Analyze Your Traffic Make You Succeed

By Tsuyoshi E. Suzuki

Internet marketing is becoming more sophisticated as the shopping audience increases and is spawning its own industry within the industry of the internet. Internet companies will use very sophisticated internet marketing techniques in an attempt to gain an edge over the competition and in order to attract visitors to the site. It is the process of promoting an organization using online media, typically with the goals of increasing sales and boosting profits.

Internet marketing does not simply mean building or promoting a website nor does it mean simply putting a banner ad up on another website. It is becoming the principal vehicle for this customer-contact process. Other traditional marketing activities still have a role but are often used in a complementary way to give maximum impact and return on the total effort.

Web analytics measures and analyzes the result of internet marketing efforts by studying trends, behaviour and improving productivity and search engine marketing effectiveness accordingly. By applying web analytics a company can monitor a website in order to increase their business performance and improve their site to include the needs and preferences that visitors are demanding.

Web design is an art that is the business of small and large enterprises alike. Designing a web site is more about creating a positive image of a company.

Web presence is therefore vital for bringing in the right visitors to your site. Websites claim you're going to make money online by setting up a website, throwing up an offer and some content and watching magical bucks start rolling in, but it is actually hard work and there's no such thing as "magic".

Effective search engine marketing is an ongoing process that needs to be monitored, analyzed and adjusted to match changes in both your business and the online environment. Effective Internet marketing is what drives websites to the top of major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. For the first time, companies large and small are able to compete on a level playing field.

Millions of people are buying products and services on internet with the help of websites. So websites are now popular platforms for such sales generated on internet. Millions of people are starting home businesses and many are failing. Could it be their lack of marketing know-how that is causing their failure?

Internet marketing is hard, technical, detailed work. Internet Marketing is not easy to do. It is also by no means difficult. Internet marketing is the great equalizer!

Tsuyoshi E. Suzuki is an Expert Internet Marketer. Making money easy. Use this web traffic generator, you can get very targeted visitors to any kind of websites for FREE! Making money internet Now! http://www.my-money-printer.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tsuyoshi_E._Suzuki

Affiliate Marketing - Making Real Money Online

By John Lung

Most people consider affiliate marketing one of the best ways to start a business online. It is very true that the earning potential of this business is very high. As a result, a lot of people will try to make their living out of the business.

Another reason why people choose to work in this business is that the cost of setting it up can be very low. It can be actually zero cost if you do not wish to spend even a buck on it. In this case you will try to create your affiliate site using some free blogging services such as Google Blogger.

Now, let's talk about how you make money with affiliate marketing. There will merchants who run affiliate programs. You can join these programs and you will get some affiliate links to promote the services or products of the merchants. You will promote these services or products in your website. In most cases you will pre-sell to the visitors of your website. If the visitor eventually decides to buy in the merchant site, the merchant will pay you some commissions.
From this, you will probably understand why you will have the chance to make your living out of affiliate marketing. If you can successfully pre-sell a lot of the visitors, you will be able to make lots of money.

Here, the key to succeed is to consistently promote your affiliate site. You can adapt various ways to promote your website. One of the ways is promoting by article marketing. You will try to promote your site by writing articles. Then you will try to distribute your articles. You will probably try the distribution services out there. These services can help you to save a lot of time on submitting the articles.

On the other hand, you can promote your site by using search engine optimization. By ranking well on the search engines, you will be able to drive targeted traffic to your website. This will certainly mean that you will be able to make more money.

You will also need to aim at niche markets. You should try to find affiliate products suit the market you choose. The advantage of choosing a niche market is that you can make money a lot easier.

The marketing is one of the most important things you need to do in affiliate marketing. If you can promote your website successfully, you will be able to make a lot of money. And you should become a super affiliate when you have more experiences.

John Lung is an affiliate Marketing Coach. You can learn more about Make Money Online with Affiliate Marketing from his website. He also runs a SEO Blog. Be sure to check Website Statistics Analysis Tools and Tips.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Lung

Site Promotion - A Comparison Of Ezine Marketing And Article Marketing

By Fabian Tan

Ezine marketing is good, and can even be very effective if the right ezine is targeted. They are good for short-term traffic, but not long-term traffic. You won't really receive much long-term traffic from ads on the sites on an ezine ad broker like '2 Bucks An Ad' because your ad is situated alongside hundreds of other offers. And eventually it gets relegated because newer offers keep coming in.

You can make some money from '2 Bucks An Ad'; people have done it, but it's not going to shake the world. If it was that easy to push out an ad and make hundreds of dollars overnight, Internet marketing would be dead easy. Unfortunately, it rarely is.

Sure, ezine advertising sounds easy. Pay, submit your ad, and watch the traffic and sales come pouring in. It doesn't always work like that.

The thing with article marketing is it's long-term traffic. And that's what you want for a consistent income. Plus, it builds credibility and branding if you have well-written articles.
Outsourcing for articles is a great strategy to consider if you want to do any form of article marketing. It does save a heck of a lot of time especially if writing is not your thing.

So, my verdict? Do both, but focus on article marketing as a long-term strategy and ezine advertising as a short-term strategy. Remember that, and you can't go wrong. Article marketing does cost effort, and it may even cost money, but it will deliver better results on the long-term. It will deliver traffic that just rolls in on autopilot.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fabian_Tan

Search Engine Marketing - How To Use Blogs To Your Advantage!

By Fabian Tan

For many webmasters, blogging is just one part of operating a much larger website. While some people may feel that blogging is a craze that will fade, it does serve as a useful combination of other tools. As an example, if you use a public Yahoo group, or a message board for search engine optimization purposes, you will soon find that a blog is much more convenient to work with.

One of the most important aspects of modern search engine optimization is gaining access to live content. If you update your blog on a daily basis, you will be helping to meet this requirement.
Among other things, if you sign up for a Blogspot account, you may even be able to find a way to update your blog from your cell phone.

Over the years, website popularity has emerged as one of the most important factors in successfully getting your site listed in the top ten listings for a keyword. You can achieve this in a number of different ways. As an example, you can register multiple domain names and include your keywords in their names. That said, domain spamming is causing a number of sites to lose their ranking.

You can use blogs to gain link popularity without the risks associated with domain registration. Not only is this cheaper, your registration with different blog hosts will make it difficult for the search engine to determine that the same person is actually running all of the separate blogs. Considering that newer search engine spiders are being designed to thwart domain spamming, it is to your best interest to keep your website clear of it.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fabian_Tan

The Secret To Success in Internet Marketing - Or Why You Might Not Be Successful

By David L Paul

Once again the ugly question has been posed to me from a would be internet millionaire- what is the real "trick" to making money. This was asked after I had just spent two whole days trying to impart information about websites and why you need one, getting traffic to your site, converting traffic into sales, and so on. I has frustrated me for years that the folks I try to help never seem to listen to what I am trying to tell them- instead they are always waiting for the "real secret", you know, the one that doesn't require education, experience, and hard work. Believe me, I've been looking for years, and there isn't any shortcut to success. Problem is, there are so many marketers and their minions screaming to the top of their lungs that you can "passively generate millions of dollars on autopilot" or "make 7,777 dollars a week while you walk the dog".

The noise that they generate makes my attempts at bringing reason to the mix sound like a whisper in a hurricane! But like a fool I keep trying. Why? Because I see the damage that is done every single day. I know it isn't what the average marketer wants to hear, but barring a few exceptions, you are going to have to work hard, be consistent, and probably spend considerable time before you will ever see any significant amount of money. I didn't make what I consider to be a living wage until my third year online. Now I will grant you that if I had to start all over again it would not take as long because I know how to do it now. The nature of the internet is one of hype, and almost always what you hear is either blown way out of proportion, or simply being repeated over and over by other marketers trying to jump on the easy money bandwagon.I know that many of you that read these words have experienced what I am talking about, and many of you still believe that there is easy money to be made with little or no work.

I would never want to try and discourage anyone from learning the hard way, so I won't spend a lot of time trying to dissuade you. Well, having said all of this, I want to talk about some good things, too. The internet is the only place that you can open a business for little or even no money. You can't even compare it to what it would take to open a brick and mortar business.
I've done that, and it takes a whole lot more time and work to get into the black, and then you still have to struggle to keep it up. Frankly, I never want to do it again! Another thing about the internet is that it enables communication and associations that would be very difficult or even impossible in the non-virtual world. And on top of all that, there really is good money to be made on the web. And let me boldly state that I have cracked the money making code! Just kidding.
What I do know is how to help you build a solid foundation, accelerate your learning curve,and expand you "Opportunity Horizon". Join the team at The Work At Home Home for a career jump start!

David Paul has been active in internet marketing for over ten years, with his focus on affiliate marketing, branding, and teaching marketing principles to sub affiliates. Before going into business for himself full time on the web, he spen7 years with a marketing data firm that provided information to major internet and software companies. You can find his portal site for internet marketers at http://www.workathomehome.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_L_Paul

Article Marketing - Write for Quality or Quantity?

By Ben Ehinger

This is a question that is floating around many article marketing and internet marketing forums and it is very hard to find a clear answer. Should you be writing articles for quality or concentrating on quantity? Read on to find out if article marketing is better with quality articles or the quantity of articles.

Let us look at the quality of articles first. Writing for quality will allow you to create unique content that readers will want to finish reading and will be helped by your article. When you write for quality content you are looking to help your reader, but you have to be careful to leave them wanting more or you will lose out on what you are really after, which is traffic to your website.

So, now that we have mentioned a little about traffic let us move on to writing a quantity of articles. When you write articles for quantity you are looking to drive traffic to your website. You are trying to drive as much traffic as possible to your websites and you are not as concerned with how good the articles are. This is a type of writing that allows you to pump out articles like a machine. They are usually very much structured around keywords and you are more concerned about your ranking on search engines than how good your writing is.

Which one is better, Quality or Quantity? The best answer to this question is that you should combine the two methods. Never write specifically for quantity because your readers will not want to read your articles, therefore, they probably will not finish them and click to your website. You do not want to get too caught up with the quality though because you don't want to spend hours upon hours on each article.

Make sure you write for your readers and give them something that they want. Answer a burning question, give them a handful of good tips, or define something that needs to be defined. If you don't give your readers anything they won't read the entire article and won't click through to your site. You also have to make sure you leave them wanting more so that they will click through to your website.

Writing for quality is a good way to create good articles, but you need to also write for quantity because it is a numbers game and the more quality articles you have out there the better chances you will have to create a ton of traffic. So combine quality and quantity writing in your article marketing and you will see better success than just writing a few articles that are very good or putting out a ton of junk articles.

Ready to learn how to write faster and still put out great content? Get more Article Marketing information here: http://www.FREE-OFFER-SITES.info/articlesqueeze.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Ehinger

Why Article Marketing Works So Well With Affiliate Marketing

By Justin N Brown

Article marketing has long been one of my favorite ways to promote websites online. It's free, has several benefits, and will always be effective as it provides the search engines (and people) what they want... content.

When used correctly, article marketing can be one of the best ways to sell a prospect on an affiliate product (or your own product for that matter). Whereas search engine traffic can direct prospects to your website to find out about a service or product you are selling, article marketing can also have this effect, but on many websites at once. Let me explain...

One of the benefits of article marketing is the option for other webmasters to use your article on their website or ezine. Write a single informative article and you can quickly see it picked up by dozens of other websites. Of course, this not only increases the traffic to your website, but also increases your sites link popularity (providing you add a link to your site at the end of the article), helping to increase rankings in the search engines. Article marketing really is a "no lose" promotional method.

It is also a good method for deep linking to inner pages of your website, helping to direct traffic to any page that you want. A further benefit is that some of the best article directories can naturally rank well for some pretty competitive keywords. Being able to target more competitive keywords with higher search engine traffic is an excellent way to drive more visitors to your sales page.

Distributing articles to promote affiliate products is also a very quick way of generating sales. Whereas a new website can often take several months to rank for the keywords you want, article directories will help you make sales while you promote your own website well enough to rank for itself in search engines.

The low cost of outsourcing also helps in affiliate marketing. Oftentimes, you will find yourself promoting products related to niches you know nothing about. At around $5 per article, outsourcing can really help increase sales through article marketing. Furthermore, this method of promotion isn't likely to decrease in effectiveness any time soon, and lends itself perfectly to promoting niche websites.

Get the free Niche Marketing Primer report to see a simple, yet effective way of profiting from small niches that anyone can put to use today at http://www.onlinewithjustin.com/niche-marketing-primer.html.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_N_Brown

Making Money With Affiliate Marketing

By Glen Speckmann

How do I make money with affiliate marketing?

I've tried and tried, but just can't seem to make it happen.

Does this sound familiar?

If it does, then you may be falling into one of the biggest traps of not being successful in affiliate marketing. Avoiding this trap is also the key to making affiliate marketing work for you.

What is it, you ask? Well, quite simply, it is staying focused and only choosing one program at a time. This sounds obvious, but when you get down to it, it is not practiced.

When you begin with affiliate marketing, it is very exciting and a bit overwhelming. Just think, You can make money selling someone else's product without dealing with any customers or any expenses. You don't need a new product or an initial outlay on your part. You just find a product that sounds good and run with it.

So you look into these products and there are thousands of them. Chances are that you just want to make money and don't care what you promote, just as long as it adds to your bottom line.
Therefore, you just go with one of the top ranked products and you think that you are
guaranteed to make money. All of these programs have to be good or they wouldn't be ranked so high in Clickbank or Commission Junction or whatever program you may be using. Right?

Everyone else is making money with this product, so why can't I? Right?
Wrong!
This kind of thinking has to stop!

Everyone has different interests and different fields of expertise. What is good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. You must find an area that suits you!

Here is where you need to become focused. You need to first decide on a niche. Pick a subject matter that interests you. Something that you are passionate about, that you will be excited to work with, and that will drive you to keep pushing on. This should be something that you are familiar with and hopefully very knowledgeable about. It needs to be something that you enjoy and something that you are going to know how to market.

The hardest part of affiliate marketing is driving the traffic to your affiliate site.

This will be much easier if you are familiar with, and knowledgeable about the niche. You can write articles, post on forums, reply to blogs, write newsletters and reviews, and an infinite number of other choices, as long as you know (or at least appear to know) what you are talking about.

This is the key and the most important factor to making money with affiliate products.

You need to promote the affiliate product as if you are an expert in that field, whether you are or not. The best advice would be to buy that product and learn it inside and out.

If it is indeed a good product then you will actually become an expert and promote it as your own. If you feel that you cannot do that with this product, then drop it and try a new one.

Basically, you need to go with what you know, find a good product in that field, and fly with it. Most importantly, keep with it and never give up. As long as you give it your best effort you will succeed. Failure only comes with not trying or giving up!

Glen Speckmann is a successful Internet Marketer and offers free advice on making money on the internet and personal development. More great articles can be found at http://www.gjsmarketing.com Subscribe to my Free Newsletter to receive a very informative free report. My newsletter is published at least once weekly and covers all aspects of making you a better you!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glen_Speckmann

Internet Marketing Tips - Internet Marketing Versus The Rest Of The World

By Steven Wagenheim

For those of you making a living online, or trying to, and deciding whether to tackle the "make money" niche or something else, this article may just help make up your mind. I am going to reveal some startling facts that will definitely have you thinking about whether or not you want to tackle the hard to crack niche of Internet marketing to marketers.

Okay, let's get right down to the facts. I write a lot of articles for Internet marketing. However, I also write articles for other niches as well. Now, if you've written for Ezine Articles in particular, you know that you get to see how many views each of your articles has, as well as how many articles you actually have out there. Well, these numbers may astound you. I have four times as many Internet marketing articles as I do articles for other niches and yet, my other niche articles get more views per day than my Internet marketing articles by a ratio of three to two.

Let's really examine this because it's important. Four times as many articles, yet only two thirds as many views. Why do you think that is? The answer is going to surprise you, though it shouldn't. See, whether you want to believe it or not, not everybody who has a computer and comes online wants to make a living on the Internet. The truth is, the percentage is very small.
However, the number of people who come online everyday who have health problems, or financial problems or some other kind of problem, far outnumber the Internet marketers. My own personal results are living proof of this, and I make a fine living with Internet marketing to marketers.

The point is this. There is a huge world out there that does not revolve around Internet marketing. Think about all the things that you do on a daily or weekly basis. You buy food, clothes, newspapers. You watch TV, listen to the radio, play CDs and DVDs. You go to movies.

You drive cars. You go to the doctor for a checkup. And yes, maybe you do have health problems that they can't seem to fix and maybe you're looking for some info online that will help. Maybe you want to buy a new camcorder and you're looking for a review online for a particular brand.

Everything I have mentioned above, which doesn't even scratch the surface, has the potential to be turned into a money making business. So before you jump into the "sell money making products to money makers" niche...consider one of the millions of niches you could probably do much better in.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Wagenheim

The Marketing Secret Weapon You Can't Afford to Ignore

By Lisa Almeida

Amazon is bursting with books that claim to hold the secret formula for success in business. Broken down to its most basic elements, this formula is the same for every business:

1. Know what you are selling
2. Get in front of the people who will buy it and tell them about you and your product/service.
3. Take in more money in sales than you spend on number two.

Too simple, you say. Try this - for the next 48 hours pay attention to every business, product, service, gadget or widget that you encounter in any advertisement, promotion, marketing campaign, sweepstakes, or special offer that crosses your path.

You will begin to see a pattern. Regardless of the type of product or service or the method of communication, all marketing is designed to do one of two things: either tell you something about a product or service and why you should spend your money on it or tell you about the company that sells/produces it and why you should engage with them - or both.

Billions of dollars are spent on this each year. And while it is necessary to tell your target market about you and why they should choose to do business with you, it does not need to cost billions, millions or even thousands in many cases.

By far the single most economical and effective way to execute the previously outlined success formula is via email marketing.

• It is free (for now) and you can't get more economical than that.
• You might not be able to get someone into your "store" or website everyday but people check their email everyday and they read things that are of interest to them. The key is to make sure you don't look or act like junk mail.

If you are not using email marketing in your business you are missing the marketing boat. But don't panic, you are about to learn how to build the dingy that can get you on board!

1. Start to collect email addresses. Every time you interact with someone who falls into any of the following categories, ask for their email address and permission to add them to your mailing list.

o A current customer
o A past customer
o A potential customer
o A colleague (not a competitor) who may be a referral source
o Someone who already knows you and likes you

2. Do not add email addresses without permission. Resist the urge to build a huge list quickly by cruising the events at your local Giganta-Plex Convention Center. You may walk away with a wheelbarrow full of business cards but for the most part they will be useless because...

o Without a relationship, people will not read anything you send

o Your communications will most likely be marked as spam

o If you become tagged as a spammer, your email efforts completely backfire and you can be
blocked by many programs, even when you want to send non-marketing communication

3. Use a recognized bulk mail service - like Constant Contact. You still need permission but by using the service you greatly increase your chances that your communications reach the inbox and not the spam folder of your recipient.

4. Send useful information on a regular basis. Touch this community no less than once each month but be careful not to inundate. You don't want to become an annoyance and have people un-subscribing after you've worked so hard to get permission to contact them.

You now have the makings of a sea-worthy email marketing dingy. Paddle with steady determination and as your list grows and the useful communication flows, you'll soon find yourself aboard the mother ship enjoying the financial rewards of inexpensive relationship marketing.

Lisa Almeida is a small business Results Technician and owner of Planit Production. She helps small business owners get from where they are, to where they want to be. If you are in the market for strategies that can deliver the profit you need to get the results you want then visit http://www.YouHaveToPlanit.com today. Because success doesn't just happen, you have to planit! Are you ready to planit?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Almeida

20 Internet Marketing And E-Commerce Facts

By Khaled Mohamed

1. US online holiday retail sales will grow to over $39 billion in 2007, a 20% increase over 2006.

2. A record 126 million users will buy online this holiday season, a 6% increase over 2006.

3. 70% of leisure travelers book at least some of their personal travel online.

4. 52% of leisure travelers purchase all or most of their personal travel online.

5. 61% of online consumers are more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping than one that doesn't.

6. 18% of online consumers said that they plan to spend more on gift cards in 2007, compared with in 2006.

7. 33% of online retailers plan on investing more in live chat in 2008.

8. 53% of online retailers are planning to enhance their guest checkout process in 2008.

9. 80% of online retailers are planning to add alternative images to product detail pages in 2008.

10. 72% of online retailers plan on incorporating lifestyle photography into their sites.

11. 63% of online retailers plan on integrating customer ratings and reviews into their sites.

12. The top 10 e-commerce web sites, measured by the number of unique visitors is Amazon.com, Wal Mart, Target, JC Penny, QVC.com, Sears.com, Overstock.com, eBay Express, Kohl's and Macy's.

13. 53% of car shoppers start shopping online.

14. 71% of online shoppers browse multiple stores prior to making a purchase.

15. 42% of online shoppers in the US use comparison engines.

16. 53% of online shoppers surveyed ranked discounts or exclusive offers for members as the most important feature of Frequent Buyer/Loyalty Programs.

17. 6% of all retail sales in 2006 were online sales.

18. 10 percent of all clothing sales in the US are expected to occur online.

19. Online sales rose 29 percent in 2006 to over $146 billion.

20. Online sales are expected to climb 19.1% to $174.5 billion in 2007.

Khaled mohamedhttp://www.bemillionerfromhome.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Khaled_Mohamed

Top Ten Marketing Ideas for Your Business

By Greg Krivicich

Solving real marketing issues requires a fresh look at your business. Below is a 'Top Ten' list of new marketing ideas to get your business going in the right direction. Get excited and be open to thinking outside the box.

10. Develop a professional website for your product or service. If you have a product or service line, create a well-designed company website. Your website should solve customer problems and provide relevant information.

9. Survey existing customers. How do your customers feel about your products and services? Stay in touch through informal lunches or a professionally coordinated survey campaign. A survey is an excellent method for taking the pulse of your audience. The survey should include detailed questions about your products and services and how they directly benefit the customer.

8. The customer is always right... always. The time to prove this statement is when the customer experiences a problem with your product or service. Make a point to take responsibility and solve any problems that a customer might have immediately. Satisfied customers turn into repeat, long-term customers.

7. Develop a new brand identity. How long has it been since you've updated your website or marketing materials? Maybe it's time to take a fresh look and redesign your image. Customers and prospects respond to new ideas and information.

6. Take a customer out to lunch. Now is the time to ask a reliable customer out to lunch. Touch base with them to see how your company is solving problems and meeting their needs.

5. Be positive in your outlook. It's important to feel good about yourself and enjoy what you do for a living. If you have a positive attitude about your job, you will succeed by transferring that enthusiasm to other employees, customers and prospects.

4. Make a list of your strengths. Are you the low price leader? Is your business the most experienced? Do you have the highest quality product or service? Try to list between 50 and 100 different and measurable strengths. This is a great exercise to develop new ideas for your marketing campaigns

3. Establish an annual marketing budget. A good rule-of-thumb estimate for your marketing budget is 3% to 5% of annual sales. Retail businesses need to budget 7% to 10% of annual sales for their marketing budgets. Your budget should include a breakdown of all marketing costs including printing and advertising placement.

2. Develop a solid marketing plan. Plan the work then work the plan. Think of a marketing plan as a "road map" to success. Your marketing plan should include measurable goals and the means to accomplish those goals. Include the marketing budget as a part of the marketing plan in order to measure the results of your company's spending. This enables you to determine what works and what does not.

1. Hire a professional company for all of your marketing needs. Good business decisions begin with choosing the right partner. Your business should enlist the help of a professional marketing firm that is experienced and has a track record in the areas of marketing, advertising and website development. Your business can be successful with creative and cost effective campaigns.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Krivicich

Marketing Illustration And Art Online

By Paul M Featherstone

There are literally thousands of people in the world who have a talent for art and illustration, unfortunately we will never get to enjoy the work produced by these people as they may not be marketing their skills successfully.

Many artists and illustrators I know have cupboards full of work of high quality which could be generating an income and raising their profile. As well as this it is surely the point of art to be enjoyed by people otherwise the motivation for production can only be to satisfy personal pleasures.

One of the most important and cost effective methods of marketing your work in by harnessing the power of the web, it offers large-scale reach for very limited cost.

Online marketing of illustration and art still required fundamentals of marketing to be considered - ask yourself the question "who is my target audience" and "how can I reach them with my message?". Next consider the marketing mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion and how you will use the tools of Internet promotion to promote your work.

In this article I will concentrate on promotion via the web as even with a limited understanding of marketing getting this part of the marketing mix right can bring quick rewards.

The first point for consideration should be the creation of a website, whether it's a few pages created by a friend who has some technical knowledge or a fully functioning eCommerce site this element is crucial to your online success. You will need to choose a name for your website that is relevant, for example if you are an illustrator who produces illustration for children's books then consider names such as "childrens-illustrator". Thought put into the choice of website name will reap rewards later through high search engine rankings.

Secondly, start a blog, there are hundreds of free blog facilities available where illustrators and artists can discuss their work and also benefit from promoting what the do at the same time.
There is an added benefit with use of blogs as search engines also like to see other sites linking to your website.

Thirdly, list your website with as many free directory and listing sites as you can in order to keep the volume of exposure high. As well as attracting traffic (i.e. visitors) to your website it will also assist with your search engine rankings in the same manor as your blog.

Fourthly, don't forget about offline promotion - quote your website and blog addresses on your marketing literature, business cards etc so as to create maximum synergy between all of your promotional efforts.

Fifthly, harness the power of eZine sites such as this, by sharing knowledge on your specialist subject you are not only promoting what you are good at but are also building a reputation as a trusted source of information in your field on the web.

Step six, speak to other artists and illustrators about sharing links for each other sites, this practise is known as reciprocal linking and as well as being good for, you guessed it, the search engine rankings, it is also a great way to network and gain word of mouth promotion.

Finally, consider publicising your illustration or art through use e-mail communications. Simple e-mail-shots can be sent from software such as MS Outlook or Thunderbird mail. If you want to use a system that is a little more sophisticated (i.e. it offers more advanced tracking for response and opening statistics) then why not try a service like Constant Contact. This supplier offers free e-mail broadcast for small quantity mail outs, perfect if you are new to e-mail marketing and want to try your hand.

E-mail communications are a very effective way of staying in touch with your target audience and can be used to promote a wide range of subjects from a new exhibition to current art or illustration projects.

So what's stopping you, promote your illustration and art on the web today!

Paul Featherstone is a London based illustrator, artist and web designer with a love of all things online. Paul produces unique illustration and art as well as being a practicing marketer and e-marketing anorak.

http://www.paulfeatherstone.co.uk

http://paulfeatherstone.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_M_Featherstone

Why Can't I Just Place an Ad? Or How to Go Out of Business Fast!

By Louise Barnes-Johnston

Sorry to be so brutal, but your business's success depends on you learning lots of new skills - including how to sell your products or services. Sales & Marketing go hand in hand. You will need to try out different marketing strategies to find out what works best for your particular business or industry. Advertising may be one of those strategies but eventually, you're going to have to start selling as well.


The reason many small business owners shy away from selling is that they're afraid the other person might say 'no'. Such rejection is one of our biggest human fears, it is also one that we have learnt over the years. If you have children, you'll have found them very good at getting what they want from you! They don't give up at the first 'no' - but will keep trying different approaches. They can teach you a lot about selling.

For most businesses, the most effective way to sell is face to face with your prospective customer. You need to be prepared to make contact several times before getting an appointment with them and even more times before you get an order!

Plan a campaign that includes leaving messages, writing letters and emails as well as what to say when you finally get the right person on the phone. Prepare carefully for meetings and learn how to write proposals. Brush up your presentation skills too. Nobody likes to be sold to, but people do like to buy - so help them make their decision by focusing on all the benefits to be gained by buying from you.

Selling can actually be fun, if you are enthusiastic about what you do, and believe that your product or service can really help solve whatever problems your prospective client is facing. After all, if you don't believe, how can you expect anyone else to?

Louise Barnes-Johnston is "The Business Accelerator". She provides business coaching and mentoring for entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses. Get a copy of her FREE report "10 Ways to Boost Your Business" at http://www.frontline-results.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Louise_Barnes-Johnston

Online Marketing and Affiliate Business

By Joe Palladino

Online marketing can be a really lucrative business if you know how to work it the right way. If you can get all the inner workings and patterns down then you will never have a problem being successful. If you are looking to make a little bit of extra money in order to boost your income then the internet is certainly a great place for you to start. There are so many different kinds of opportunities for you on the internet and you just need to do a little bit of research in order to find out about them for yourself and to start using them. If you have an online business then the way to get organized and start forming a network is by using affiliate sites so that you can gain marketing experience and online credibility. Even if you are not a business owner you can still use affiliate sites to your advantage by making them just a little boost to your salary through marketing them in various ways on the internet that you have begun to learn so much about.

Even if you have already had experience, the internet can be a little bit scary and intimidating and you will feel really overwhelmed by the whole situation. So, you should definitely look into helpful methods and systems that will allow you to become successful while learning about different ways in which online marketing and affiliate sites work. So, you are looking for this new way of making money online but also of a way that will be the best for you and be a guide to the steps necessary to become successful. Well, a great system is the Pro2 system because it combines all of these things. You can make money while you are still learning about how everything works because this is a step by step guide that will show you the way to success. It will teach you how to work with affiliate sites such as the ClickBank cyber mall. This cyber mall has hundreds upon hundreds of products that you will be amazed by. You will be able to pick out the items that customers really go for and you can then focus yourself on selling and marketing those items out so you can get the most sales. You can choose to market whichever items you feel most comfortable and confident with so that you can learn about them even more while you sell them and make money.

One of the tricks that you will learn is to do everything in moderation. You have to set small goals for yourself at first so that you do not obsess about reaching a goal without really taking in all the information that the Pro2 system has to offer. The most important advice that can be given to you is to really take it slow and retain all the knowledge that you learn about the internet and how it works. You can be on your way to making money online right now if you go do a little bit of research online.

Visit http://www.Market-Affiliate.com right now in order to make money online by using different affiliate sites that will teach you about online marketing and help you to gain a little bit of experience. You can learn about affiliate sites.

Create Residual Wealth Through Network Marketing

By Michael Harris

Simply put, the best part about network marketing is that you don't need to have special talents or skills to do well. Anyone can do it, but so few people are. Most people are taking the road that's expected of them: get an education, get a job and hopefully retire with enough money to live through your golden years comfortably.

Participating in mlm, or multi-level marketing, while not the traditional road to financial security, is one way to step outside the norm and potentially make a lot more money than you're making now. Not to mention the fact that it's something that you can do without quitting your current job.

A simple fact: mlm programs wouldn't exist if nobody was making money from them. So you know you can make money through network marketing, but with so many programs, it can be a tough choice as to which one you wish to spend your time pursuing.

GDI (Global Domains International) owns the .ws internet domain name extension (for example: www.domainname.ws) They are a true Inc500 listed, debt-free corporation and have a proven, successful track record. Essentially, they're the home for all .ws websites.

This mlm program works on the basis that the .com internet real estate market is far too overcrowded for aspiring webmasters to make any money off of it. Instead, you'll be able to cash in on the still young .ws internet domain.

You'll be able to view a short presentation to explain all of the details, but the important parts are as follows: Signing up is completely free. If you find that you don't have the time or energy to follow some simple steps, just quit the program before the free trial time is up and go on your way. Also, there's no actual selling involved whatsoever, the presentation video is the sales material and it's all that's needed to begin a successful network marketing career.

The product itself, a unique www.'yoursite'.ws domain name is yours to do with whatever you want. Use it for personal or business applications.

If you pick a great domain name that receives lots of hits, you can simply put an ad manager program (like google adsense) on the page and make more money on top of the money you'll make for referring people to the product.

Working with GDI, you can easily create residual wealth. This is the best kind of wealth. For example, referring just 10 people to GDI in one month who each refer 5 people to GDI means that you'll get $50 per month, year after year, after year. Just 10 people and one month's work, you'll have an extra $120,000 in 20 years.

More than likely, you'll refer many more people and those people you refer will refer more people and so on up to the fifth level of referral. (There's a handy income calculator at the site to that'll show you how it all adds up)

This win-win type of network marketing is by far the best type there is. The product is useful, the demand for it is astronomical and it's still in its early stages.

Get in on it while you still can.

Discover the new cutting-edge prospecting system that will quickly and easily generate more paid sign-ups in your primary business in 3 simple steps... Guaranteed!" The Big Time Downline Club

The Description Of Affiliate Marketing

By Hooshmand Moslemi

If you have been involved in Internet Marketing, chances are that you have heard about Affiliate Marketing many times. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced marketer, you have to know the description of affiliate marketing first.

Affiliate marketing has a lot of descriptions; however all have the same meaning. Simply, you promote and market the merchant´s products and services and will be compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer that you provide through your marketing efforts. So, the commission you will earn is based on that specific action and could be measured as Pay Per Click (visiting the merchant site), Pay Per Lead (joining the merchant site or taking a trial and subscription) and/or Pay Per Sale (purchasing a merchant´s product or service). Since Pay Per Click action does not give a reasonable amount of commission, it is not normally categorized under the term of affiliate marketing. So, whenever we talk about marketing as an affiliate, we mostly mean Pay Per Lead and Pay Per Sell actions.

Affiliate Marketing is the fastest, easiest and most cost-efficient way to make money on the Internet compared with other forms of online businesses. You don´t need to create and manage your products or services, you don´t need to handle customer orders and support, you don´t even need to have your own website. On the other hand, if you don´t know exactly what to do, you will never make money as an affiliate. Getting the needed and updated information and taking action are the most important steps of this process.

One of the common misunderstandings that are being linked with affiliate marketing is selling. It is true that selling is an important activity of affiliate marketing and the core function of a business operation. But, in affiliate marketing, you are not selling; you are pre selling. Another is that affiliate marketing is commonly linked with advertising. While the importance of advertising in marketing a specific product is not to be underestimated, it is not a part of the many functions of affiliate marketing.

It is not too hard to become an affiliate. There are literally thousands of programs and networks out there where you can join and get started. In most cases, you are provided with tons of guides, tips and marketing materials in order to start marketing the products or services. You can generate a full-time income as an affiliate marketer. So, whenever you hear somebody earning over $1000/day, don´t get surprised! It can be true.

But affiliate marketing is not an easy task to accomplish. The affiliate needs to have a better understanding with the merchant´s products and services, what the commission will be, expected payment method and time involved in the agreement. Also, it is too vital to select a product or service that has a good reputation on the Internet. In other words, marketing a website which has a lot of negative feedback on the Internet would only be a waste of time, money and effort. Affiliate marketing is a great choice for everyone who wants to make some extra money from Internet. It is simple and inexpensive to get started and you can be up and running within a few days. But there is one thing you have to consider, it is how to market on the Internet despite the heavy competition.

Have Not Earned any Money Yet as an Affiliate?! All Right! You Need Affiliate Training and Coaching. That´s It! Find Out the Top Affiliate Training Programs Right Now!

Why Internet Marketing Means Nothing

By Ivan Piskov

Internet marketing is very popular term and it sounds very pompous: 'I am an Internet marketing expert'. Yeah, all rise!

Actually it means nothing concrete and that's why it is so easy (and so useless) to write about it.
There is no such business called internet marketing. People are making money from adsense, from affiliate programs, from email advertising, from e-stores, auctions, surveys, dropshipping and more in countless forms using countless mix of marketing techniques and all these online activities can be described with this one term internet marketing.

When someone is selling, or recommending, or advertising or just writing about any kind of product or service on the internet, depending on the marketing channel or the technique applied, this marketer is practicing only a single part of All available internet marketing strategies and methods.

So, what practical meaning has all mentioned above?

Don't waste your time with internet marketing tips, tools, experts, articles, directories and so on. Find your specific talents and improve on what attracts you the most: if you are a math guy - try SEO, if you are communicative type - jump on blogging, email and writing, if you are type of a techy guy - development and scripts might be your online area, if painting is your passion - welcome to web design and so on.

Don't build a website using internet marketing in the title - you can build such an authority website only to collect inbound links and then pass on Google Page Rank upon family of connected sub sites, but this strategy is a bit complicated, so better avoid it in the beginning of your online activity.

Don't use the term internet marketing in your paid advertising - it's too broad and you'll get highly untargeted traffic and close to zero sales. You know it, but I will just repeat it: the money is in the small niches.

Don't be jealous if you are not mentioned as an 'internet marketing expert' on some meaningless list or an article. Make yourself known as a seo-expert, master-copywriter or top-class programmer because such niche guys have the fattest bank accounts while most of the self proclaimed 'experts' are just talking about money.

Find your passion and learn how to make a substantial web business out of it. Develop your own unique style in what you are doing and success will not pass you by.

Learn more smart web marketing tips at www.ivpis.com Ivan Piskov

In Search of the Holy Grail of Marketing

By Thomas Murrell

Many businesses, corporates and professionals go in search of the holy grail of marketing; a holy grail that will deliver more revenue, clients, profits and growth.

In my quest to find the holy grail of marketing, I travelled from Subiaco in Western Australia to the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Grounds in Victoria on the last Saturday in September.

For marketers there's a saying that half of your marketing efforts are wasted, but working out which half is a real challenge.

What took me to the MCG? I was in search of the holy grail of marketing. This quest took me to a mega sporting event, in fact a hallmark event. A hallmark event refers to an event that becomes so identified with the spirit or the ethos of a town, city or region that it becomes synonymous with the name of the place and gains widespread recognition.

The event I'm talking about is of course, the Grand Final of the Australian Football League or AFL.

My quest was to follow the fortunes of the AFL team called Geelong and its aspirations to win their first premiership since 1963. I was one year-old in 1963 so it was a long time ago.

The football team, Geelong, known as the Cats, holds a special place for me personally.

My grandfather Jack Murrell played three seasons for Geelong; 1920, 1921 and 1922. He played on the wing and so we have a long family history of being Cats' supporters.

Sometimes these events become really huge and they become known as a mega event. My experiences at the MCG showed me what a mega event the AFL grand final is. I learnt some important and serious marketing lessons from that major event because events marketing and events management is one of the fastest growing forms of marketing and I believe it is one of the holy grails of marketing.

If you are considering growing your business, one of the best business growth tools you can have is to host an event. If you are in investor relations, that could involve hosting your annual general meeting for your publicly listed company.

If you are a consultant, such as a financial planner, it could be hosting a financial planning or investment information seminar for your clients. Or, it could be taking your clients to a big corporate event.

Here are some of the key learnings that I discovered in my quest to join Geelong in search of the AFL Premiership Cup and also my personal quest in search of the holy grail of marketing.

1. The Importance of Integrated Marketing Communications
Everything was integrated seemlessly. There was a theme for the AFL finals, called ‘Septopia' and that theming in terms of message cut-through, differentiation and creativity was really well done.

2. Premium Pricing
Certainly for my Centre Square Package, it was positioned as a premium experience and it was priced to reflect that premium. It was elite, exclusive, upmarket and the experience delivered on the brand promise. So it was well branded and the execution of the brand strategy and brand promise was outstanding.

3. Word-of-Mouth Recommendation
It has been a personal goal of mine to attend an AFL Grand Final, a goal I've had all my life and it was good to fulfill this goal. That goal was consolidated, motivated and added to by word-of-mouth recommendations from other people that had attended an AFL Grand Final.

Ever since I can remember people have been recommending the event as a 'must attend event' and that word-of-mouth recommendation to go overcame any buyers resistance.

4. The Personal Experience
Well, they talk about the quality gap with an event; does the expectation meet your perceptions?

I bought a premium package for the MCG known as the ‘Centre Square Package'.
It included pre-game entertainment in special marquees, food, beverages and live TV screens and then after the event more food, more beverages and more entertainment. It also included premium seating at the actual game itself.

Yes, it certainly did. The personal experience was outstanding; from the level of service to the quality of food and the quality of beverages. I guess I felt special because I bumped into special people, like triple AFL Premiership player with the Brisbane Lions and Brownlow Medalist Simon Black.

I saw other TV personalities there and it was good to be in that level. Just to be with other people that you know had paid the same amount of money to get that premium level personal experience was great.

5. External Factors
External factors are important in running a mega or hallmark event. For example, for inclement weather conditions at the event there were marquees. The entertainment area and the common meeting area, was under cover so no matter what the external factors were, like rain, that was very well covered.

6. The Tangible Elements of the Event
These are sometimes called technical qualities; the quality of the food, or the quality of the entertainment.

The band Jet was the opening act at the main Grand Final. They then put on an exclusive night-time concert for the Centre Square crowd. The level of expertise in event management was high and done particularly well.

7. The Emotional and Personal Connection
The attitude, appearance and atmosphere, along with responsiveness and empathy of staff was outstanding and the personal factors in terms of making it a memorable experience was fantastic. Just being in Melbourne during a mega event was special.

For example, as soon as I woke up from where I was staying, I jumped in a cab to go to the function, the pre-game function that started at 10:30, the first person I saw was a high-profile, former AFL coach Denis Pagan just walking down the street.

I bumped into personalities, I bumped into star players, the whole of Melbourne had a real buzz about it.

The next day I went for a run along the Yarra River, I was just jogging along a single track and who should walk towards me but Brownlow Medalist and just retired champion footballer James Hird and his wife and I said "hello James, congratulations on a great career?" and he replies "thanks mate!" and I kept jogging in one direction and he keeps walking in the other. Just that sort of personal interaction with a superstar of the game was very memorable.

8. The Media
In terms of the media as another factor, media were part of the pre-game entertainment in the event. Even walking towards the MCG there were outside broadcasts by a lot of radio stations and everywhere you looked you saw media personalities. It was really well done in terms of media.

9. Sponsors
Toyota is the major sponsor and again that was really well branded and very prominent

10. Follow-Up
The final thing is the post event follow-up.

When I arrived, people with clip-boards were there to ask you permission to take your email address and send you a survey. The email came within a day of the event, I was overseas at the time and was to busy to respond. But a reminder email came a week later.

The motivation to complete the online survey, which was just a click through, very comprehensive survey, easy to do, was to win another ticket to next years event in the center square.

In summary, I found in terms of marketing, satisfaction, the whole 48 hours was outstanding, a once in a lifetime experience, a real mega event, a real must do and outstanding. Again, just the media coverage, the profile, a once in a lifetime opportunity and Geelong won the AFL Grand Final for the first time since 1963 and I did discover some insights in my quest and in my search for the holy grail of marketing.

For the record, Geelong created its own mythology with the biggest win in AFL Grand Final history with a 24.19 (163) to 6.8 (44) smashing of Port Adelaide.

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com