Internet marketing and Web Promotion expert Services India

viral marketing

2008-06-15T02:13:00.000-07:00

Definition

Marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message.
Information

Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients forward something to a large number of friends, the overall growth snowballs very quickly. If the pass-along numbers get too low, the overall growth quickly fizzles.

At the height of B2C it seemed as if every startup had a viral component to its strategy, or at least claimed to have one. However, relatively few marketing viruses achieve success on a scale similar to Hotmail, widely cited as the first example of viral marketing.
The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing

I admit it. The term "viral marketing" is offensive. Call yourself a Viral Marketer and people will take two steps back. I would. "Do they have a vaccine for that yet?" you wonder. A sinister thing, the simple virus is fraught with doom, not quite dead yet not fully alive, it exists in that nether genre somewhere between disaster movies and horror flicks.

But you have to admire the virus. He has a way of living in secrecy until he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase his tribe. And in the right environment, he grows exponentially. A virus don't even have to mate -- he just replicates, again and again with geometrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration:

1
11
1111
11111111
1111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

The Classic Hotmail.com Example

The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com, one of the first free Web-based e-mail services. The strategy is simple:

1. Give away free e-mail addresses and services,
2. Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: "Get your private, free 3.
3. email at http://www.hotmail.com" and,
4. Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network of friends and associates,
Who see the message,
5. Sign up for their own free e-mail service, and then
6. Propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.
Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

Accept this fact. Some viral marketing strategies work better than others, and few work as well as the simple Hotmail.com strategy. But below are the six basic elements you hope to include in your strategy. A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others' resources

Mobile Phones Vs. iPhone How to Optimize Your Sites

2008-06-15T01:17:00.000-07:00

Todd Follansbee, Usability ExpertWhile conducting usability testing with many people as they visit different websites, we hear lots of complaints about the use of Flash or JavaScript to cycle images and messages on homepages. We wonder: Is Flash truly a killer app? Or is it a sales killer?

I'm not talking about the Flash site introduction pages, which fortunately have nearly disappeared. I am talking about an increasing number of small sites which are cycling images, changing messages, and sending offers across the screen -- generally causing havoc among people trying to understand an often complex webpage.

This is not a tirade against Flash or JavaScript. It is an appeal for improved usability.
Problems with Scrolling Messages

Here are the problems caused by changing messages and scrolling offers:

1. Distraction. A large percentage of people, especially those with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), find them incredibly distracting. It is difficult to read -- let alone comprehend -- a webpage where dominant images continue to change and distract.

The first rule to get conversions is: Convey your value proposition. Make clear what business you are in and why it is of benefit to the reader. But Flash often distracts viewers from understanding this essential message.

Eyes are naturally attracted to motion and light. If your visitors don't finish reading a paragraph, they won't understand the value proposition. And unless they understand your value proposition, nothing will happen. Our user testing constantly reveals this pattern of distraction.

2. Disappearing messages. Some sites cycle images and messages a few times and then stop. However, once the cycling has stopped, it is impossible to go back and look at the messages. Visitors become frustrated when they can't review them.

3. Ineffectiveness. Flash does not seem to increase the effectiveness of messaging. Flash images alone convey little beyond an attractive look and feel, but these displays often consume 10% to 30% of valuable homepage real estate.

4. Transitoriness. When we allow test users 8 to 10 seconds to view a homepage -- and then hide the page -- they rarely remember the content of the Flash messages. Far more often they are able to remember simple static headlines.

5. Trained avoidance. Our testing indicates that Flash is becoming like banner ads that people have trained themselves to ignore.

A Better Solution -- User Control

Let others continue to run Flash and lose conversions, while our clients implement this simple and effective solution: On every instance of Flash on your site use the common video icon controls for play and pause (and mute, if you use audio). Start with your primary message and let people move through the display if they choose. Such controls allow users to:
# Run a display if they want to.
# Stop on any message they are interested in. (Hint: Hyperlink the image to take users to an appropriate landing page.)

With this approach you avoid annoying anyone. Flash can be an engaging, entertaining, and impactful tool if you simply yield control to the user and end the forced distraction.

If you watched users get frustrated day in and day out with cycling images and messages, you might lose patience -- as we often do -- with sites that don't spend the time to determine exactly the kind of impressions they generate. As you explore new and supposedly engaging website technologies, be sure to test them before fully implementing them on your site.

by Todd Follansbee, WebMarketingResources.net

Tips for avoiding PPC mistakes

2008-06-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

An internet marketing expert has offered some top tips for companies looking to make the most of their online pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

Writing for the internet marketing news website Marketing Pilgrim, Ann Stanley says companies often make fundamental mistakes when it comes to PPC as they lack basic online advertising knowledge.

These include lumping all their PPC key phrases into one ad group or campaign and setting their maximum cost per click too high or too low.

Making the first mistake could result in a low quality score and click through rate as the landing page may not match the many key phrases in the PPC add.

And making the second could mean that ads are only shown intermittently, which means it will be more difficult for internet users to find them.

Ms Stanley suggests that companies conduct some thorough research before opening their first PPC account as lack of knowledge and experience means they are more likely to make basic errors that will drain their internet marketing budgets.

Meanwhile a recent survey carried out by the Online Marketing and Media Show has revealed that over a third of companies plan to dedicate up to 25 per cent of their marketing budget to online marketing this year.

source=http://www.epiphanysolutions.co.uk

How does e-mail marketing fit in with social media?

2008-06-15T00:52:00.000-07:00

Answer: E-mail marketing could not be better suited to enhance your social media efforts; in fact, it is the key ingredient in launching a successful social media marketing campaign. The rise of social media is pushing the evolution of e-mail marketing from blast campaigns to more personal, one-to-one engagements. So the short answer is e-mail is a perfect marriage with social media. Let’s review examples of how social media and e-mail are working together to create success for b-to-b marketers.
Consider an established social network or blog. These activities need a “push” element to keep followers or members updated. While RSS is still evolving, nine times out of 10 e-mail is the preferred messaging choice. People regularly receive messages from LinkedIn, Facebook or other social networking contacts about new business opportunities, promotions, industry trends or personal notes.

Perhaps most important is the use of e-mail to send social media (video, blogs, podcasts, etc.). Some of the most effective business case studies are being generated with social media embedded in e-mails.

Currently, no other form of communication is better tailored to fit our social lives on social networks than e-mail. As human behaviors continue to trend towards the online social environment, e-mail will be the main form of messaging fostering that change.

Story posted: EDT

New Internet marketing tools

2008-03-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

Some new marketing tools

1. Real Link Finder Neil Shearing's "RealLinkFinder" is a handy little link-building tool you can use to increase your link popularity and SE rankings. It lets you find targeted blogs that don't have the "nofollow" attribute tag so your links will count in all the search engines. Great way to build targeted links related to your site's main keywords or keyword phrases. This is one "No Cost" link-building tool you should try: www.reallinkfinder.com
2. Peel Away Ads Simple ads which sit at the corner of any webpage, when a cursor hovers over the pulsating image - the page peels away to reveal your ad or promotion. Might seem a bit gimmicky, but like the pop-up or fade-in, they do work. You do get more sign-ups and sales. www.pealawayads.com
3. Video Marketing Using videos as marketing tools has now become commonplace on the web. If you're not promoting with videos, you are losing a large portion of the online traffic or surfers currently on the web. Even using videos to explain your site or product will increase your conversions and sign-ups. Viral videos embedded with your links or site url can produce results when placed on YouTube or Google Videos. If you need help, one recent commercial product has been from Simon Grabowski (GetResponse) called TalkStream, which lets you put streaming audio and video on your sites. Just google to find it.
4. Social Media Bookmarks/Tags One of the most significant changes in recent years has been the rise in importance and use of social bookmarking sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, Technorati... these sites are now commanding huge traffic numbers and should not be ignored in your online marketing. You must connect your content with these sites. This is very simple to do since social media sites use tags, which are more or less simple keywords that help classify content and links. If you're using the popular Wordpress blog software, each category will be considered a tag. You can create a simple tag in technorati by using this code: <*a href="http://technorati.com/tag/[tagname]" rel="tag">[tagname]<*/a> <*a href="http://technorati.com/tag/new+marketing+tools" rel="tag">new marketing tools<*/a> Remove the *asterisks in actual codes.
5. Add this Button One of the easiest ways I have found to tap into the whole social media bandwagon is to put the Addthis button on your webpages and let your visitors bookmark your content for you. This button is free and only takes seconds to set up on your pages. In case you're wondering if this button works, I recently received 70,000 visitors to one of my sites in one day from these social media sites. Granted most of this traffic is transitory and not permanent - the huge traffic numbers will only last as long as your links/bookmarks are on the front pages of these popular sites. But where there is smoke, you can make fire.
6. Blogs RSS Feeds Likewise, you must have a blog and RSS Feed associated with your site or product. It is vital that you take advantage of this technology to get your content broadcasted across the web and around the world. RSS is only simple code that syndicates your content to all interested parties; it originally stood for "Rich Site Summary" and was a way of summarizing your content and broadcasting it. Most people now refer to RSS as Really Simple Syndication. You need a "newsreader" or aggregator such as Newsgator, Google Reader, My Yahoo! or Feed Demon to access all your feeds. One little blog traffic tool I find helpful is John Reese's BlogRush, which helps syndicate your blog posts on other blogs. www.blogrush.com
7. Expert Marketing Another effective way to market online or off is to promote/prove yourself as an expert in your chosen field. Creating articles, ebooks, websites on a subject that interests you will make you an expert. Once you gain credibility as an expert, your marketing will become much easier. Some obvious places to help build this credibility would be Ezinearticles, SelfGrowth, Ideamarketers... I have found these places are excellent for getting your name and your content noticed.
8. Long Tail Niche Marketing One of the most effective ways to market online is to use long tail keywords in your niche market. This simply means instead of targeting very general and very competitive keywords, you target less competitive long tail keywords in a smaller niche market. I have found this tactic especially good for affiliate marketing, and the trick is to find the exact long tail phrase someone is using in the search engines and then construct content/url to match it. I find Brad Callen's Keyword Elite software program extremely helpful in finding those long tail keywords.
9. Guru Fast-track One of the fastest and quickest ways to earn large amounts online is to hook up with big marketing GURUs and use their huge contact lists. If you have a high quality info product, then JVs (joint ventures) with these savvy marketers can be a very viable option for you to try. These marketing gurus or experts are valuable marketing tools you can use to your advantage. Granted, their aggressive marketing methods do turn many people off, but there's no denying their methods do work.
10. Micro-List Marketing Micro-List Building is one of the most effective online marketing tools you can use. Quite frankly, I have found building a large opt-in list is not the real key to online wealth but instead creating small micro lists for each of your promoted products to be much more effective. You can have hundreds, even thousands of these different micro-lists. Use an unlimited autoresponder program like Aweber to handle and manage all these lists. Studies have shown interested customers may not buy on the first visit, that it may take up to six or seven reminders. So keeping in contact with an interested customer, one who is looking and in the right mindset to buy, will definitely increase your sales. Here, rather then the hard-sell, the emphasis should be on collecting contacts in order to give them helpful informative content on the product they're interested in buying. Supplying quality content should be your main goal; let the selling take care of itself. If you get the first part right, the sale will come naturally. In conclusion, you must remember when dealing with such a complex creature as Internet marketing, in most cases there's no one single marketing tool that will do the job. Instead you need a whole orchestra of tools working together in order to make your online marketing the most effective. So why not try some of these tools in your own online marketing and see the results for yourself. You have everything to gain.

by Titus Hoskins

How to launch a new website - design & creation (in view of SEO)

2008-03-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

To start with you need to create a well designed, useful, informative and optimised site – this sounds obvious but it’s in this area where most companies fail.

The key is to think about the site's structure and search engine optimisation (SEO) before the designers and programmers get started rather than afterwards.

So many companies build a site and then contact an SEO company for advice – it then tells them to redesign and alter most of the site, which adds time and cost to the project.

If the SEO company is involved from the start, then it can create the site's structure and underlying code and then a designer can make it look amazing.

Areas to consider are content management systems, which can be costly to optimise and customise, and blogs which need to be set up in an extremely user friendly manner.

Lots of corporate blogs lack the easy to use subscription and commenting features that well designed Wordpress installations make use of and they suffer greatly as an example.

Other features such as social media and user generated content should be integrated at the design stage rather than bolted on at a later date.

When you come up with the idea for a new site it is very important to think about how the site will market itself.

A commercial site needs to have user generated content and innovative features built in as well as the ability for users to bookmark content and share items with social networks.

Marketing a site from scratch is very tough these days and without social features and the ability to publish remarkable content in a well presented manner the task is made much harder.

As a general rule every new site should have the following features:

* Blog or news publishing system
* Optimised pages for each product
* A unique feature to help attract publicity
* An in depth marketing strategy

Using Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) in Your Pay Per Click Ads

2008-03-06T04:16:00.000-08:00

BY Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

If a Google user is searching on "dirt cheap digital camera" she'll see a number of Google AdSense ads with that same search term in the ad headline. How do they do that? Some Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisers will bid on every possible keyphrase and write a specific ad for each. But many take advantage of Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) tools that are built into the major search engine ad systems. DKI is designed to insert into the ad the exact term a searcher uses. The search term is most commonly inserted into the title, but the tool can be configured to insert the term into the body of the ad as well. If the search term is too long to fit in the space, then a default keyword is inserted instead.

DKI Advantages

DKI can have a real upside, especially for certain kinds of paid search campaigns.

Higher click-through rate
All other things being equal, a searcher is more likely to click on an ad that matches his exact search term, since he will perceive it to be more relevant than the other ads. This only works, of course, if competing ads aren't also using DKI.
Simplified administration
If you're employing a "long tail" strategy of bidding on hundreds of seldom used but relevant keywords, DKI can simplify administering the process and cut your set-up time.
Quality score
doesn't automatically increase, but if through increased relevancy you get a higher click-through rate on your ads, your quality score is likely to improve.

DKI Disadvantages

On the other hand, DKI is not a magic bullet solution to all paid search campaigns.

Click-through rate using DKI may not, in fact, be higher
For higher-traffic keywords it's worth taking the time to test to see if DKI can't be outperformed by another title.
DKI titles won't stand out
if most of your competitors are using them. If that's the case, you'll have to differentiate your ad from other competitors by not using DKI.
For long search terms DKI uses your default text
This isn't a major disadvantage. It just illustrates that DKI doesn't help in all situations.

DKI tends to be most effective:

When ad groups are primarily organized around products that have many ways to describe them, such as tennis shoes.
When phrase match, not broad match, is used.
When one main word varies only by part number, size, color, model, etc.

When you are conducting a conceptual or brand-centric campaign, however, DKI is less successful. For many campaigns with a clearly organized theme, DKI won't be necessary -- or helpful. But when your campaign requires a long tail strategy, then DKI may well save time and get a higher click-through rate on rarely-used keywords.

Unethical SEO - Online Marketing Gaffes to Avoid

2008-03-04T04:03:00.000-08:00

In the world of online marketing, every rule is a shade of gray that is constantly going through technical evolution. While many marketing techniques had periods of proper usage that were beneficial to how the Web works, some of the known online marketing styles that have been considered abusive (black hat) by the search engines. As with all marketing, there will always be unscrupulous businesses that cause techniques used today to become frowned upon by the majority. Making sure that your company is aware of certain basic standards and not accidentally infringing on discouraged techniques is essential to making sure your online brand is a flourishing asset that is building value.

Top Online Marketing Techniques to Avoid

• Page cloaking

In broad terms: using various techniques to fool a search engine to deliver different Web pages under different circumstances. Using various technologies, a site attempts to detect whether or not a human or search engine is requesting a page to view. If it detects a search engine, it serves up a visually unappealing page intending to maximize SEO results. Most search engines dislike this technology as it prevents them from grading actual pages that a human visitor would read, and it detracts from the ability to serve relevant results to the end user.

• Spamming of the submission process

Each search engine has a specific period that it will accept submissions for the same site. If a search site has guidelines of every ninety days, it means every ninety days. Many unethical SEO groups know of ways to submit nearly identical content located on different pages. When caught with such duplicate content submissions, sites are typically pulled from being indexed.

• Automatically generated doorway pages

A doorway page is created for the purpose of spamming the index of the search engine by providing multiple pages listed with particular phrases, for the purpose of sending that visitor to another page. They have many other names: portal pages, bridge pages, gateway pages, entry pages, etc. Some doorway pages redirect visitors without their knowledge by using page cloaking, which has taken on the nickname of page hi-jacking.

• Keyword Stuffing

This technique is defined by a Web page that is loaded with a variety of keywords in the tags or main content. Used with caution and skill, this technique is one of the basic building blocks of SEO. However the engines frown upon sites excessively flooding keywords on a page or hiding them in code that is irrelevant to the viewer of the page. The most abusive version of this technique is when words that are completely irrelevant are including on a page solely for the purpose of organic traffic results.

• Irrelevant Keywords

This technique is very straight-forward. You have a site about luxury real estate that lists random luxury car names or the names of premium golf clubs on it without providing actual information about the cars or clubs to the reader. The only reason the terms exist is to have traffic come to the site when they search for “New York Jaguar.”

• Duplicate content on different pages or sites (mirror sites, etc)

This technique is often one of the most common “accidental” black-hat techniques that many unknowing site owners commit. Once information is indexed by a search engine, any other sites that have the identical information indexed are considered “duplicate.” For established sites, this is not a large problem. For new and un-established sites, having large amounts of duplicate content may cause the site to be flagged as a SPAM site and completely removed from the index process.

• Misspelling of common words, or well-known brands/sites

This is very similar to irrelevant keyword and keyword stuffing- where popular brand names such as Google are misspelled for traffic results. Gogle, Goole, Googl, etc. It can also happen with longer names that have 2-5 parts that may or may not be searched for, such as: Trans American Airlines. Such variations as trans-america, America Airlines, or even Trans American Airline (without an s) can produce temporary traffic results for a savvy search marketer who is willing to break rules.

• Data blogs with no unique content (also known as splogs or scraper sites)

With the creation of RSS (really simple syndication) the ability to import data into another site has become increasingly simple. Millions of spam blogs exists that have re-purposed duplicate content from hundreds of other sites, programmatically making changes to the original content to make it look slightly different. Typically these blogs give absolutely no credit to the originating author of the material and are breaking several copyright laws. Well-read online authors have this problem daily, hundreds of my articles have been stolen this way over the past two years. The primary reason for the existence of these sites is monetization through programs like Google Adsense which allows the site to profit off random traffic lured in using the stolen content.

• Code Swapping

Code swapping is when an established page is changed to an entirely different page once a top ranking is achieved. Common instances of this include pages that originally very text heavy or have many comments and eyes looking at them (forum areas, popular articles, etc) and then switching it out with a “buy me now” page that has a call to action for a completely unrelated item. Successful online campaigns can profit during the short period of time the search engine doesn’t recognize the change, but risk having the page disappear entirely when the search system properly analyzes the new information (which is often worthless to the reader)

By Barry Hurd

Transactional Email Marketing

2008-03-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

transactional email is a way for a company to get creative with communications by utilizing
a form that should be delivered to a customer.

Benefits of transactional email are:

1. Increased Communication—Increased amount of time right in front of the customer

2. Improved Customer Loyalty—Transaction email allows a company to build loyalty by seeming as though they are able to almost predict the needs of the client

3. Brand Reinforcement—Every communication that is welcomed, such as transactional email, provides the company with an opportunity to reinforce brand recognition, either through name, logo or both

4. Cost Effectiveness—Email on the whole is extremely cost effective, but transactional email kills to birds with one stone, allowing communication of a necessity item (i.e. invoice) and communication of a marketing message

5. Conversion Rates—Research shows that by using transactional email tactics, companies can see as much as a 100% increase in conversion rates

6. Receivers are Customers—With transactional email, the receiver is already a customer, so they are much more likely to be receptive than those receiving blanket SPAM

7. Cross Sell and Up-sell—Provides company with opportunity to promote complimentary items or newer versions of previously-purchased items, increasing sale potential

8. Increase in Revenue—With an increase in conversion rates, prospects will soon become paying customers, while current customers continue to purchase due to increased loyalty and up-sells/cross-sells, thereby increasing revenue

Ten tips for website navigation

2008-02-12T03:56:00.001-08:00

Navigation menus at left or top of the page

Short, clear and precise language in menu options

Don't have too many options

Consistent navigation

Use breadcrumb trails

Avoid dropdown menus

Make the logo link back to the homepage

Clear fonts

Sitemap

Search box

sources from:-http://www.e-consultancy.com

Google and Yahoo! 'SEO techniques'

2008-02-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

Search engine optimisation (SEO) differs between Google and Yahoo!, companies have been warned.

often some websites are rated highly on one and not the other due to their unique algorithm rankings.

Google places more emphasis on inbound links, he said, whereas Yahoo! ranks URLs, meta-tags and keywords highly.

"Optimising for both Google and Yahoo! can be challenging," "Following basic SEO principles and working to develop incoming links can help you reach the top of the largest search engines."

recommended ensuring the website URL contains keywords as this is rated highly by both search engines, or adding an average of seven per cent keyword density to the site.

Other tips included developing a successful link building campaign, publishing a sitemap to make it easier for search engines to analyse and also using meta-tags which include keywords, titles and descriptions.

Google is currently the leader in the search engine industry, conducting 66 per cent of all US searches during December.

Yahoo! followed with 21 per cent of the market share, according to figures by Experian firm Hitwise.

4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits

2008-02-09T01:40:00.000-08:00

How do you make your AdWords campaigns more profitable? Sometimes accounts are set up with the best of intentions, only to languish or be turned off because they're not meeting expectations. There are four key areas most new-to-PPC marketers overlook that cost them money.

Here are some ways you can optimize campaign performance.

Keyword Matching

Not only can you add any relevant keyword to your campaigns and AdGroups, you can set them up to show in particular instances. Right now Google supports four "match types."

* Broad Match: This is the default option. If you add a keyword -- such as cookie cutters -- to your campaign without any punctuation around it, your ad will show for a variety of queries that include the words cookie and cutters -- and any terms Google deems "relevant" to those two terms. You need to have more control over what ads are getting clicks than waiting for Google to decide what terms are relevant and associated to your broad matched terms. Never use broad matching on small budget campaigns.

* Phrase Match: If you place quotation marks around your keyword -- "cookie cutters" -- your ad may be shown when someone searches the exact phrase in that exact order, possibly with words added before or after. Your ad would show for queries such as "Christmas cookie cutter" or "cookie cutter website." This is the best way to drive qualified traffic to your site for a variety of related keywords without having to add every keyword imaginable to the campaign using exact match.

* Exact Match: If you place brackets around your keyword -- [cookie cutters] -- your ad will only be shown when a query is made for that specific phrase, no words before or after. This type of matching should be used sparingly, as it adds time to your setup. You'll need to include every phrase possible to be sure your ads are showing -- [Christmas cookie cutters], [valentines cookie cutters], etc. Consider using exact match when you set up your branded AdGroup to ensure traffic for only your brand phrases and no extraneous clicks.

* Negative Keyword: Negative keyword matching eliminates your keyword from showing up in irrelevant queries. For example, if you have the phrase-matched keyword "cookie cutters" in your campaign but you don't sell plastic cookie cutters, you could set up the negative keyword "plastic cookie cutters." This keeps your ad from showing for queries that don't convert.

Geographic Targeting

Depending on your target market, you may only want to show ads to searchers from certain areas of the country. If you run a local restaurant or hardware store, you don't want your ads showing up statewide or nationally. Simply tell Google to show your ads only to searchers in a certain geographic region. You can define these in a few different ways.

Choose to edit your campaign and find the "locations" area -- this is usually in the lower right-hand corner.

Click on "Edit" and the "Target Customers By Location" section will pop up. Type in the location you'd like to target and choose its most relevant area from the list.

You can also choose to do some custom targeting. This is especially helpful if you have a service or delivery radius or serve a specific neighborhood. You can target from between 5 and 10 miles from city center or an address. Google recommends a minimum 10-mile radius here.

Once you choose the area and radius, they'll show you the coverage area on the map so you can see exactly what areas will see your ads when they search for keywords you've added to your campaigns.

You can play around with this. Perhaps you want to target campaigns internationally, to Canada or the UK. Make sure your ad copy targets the audience you're showing your ads to.

Day Parting

If you run a storefront, you may want to attract foot traffic via AdWords -- perhaps by showing your ad only during business hours, or during days of the week you're open. Day parting allows you to show your ads only on certain days and at certain times of the day. Occasionally I use this to show ads to certain audiences during business hours or during high conversion times of the day for the travel clients.

Network Targets

Google shows ads on a variety of networks. Choosing the right network is vital to ensure success. For smaller budgets, stick to the Google Search networks -- sometimes only Google search, sometimes also the search network.

source from:-http://searchenginewatch.com/

Top Online Promotions Law Firms Are Doing in 2008

2008-02-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

Forget the television commercials, radio ads, and other gimmicks. This
is a year that law firms are focusing on their presence online. Not only
will a great online presence boost the brand and image of your law firm, it
can also be a great tool for generating traffic to your firm's website,
which in turn can become leads, which in turn can become clients.

Here are the top online activities law firms should do in 2008.

1. Optimize your own website.

If you don't already have a website, you have probably heard from
someone or read somewhere what a great promotion tool a website can be for
law firms. If you are considering getting a website, a great starting point
is to plan what you want your website to look like and write some content
pages to put on the website. Then, contact a firm about building a
professional website that your law firm can be proud of. If you have a
website, but you are not getting the traffic from it you think you could,
consult an internet marketing agency.

2. Add new content to your website.

New content can be in the form of new pages your site may need, such as
information about your firm's practice areas or informal articles about law
topics in the news or tips on a legal topic for the layperson. A quality
internet marketing agency can take an article and send it to various sites
that accept articles. Particularly, sites on legal topics that accept
articles would be especially beneficial. The main purpose of the articles
is the fresh content that they provide your site but adding a couple links
in an article that is posted on other websites helps boost traffic to your
website.

3. Announce news with press releases.

Most internet marketing agencies can help spread your news to
newspapers, television stations and industry sites on the web through
services like PR Newswire and Market Wire. Because of their ability to be
picked up by many sites, press releases are a fantastic way to add bursts
of traffic to your website through links that you may include in them.

4. Add photos to your website.

Pictures of the firm's partners and other staff, a photo of the office
building if it's in a desirable location, or a photo of inside an
attractive, professional office can give visitors to your website a reason
to trust you and can convey that your firm is a successful one.

5. Send an email blast a couple times a year.

Gather a few hundred client email addresses and send a mass email.
Topics in the email newsletter could be informative information from the
articles, interesting cases worked on or new laws that may be of interest
to the public.

6. Join directories that will link to your website.

Both directories that you must be paid to be listed in and directories
that are free give links to websites along with a one or two sentence
description.

SOURCE Local-Attorneys.com

Web Marketing Guide

2008-02-01T05:23:00.000-08:00

We are a Web marketing expert who can help you do just that. We use various tried and proven techniques, some of them exclusively ours, to help our clients increase their market share in the most cost effective way.

Whatever the product or service you have to offer on your web site, it could be lost amongst the millions of sites on the net, unless the process of bringing it into the limelight is handled

professionally. Our web marketing company offers:

• search engine positioning,
• visitor enhancement services,
• pay per click management,
• link popularity building and
• paid submissions listing.

Perhaps you may not feel the necessity of using all our services. You may even decide you can manage the marketing process on your own. Please feel free to select any one of our campaigns.

We can even offer tools for you to do the work yourself.

A word of caution at this stage may be appropriate:

let not your self education in web SEO services be an expensive proposition for you. Come to the experts who can offer you any extent of support that you deem necessary. Our web marketing company would be happy to prepare an internet marketing strategy report for your business. Feel free to ask for a quote for any service you may have interest in.

Our team will study you site, the business and the competition. Our recommendations are based on years of experience in web marketing.

Internet Marketing & Website Promotion Tutorials

2008-01-19T01:44:00.000-08:00

Intro

Internet Marketing and Website Promotion Basics.

Internet marketing is similar to other marketing , and as with traditional you still need a good product. The differences are that you get instant feedback on the effectiveness of your marketing and traffic generation is done differently than with physical storefronts. Traffic Generation on the internet involves gaining the cooperation of other webmasters.

Close Rate

Close rate is a measure of success.
Close rate is "how many surfers see your site before you make a sale?" A close rate of 1% is good, but it depends on your product. Even if you don't have much traffic you should calculate your close rate.

If your close rate is good you can safely spend time and money on generating more traffic. If your close rate is poor then more traffic won't help you and money spent to increase your traffic will be wasted. Instead, the poor close rate must be addressed first. We show you how to increase your close rate.

Building Traffic

Traffic generation on the internet involves gaining the cooperation of other webmasters.
You will need to offer something of value to webmasters in order to attract them to your program. Typically you either buy traffic or you provide a service in exchange for the traffic. Either method works very well.

Email Marketing

Collecting the email addresses of your surfers can be a significant traffic generating strategy. Mailing to your list can be occasional or regular. There are a few simple rules to follow when managing a mail list. Violate these rules at your own peril.

* All email that you send should have clear opt-out instructions.
* Mention the opt-out instructions at the top of every email.
* Send a confirmation "welcome email" to new sign ups
* "Double opt-in" (surfer must confirm after receiving the welcome email) results in the fewest problems with spam complaints (not a trivial matter, spam complaints can get your domain banned by large ISPs).
* "Single opt-in" (surfer does not need to confirm the subscription) has a much higher sign up success rate but spam complaints are a big problem.
* Remember the date, time, IP number, and page the surfer joined from and make this information available to your e list members when they try to opt-out and in the opt-out area of the email. This reduces the opt-out rate. (Actual opt-out can be an option on that page.)

Some businesses generate most of their traffic with email. Most mailings only produce a small surge in traffic for a few days after a mailing, however.

Generating a quality regular email letter is a full time job, but certainly it is a proven method of internet marketing.

Email Marketing Services

2008-01-11T02:42:00.000-08:00

Targeted email marketing services will definitely let you improve customer interaction, brand value augmentation and enhanced ROI.

We work in association with IS''s to ensure highest levels of deliverability, we aim to deliver your emails to the inbox of your target audience. We achieve this by employing latest interface design and email delivery software meant to distribute all the emails in a spam free manner, ethical manner.
Email delivery reporting and feedback management

Underlining the importance of complete feedback support and in-depth reporting, we have developed a fool-proof mechanism covering all the aspects of your email marketing campaign.

* Email Deliverability Report:
Comprehensive information is gathered covering all the important parameters including hard/soft bounce rate, opens, click-through rate. Additionally, this information is applied to generate trend indicating information, so as to help you fine tune your marketing strategy.

* Email List Upload Options:
Our proprietary software has configured mechanisms to allow easy new record creation, and exclusion lists. As an additional feature, the software carries out automated reply handling requests.

* Email Unsubscribe function:
It gets dynamically generated individually for all the email id's and gets automatically activated if no other corresponding software is found.

* Opt-In Form:
Opt-in forms are also provided as a corrective feature. It includes syntax checker JavaScript and the power to support single/ confirmed (double) opt-in.

* Email Compliance (CAN-SPAM):
The automatic postal address addition feature ensures that all the outgoing messages are deemed SPAM FREE.

* Email Spam Monitoring and Management:
Due to our enduring relationship with ISPs we are able to ensure direct feedback loop management, and continuous monitoring of IP addresses.

* Email Bounce Processing:
email bounce rates are monitored on a continuous\s basis to ensure that steps can be initiated to keep it at bare minimum levels.

Social Media Optimization Services

2008-01-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

Social Network marketing and Social Media Optimization service is desgined to help companies create a brand and marketing their products and services through online social networks. Social network marketing is a growing trend and a powerful medium which can be effectively used as an online marketing tool by Social Media Optimization (SOM).

Advantages of Social Network Marketing

* It helps create brand awareness in the related social network.
* Its couples the SEO and Internet marketing efforts of the website
* Helps you drive traffic from these social networking websites.
* Helps you increase link popularity and gain non reciprocal links.

Social Network Marketing
Social Media Optimization Services Inlcudes
Forum Marketing
Forum marketing is also popularily know as foruming, We help you become a part of the most active forums that belong your industry and thereby creating a presence of your brand in the active community
Blog Marketing
Blogging as the term refers to actively participating on the related blogs of your industry, by posting comments to build an identity and brand awareness.
Article writing and Article submissions
Article writing an submissions are a very effective tool to prove your expertise and create a brand value of your company online. Our well researched articles help you create that niche online.
Online Press Release Writing and Distribution
Writing effective and creative press release is a very powerful, we not only help you create Press release but also help you distribute these press release online on various news portals.

Search Engine Marketing

2008-01-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

Search Engine Optimization (SEO Services)

Part art and part science search engine optimization can deliver maximum value in terms of free and quality search engine traffic. We take the whole step further by optimizing your websites to ensure high search engine placement on relevant keywords which are derived from an indepth keyword research and analysis based on real time statistics and data from search engines.

Pay per Click Advertising (PPC Management)

PPC ( Pay Per Click Advertising) is a contextual ad based program run by major search engines, which facilitates advertising in the sponsored search area for targeted keywords. If you are in search of instant results then PPC is what your internet marketing campaingn needs.. Proper application of pay per click (PPC) advertising delivers on the most important of Internet marketing variables: Targeted traffic to your website! . To learn more about our PPC campaign management services follow the link below.

Internet Marketing & Website Promotion

2008-01-11T02:19:00.000-08:00

Internet marketing is the fastest growing medium that is being adopted by businesses world wide as an effective website promotion tool. With years of experience in the online internet marketing and website promotion; Internet Marketing Company has accumulated the expertise essential to sucsessfully market businesses online and generate effective Return on Investments (ROI).

Website Promotion Internet Marketing Solutions

Driving relevant and targeted traffic to your website

Maximizing conversion ratio through web analytics and web usability

Corporate Brand building over the internet

Effective Internet marketing and website promotion services delivers on all these important variables and thus contributes to your businesses true online success.

Emarketing Blog Directory Listing of internet marketing blogs related to making money online and working from home. Find a blog, or submit yours.