Internet Marketing Guide For Online Home Business Success

Selling something to somebody who is ready to buy is the key. Starting your own online home business and selling products or services is one of the best ways to generate internet income.

You need to be marketing your online home business on the Internet all the time and you must learn how to drive targeted traffic to your website. You need to attract buyers that are looking for what you have to offer.

Large volumes of targeted traffic is the key to your success, because without enough advertising going on your online business will not be around a year from now. To promote your online home business there are various forms of highly recommended internet marketing techniques that you can implement.

You may have been mislead into believing that marketing online is easy, so that is why it is better to master one form of traffic generation so you can quickly get your business up and running then select another method to focus on.

Getting targeted traffic to your website is what we are talking about in order to generate internet income, not visitors who have no interest in what you are selling. We are also talking about doing one form of Internet marketing very well and improving on the other methods later.

What internet marketing method you choose to master is entirely up to you. Some people master pay per click advertising such as Google AdWords or become very good at blogging. Other Internet marketers become experts at social networking, forum marketing or article marketing.

Although there are so many different ways to market your business online, initially the key is to focus on becoming an expert at one. Once you have mastered that one, then you will want to branch out and become an expert at other internet marketing methods. Initially though spend time learning how to do one and become extremely good at it rather than spreading yourself thin and trying to master a few methods at once.

I suggest that you consider writing articles if you are just not sure where to start. Due to the fact that people who read your articles are the ones that are most likely to be interested in what you have to say and will therefore click through to visit your site from the link in your resource box, makes article marketing a highly effective way to attract targeted visitors to your site. If you concentrate on writing articles based on the theme of your website and about the products or services that you are offering then you certainly will attract targeted traffic.

By submitting your articles to the top article directories is the key thing to get your articles widely distributed online. EzineArticles would be one example of a directory that you should be submitting to. You could also consider using an article distribution service.

Some people feel they just cannot write articles themselves, so if you also feel this way you can pay someone to write articles for you. You may find it a little difficult in the beginning but it certainly does get a lot easier after you have written a few! Finding a good article writer is not hard to do and you can go to websites such as Elance or do a search on Google.

To ensure success from your online home business you need to learn how to market your business. This will help give you enough quality targeted traffic to generate internet income.

Social Media Guide For Realtors

Buyers are online, but where are you? Many Realtors realize that the majority of property searches take place online; unfortunately the busy nature of being a Realtor can make it difficult to take the time to research and learn the technologies behind a successful online marketing strategy. An ever increasing number of home buyers are utilizing Google to find their new homes; this has made it imperative that Realtors get found online. This guide will give you the tools and knowledge to get started on a successful strategy that will increase leads and sales through an effective online presence.

Google is making changes to it algorithms that will make social media and blogging an integral part of your online marketing mix. As these platforms are very inexpensive (Facebook and twitter are free) it is vital that you start now, to ensure you are found online in the future.

Blogs A very simple and inexpensive method to get started is by creating a blog. Your blog is a great way to open the communication lines to your potential customers by providing interesting and relevant information. Blogs are a quick and effective way to keep clients and buyers up to date on industry news, tips, listing info and are great for generating leads. Clients, employees and visitors can comment on your posts thus building the foundations for a relationship in the future. Your blog can be linked to your website to keep the homepage fresh and relevant. Website users will have more of a reason to return to your site (and view your listings) if there is new and interesting content regularly posted to your website. Your blog can be used in place of a newsletter to keep yourself in front of potential clients on your email lists.

Social Media Integration Blogs are a great way to feed your social media channels. This saves time and adds relevant content to your accounts automatically via RSS feeds. By linking your blog to your Facebook fanpage and twitter account, your fans and followers will always know what’s new with you and your business. This can be a great time saving tool as it is instant and automatic. It is important to login to your social media accounts to interact with your followers and fans. Linking your blog is a great way to get the conversation started, but you must follow up and interact to receive the full benefit of social media marketing.

Twitter Twitter is a fantastic way to communicate with real estate buyers and industry members in your marketplace and across the globe. Many Realtors are turning to twitter to post their news articles, new listings, showings, open houses and all other relevant information. Twitter allows users to share and discover information very quickly and only takes minutes to use. Google is utilizing twitter feeds in their new search algorithms, so it is recommended that you have a twitter account and use it to promote yourself, your listings and your business.

Facebook Facebook is another great way to interact with clients and promote your business online. You can create a personal page and add all your friends, colleagues and clients. You can also create a fanpage and list all your business information, post interesting articles and relevant news. It is important to remember with both twitter and Facebook that they are about two way communication. Think about what your friends, fans and followers want to read about and post engaging material that gets the conversation started. Blasting your social media contacts with non stop sales oriented material is a great way to get blocked and dropped quickly. It is important to understand your social media goals and follow a strategy so you can measure your success.

Are you trying to:

  • Become a Real Estate thought leader
  • Generate Buzz
  • Get lots of friends online
  • Garner leads and sales
  • Improve your online presence
  • Promote your listings

By developing a strategy you will have an easier time with the day to day usage of social media, and enjoy yourself much more. While this may seem a bit overwhelming, it is imperative to get a start on your social media strategy now, to ensure you have an online presence in the future. Realtors with a successful social media program will start seeing the benefits in both their website’s Google rankings and in general brand awareness from the public. So whether you start a blog, Facebook &twitter account, or do all three, the most important thing is that you get started. By Kelowna Web Design Company

SEO, SEM, PPC – Making Sense of Internet Marketing For Your Small Business

The key components of an Internet marketing program include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Paid Placement, Affiliate Marketing and Viral/Social Marketing. The goal of all of these is to increase a website’s traffic (number of people who visit) however each uses a different tactic to meet this goal. An effective Internet marketing program leverages a mix of these components to maximize their value at a particular point in the overall program.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an attempt to increase your website’s ranking in ‘organic’ (non-paid) search results in Google(TM), Yahoo!(TM) and other search engines. Search engines use complex, proprietary algorithms to determine how a page ranks. In general higher ranking is achieved by optimizing the actual website content to increase its relevancy to certain search words (keywords). Additionally, SEO attempts to increase the website’s perceived ‘authority’ by acquiring quality links to your website from other complementary sites (back links). Finally higher ranking websites are highly visible to search engines meaning most or all of their web pages are indexed by the search engines.

Many aspects of a complete SEO effort can be outsourced, but some aspects are more effective when controlled by those most familiar with the product or service. SEO generally has a longer-term ROI than other Internet marketing methods because a website’s authority is generally built over time. It is important to know that SEO is never truly finished. Competition and buyer preferences change and evolve over time, therefore, the authority of a website changes and must be re-evaluated routinely.

Effectiveness of a SEO program is measured in terms of search result rank, search engine saturation and overall visibility. Result rank is determined by how high a website appears in organic results. Saturation is an indication of how much of a website is indexed by search engines and overall visibility shows how many references are found for a website.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) essentially is a shortcut to increased search result rankings. By sponsoring links in search engine results, advertisers can ensure that relevant links are displayed along with search results whenever certain keywords are searched for. These are generally displayed above or in a separate column beside organic results. In these pay per click (PPC) programs advertisers bid to determine ranking and only pay when links are actually clicked by a visitor.

SEM can be, and probably is best, outsourced. Experienced SEM practitioners can maximize the results of a pay-per-click program by increasing the quality of website visitors. Additionally, knowledge of the bidding process and keyword selection can significantly reduce the amount paid per click-through over time.

SEM has the shortest term ROI as resulting traffic is immediate and measurable. The ability to tightly control expenses, all the way down to cost per click, makes the expense very predictable. Negatively, there is little if any residual value effect of SEM beyond potential relationships with new buyers. SEM is predominately a point in time exercise, although it can be very effective during a campaign.

Paid Placement is similar to traditional print or media advertising. Advertisers pay a fee to have their ‘ad’ displayed on a website or alongside search engine results. Ads are often ‘banners’ that include a marketing message that entices viewers to click the ad and be transferred to the advertiser’s website. Paid placement also includes sponsored links on content pages, paid reviews or ‘pop-up’ ads that appear before or on top of a content page.

Paid placement can include SEM tactics, but here the sponsored links appear on content websites rather than search engine results pages. Placement is based on relevancy of selected keywords and the displaying website’s content. The advertiser has limited control over where ads appear. Ads on content sites generally rank higher for lower bids than on search engine results.

Direct placement of ads on specific content sites is generally based on a set fee or per million impressions (displays). Direct placement allows an advertiser to specify specific website, durations and potentially exact placement on a page. This is most effective if a product or service would appeal to visitors of a specific website. For instance, Dell might place an ad on a computer buying guide website.

Purchase and management of direct placement ads can be outsourced, although it requires less expertise and oversight than SEM.

Affiliate Marketing allows website owners to resell products or services for a percentage or set fee commission. Commissions may be paid for sales, leads or even website visit referrals. Almost all major retail stores support affiliate marketing programs and generally use a third party service to manage the relationship with affiliates. While affiliate marketing allows a product or service provider to extend its marketing capability it is still responsible for all aspects of distribution.

Affiliate marketing can be outsourced in part or whole. Generally the affiliate marketer selects an affiliate management provider to handle acquiring and managing new affiliates.

Although not an absolute, Affiliate marketing tends to be most utilized by product or service providers who have a wide range of products to offer. This increases the likelihood that content site owners are going to assign valuable screen space to a product. Alternatively the provider may offer higher incentive commissions or target very specific content sites.

Viral/Social Marketing is similar to traditional ‘word of mouth’ advertising although done through websites. Marketers attempt create ‘buzz’ about their products by leveraging social networks, emails, blogs, videos or other venues that allow viewers to easily ‘spread the word.’ This form of Internet marketing is often associated with the term ‘Web 2.0’ because it tends to leverage more user driven venues and content rather than commercial content sites.

Viral/Social Internet marketing, much like SEO is an ongoing effort and similarly it is possible to outsource all or some efforts in this area. Development of complex marketing campaigns would likely be outsourced to a marketing firm specializing in leveraging the Internet, however, smaller campaigns and the tactical aspects could be handled internally or by your SEO/SEM partner.

In closing, an effective Internet marketing program will leverage some or all of these components in a complementary way. Each component brings visitors to a website through its own unique tactics, timeframe and cost. If planned and managed properly, each component can be utilized by the next one to create even greater value. A successful Internet marketing plan will consider the short-term, long-term and budgetary goals of the product or service provider, deploying the components that met those goals.