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One of the facts of modern life now is the huge growth of smartphones, such as iPhones and other devices. Over 50% of the population now has a smartphone and that number is growing. People use their phone to quickly find something when they need something urgently or when they need to find something that is local to them. And people use their phones when they’re bored or when they’re, they’ve got a bit of time on their hands. Now how can you, as a small or medium sized business owner, tap in to the fantastic marketing power of these devices? They have great marketing potential, and it’s something which we’re really only in the early days of, but if you start thinking about it now you can really get ahead of the curve and ahead of your competitors. Here’s three ways you can go about making your website marketing mobile-friendly.

Set up a mobile-friendly website.

Websites look different on the small screens of a smartphone. And you can create a separate website that is another version of your site, that’s set up to be read on these things. It makes it easier to use, and easier for them to take the information in.

Text message marketing.

People read text messages, they don’t read all their emails. Basically, if you’re not collecting the mobile phone numbers of your customers, then you’re missing a trick, because, think of all the emails that you delete without even reading them. And then you compare that to, when was the last time you deleted a text message without at least having a look at what it was? Most people read their text messages, so if you text your customers with an offer or with some news, or with anything else, some kind of promotion, the chances are, they’re going to read it, and they’re going to respond to it.

Start using QR codes on marketing materials.

QR codes and Microsoft Tags are small barcode-style images that you can put onto your leaflets, onto your adverts, onto your direct mail letters, on your signage, any physical advertising that you have really. These barcodes can be scanned with the camera of a smartphone, and the code will automatically direct the phone to display a webpage, video, image, or anything else you want to link to.

There are so many opportunities for this method of marketing, from advertising your restaurant’s daily specials from a QR code on your menus, to sending them a newspaper advert to an opt-in for your newsletter, or a special offer that they can get instore.

How to Affiliate Market

Did you know you can work from home and start a business with no money down, no employees and in your spare time? What I am going to share is a work at home business that requires no inventory, no shipping product and no marketing materials to buy. In fact, to be an Affiliate with your own online business requires not much more than the computer you are already using and some elbow grease.

You will be working with some of the largest, most respected retailers in the world, not some fly by night holes in the wall that nobody has ever heard of.

Affiliate Marketing, if your not already familiar with the concept, is basically receiving a commission for getting buyer and seller together. Basically the merchant (retailer or seller) is referred a customer from the publisher (the affiliate). When the customer purchases a product or service from the merchant the publisher gets paid a commission. Affiliate programs are typically managed by a “Network”, the Google Affiliate Network being one of the biggest and most popular.

Origin

Affiliate Marketing was first put into practice in 1989 by a Mr. William J Tobin, the founder of PC Flowers and Gifts. According to Wikipedia, “Launched on the Prodigy Network in 1989, PC Flowers & Gifts remained on the service until 1996. By 1993, PC Flowers & Gifts generated sales in excess of $6 million per year on the Prodigy service. In 1998, PC Flowers and Gifts developed the business model of paying a commission on sales to The Prodigy network (Reference-Chicago Tribune-Oct, 4, 1995).(Ref The Sunsentinal 1991).”

Making Money as an Affiliate

Most Affiliate programs pay out based on a revenue sharing or pay per sale (PPS), some payout using a cost per action (CPA) method and a small minority use a cost per click (CPC) method. By far, the PPS method which is similar to paying a commission is the most popular so let’s focus on that with an example.

Making money. Let’s say someone writes a blog about cats. They love cats and put their heart and soul into their writing, and their blog, and create a good following of cat owners. Any company that sells cat food would certainly love to get their product to this audience, as would pet stores, vet’s or any company serving cats and the pet industry.

The blog author decides to become an Affiliate and advertise pet food. Every time someone reads the blog, clicks on the pet food ad and purchases pet food from the retailer or pet food company, the blog author makes a commission. The affiliate can duplicate this with many products on their blog and across many blogs.

Another method, the CPC method is based entirely on clicks when the advertiser is not interested at all in targeting a particular audience. An example of this would be when an advertiser pays for their message being broadcast to a large group such as an email blast or tweet. I detail how to make money using a CPC method and getting paid to tweet in Make Money Tweeting.

Products Offered by Affiliates

Almost any type of product you can think of is available to make a commission on as an affiliate. Automotive accessories, books, computers, phones, clothes, music, food, wheelchairs, just about anything. About the only things I have not seen being made available are those types of goods that require licensing to sell, such as real estate, stocks and things of that nature.

Big Name Retailers

Many of the most well know companies pay affiliates to drive traffic and sales to their e-commerce sites. Companies we all buy from everyday such as:

Amazon
Best Buy
eBay
Sears
Staples
Target
The Home Depot
Toys R Us
Walmart
Walgreens
In fact if you’ve ever clicked on a product when reading a blog you may have been directed to a retailer. If you were chances are that was Affiliate Marketing at work.

Basically the prospective customer is routed to the retailer’s e-commerce site to transact the sale. This means the retailer handles the entire process; credit card processing, order confirmation, shipping, returns, any complaints, everything. The affiliate simply makes the introduction and once the sale was transacted gets paid a commission according to the Network terms.

Become an Affiliate Marketer

Step 1. – Select

To become and Affiliate contact the merchant or retailer directly or join an Affiliate Network. In my experience joining networks are free. (I am involved with a few on the list below and have never paid a penny to join.) The Network acts like the intermediary between the merchant (seller) and you, the publisher.

The advantage of working with an Affiliate Network is they manage the merchants which makes it much easier for the Affiliate, and the Affiliate has a much broader range of products and services available to offer their audience, prospective customers.

Many Networks receive a percentage of the commissions you earn. This gives the Networks incentive to provide the Affiliates with tools and support to maximize sales and commissions. The more you earn the more the Network earns.

Affiliate Networks:

Google Affiliate Network
PepperJam
Commission Junction (CJ)
Clickbooth
Linkshare
I use Google Affiliate Network and Commission Junction and am happy with them. Also I have been an advertiser in an e-commerce company for many years and worked with a number of Affiliate Networks as the Merchant. As the Merchant Google and CJ were the best to work with and extremely interested in the Affiliates success. The had certain requirements that had to be met exactly to ensure ROI. That’s not to say PepperJam, Linkshare, Clickbooth or any other are not fine networks, I just cannot comment on their specifics as I do not have direct experience on a personal level.

Step 2. – Apply

Once you joined a networks(s) you select the individual companies you want to promote, and apply to be accepted. Companies like Cabela’s, Office Depot, Quicken, Verizon, Discover Card, GoDaddy, and thousands upon thousands more. Applying to the individual companies is basically reviewing their specific terms and clicking a link. If it sounds super easy it’s because it is. Enough said on this it really is a no-brainer.

Step 3. – Copy and Paste

Once approved by the individual companies, the Network will supply you with links, images, banners and other similar tools you will use to advertise. You will pick those you want to use and copy and paste them onto your blog.

Step 4. – Analyze

The Networks provide you with analytics and traffic reports to analyze your performance. Consider A/B testing and other “best practices” to get the best results and make the most money. That’s an entirely subject all in itself which won’t be covered here.

Summary

Affiliate marketing is a great way to work from home with no money, no inventory, and no employees. As an affiliate you don’t do any shipping, customer service, credit card processing. You pick you own hours to work, which products you offer and which companies you represent.

James Meyer is the owner of Net Profits Media and has an extensive background in online Marketing, Branding, Promotions and business building.

As an Executive of an B2C e-commerce company James was instrumental in developing and implementing effective operating structures, marketing plans and sales processes that propelled a 4 person “mom and pop” start-up to 45 employees and becoming the nationwide leader in an established niche market.

Network Marketing, known to many as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), is the fastest growing work from home business yet most misunderstood way of moving products today. Even so, more than 100 billion dollars worth of products and/or services are being moved through this way.

In this article, we will debunk 3 most common myths about this business. Before we do that, let’s first explore the fundamental meaning of…

What Exactly Is Network Marketing or MLM

Traditional marketing is the process which involves products or services being moved from the manufacturer or company to the consumer. A network refers to an organization of people. Combining the two terms together we have network marketing is therefore is the way in which products or services are being moved through a network of people.

In this way, no advertising costs are incurred as marketing of the products or services is done almost exclusively via word-of-mouth. As such, companies are able to concentrate their finances solely on research and development, producing the best quality products in the market.

The 3 Myths Debunked

MYTH #1: MLM Work From Home Business = Pyramid Sales

This business model is often confused with PYRAMID SALES because both are multi-level and involves the moving of products or services through a network of people.

However, pyramid sales is ILLEGAL! This is because although they subscribe to the idea of moving products and services through a network, they often do not have any products nor do they provide any valid service. Therefore, pyramid sales are scams.

Unfortunately, because MLM is often confused with pyramid sales, many people shun this work from home business model. Hence, the important questions to ask when differentiating these two very different models are: Are products or services being moved? Is there a valid product or service provided?

MYTH #2: MLM Work From Home Business = Sales Job

The first impression you probably have of a person involved in network marketing, is of one knocking at your door and carrying products, trying to sell you something. Although many network marketers have been and are perhaps currently still doing this, this is a wrong perception because in a legitimate network marketing business, NO traditional selling is involved.

In this business, we are moving products and services not selling them. Well, isn’t that the same you might ask? Yes and no. Being in business for yourself, products can be bought at wholesale price from the company you are representing. Many people joined a particular company for this sole reason – to buy at wholesale. Therefore, you can, if you wish to, sell those products at retail price and make a profit. So, yes you can sell products in this business if you choose to.

However, you don’t HAVE TO sell retail to be successful in this work from home business. The most successful networkers make the larger sums of income by building their organization. When you build a network of people for the company you are representing, products or services can be channeled through your organization. That is why sales in network marketing come as a natural result of distributors sharing the products with their friends, neighbors and loved ones.

If you simply SHARE the quality of the products to your friends in your organization, that is ALL the “selling” involved in this business.

MYTH #3: Network Marketing = Recruiting

A lot of people another common misperception people have about a this work from home business is that you have to recruit a lot of sales people in order to be successful. This comes from the fact that MLM is often confused with Direct Sales.

The one distinct difference between direct sales and this business is that you are actually SPONSORING business partners into your team not recruiting salesmen (as with Direct Sales organizations). There is a vast difference: Recruiting would mean just to “sign them up” whereas when you sponsor someone, you teach them how to do what you are doing and you make a commitment to help them build a business of their own. Therefore as a sponsor, you are responsible to teach the people you bring in all about this business and how they can work from home.

“Viral Marketing” is a term used to describe techniques that use social media in order to increase brand awareness and various other marketing goals. Typically, this type of marketing will appeal to individuals that have high social networking potential. The key to this type of marketing is that “word will spread” by individuals communicating within a “social network”. One of the most popular networks for business is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn when used creatively can yield big results. The best part of this is that it is one of the most low cost advertising methods available. The worst part of it is that it takes some time and effort. Although social media can be very effective for “viral marketing” the results will take some time. First, you have to create your LinkedIn account. Generally, accounts take on two formats: business and personal. As one may imagine, business and personal accounts get “linked” so that even a more promising group of connections can be established.

Why is LinkedIn so popular? First, it’s pretty convenient and for the most part it is FREE. Yes, you have to pay for job listings, “premium accounts” and other more extended features but you can use it for FREE if you want. However, to get the most out of LinkedIn, you will find that it is well worth paying for a few things that may be important to you or your company.

Because LinkedIn connects people LinkedIn has been looked upon very favorably by the staffing and recruiting industry. Marketers find themselves with a rich database of people to connect with for the purpose of staffing. The extra bonus is that many customers and candidates enjoy connecting in this way. It’s a less obtrusive way of staying in touch and everyone can learn a lot about each other in a very convenient way.

LinkedIn is a terrific tool for “Sourcing”. Not only do you have access to an advanced search screen with multiple items to search on, but you can send “InMail” to candidates that you may have an interest in recruiting. Professionals can be identified that possess specific skills and experience. This information can be utilized for current and future job orders. This is a new way to go about “recruitment research”. The best candidates are very often the passive candidates.

Another excellent resource on LinkedIn is “Groups”. There are a variety of highly specialized groups that are worth joining. Not only can critical information be shared among people with similar interests, but you can meet people and develop deeper business relationships. Groups are also good to start and maintain. Groups for clients can be invaluable for marketing and also developing business partnerships. It’s convenient and you can provide your clients and potential customers with information that can help them with their business needs. Some groups are open and some are closed. Closed groups require that the group administrator accept requests to enter the group. This ensures the quality of the group members. Groups are meant to share information that may be important for group members and are not meant for “selling”.

“Jobs” can be posted on LinkedIn for a small fee. Members of LinkedIn can search for jobs and apply directly on LinkedIn. This piece is fantastic. You have access to the applicants profile and resume and can send InMail to the candidate if you have questions. The job can also be shared with your LinkedIn personal network as well as the “LinkedIn Groups” that you belong to. Most groups have job posting boards so your jobs post directly to the group board. From a staffing firm’s standpoint, jobs posted are a good resource for open jobs at companies. Further, if you have clients that post jobs on LinkedIn you may want to suggest that they put your email address in instead of theirs so that you can get all of the emails of people that have applied for your client’s job. You can then manage all of the applicants applying for the client’s job. The client can still see all of the people that applied. It’s great for comparing notes about candidates and having your client participate in the process but not have to do the work of screening and prepping applicants. The ad cost can be subtracted from the placement fee. If they are going to post it anyway, you may as well suggest a way that you can help.

Brand awareness can be significantly increased on LinkedIn. Being a part of groups and appearing on lists of your connections will by default get more people familiar with your company. That’s what is so great about “viral marketing”. A corporate site can list all of your blog entries and solicit more subscribers to your blog which can lead to more visits to your website. If your website has a means by which clients can enter orders and/or candidates can apply, it is very easy to see how this can all lead to more quality business contacts.

You can post status messages and/or articles to your connected network of people on LinkedIn. Individuals can check out your profile and/or company profile. Clients can “recommend” you. There is nothing better than a recommendation from your client. This enhances your credibility and gives people reasons to do business with you and your company.

Many classes in universities are teaching students about LinkedIn and encourage students to get and account. LinkedIn is a good resource for young professionals looking for internships and full time opportunities after graduation. Seasoned professionals are also learning the potential of LinkedIn and the almost unlimited connections available to colleagues and business opportunities. It’s available as an app for your phone so it can be accessed at any time.

Most staffing software offers some type of direct integration to LinkedIn so it can be used in conjunction with a robust staffing software application. This is a convenient and fast means of adding to a staffing database. Resume information can be parsed into the fields of your staffing software and the resume can be imported for searching. Another popular way to integrate is to post job information from your staffing software to your status as a “Discussion”. Staffing is an information rich industry and a great deal of information is available on LinkedIn. Likewise, it’s a terrific way to distribute your information.

Many businesses use postcard marketing to reach their target audience and convert leads into sales. Realtors, insurance agents and mortgage brokers all run direct mail campaigns with postcard mailers to entice recipients into calling on them for their services. Of course, just sending out any mailers at random won’t guarantee success and if you’re interested in making a postcard mailing campaign really work for you, carefully consider the design of the card, how its printed and who it’s going to so you can maximize your marketing efforts.

The first thing you need to decide on when planning a postcard marketing campaign is the size and design of the card. Most businesses use 4″ x 6″ postcards since this is a standard size and can fit easily into even small PO boxes. You can also find postcards that are 8.5″ x 11″ but these cards tend to get bent and crumpled when shoved into crowded mailboxes and can create a poor presentation for your business. If you stick with the 4″ x 6″ postcards you should have plenty of room to get your message out or to feature photos and graphics than can help you sell your products or service.

Once you’ve selected a size the next step is to decide on the design. You have a lot of options when it comes to custom printed postcards including 1 and 2 color printing, full color printing and four-color on the front with the back blank. Many realtors will choose to have photos of specific properties on the front of the card to grab the attention of the recipient and include their contact information on the back in easy to read lettering. Two things you want to achieve with a direct mail campaign is getting the interest of the market and giving them an easy way to contact you. You can have the most elegantly designed postcard around but if people can’t read your phone number of email it won’t do much good.

When you’ve got the size and design of your postcard the way you like it you’re ready to start the mailing process. It’s called a process because if you simply mail postcards at random you could be targeting a lot of people who have no interest in your product or service and this will just cause wasted time and materials. Carefully target your market through customer lists that are compiled from sources that aggregate the latest and most accurate consumer information. With an updated mailing list you can improve your response rate significantly by focusing on an audience that fits the profile of your target market. Postcard marketing is a cost-effective way to reach the people who are most-likely to use your product or service.

Social integration is certainly promoting more than its direct purpose: it is encouraging professional integrity in the through business collaboration. Evidence of this can be observed by the way social networks are collaborating. At the start of the year, 60 Facebook apps joined its Timeline. The varied categories included gaming sites such as Zynga, and social entertainment variety such as Pinterest and Foursquare. Facebook promised future additions. Very recently, Tumblr has been added to the list, where its posts are published to Facebook as Newsfeed and Ticker by selecting the tab, ‘Send to Facebook.’

Merging is not a form of integration and integration must not be confused with merging. The former is a joint practice while holding maintaining their separate identities, the latter is binding together into a single entity, which is intended to diminish or expand organizational departments in a more parallel direction. Integration moves vertically as a consequence, but while merging has direct and immediate results, integration does not. That makes it an integral marketing strategy. In the case of the Tumblr-Facebook partnership, it is not just intended to increase traffic flow, but the way the user will socialize through these auto-transferable action platforms. In addition, the content will have more variety, as in the images-only content of Pinterest viewed through Facebook’s Timeline. One should wonder why Facebook is inviting either social network when they have their very own apps that function in the same way. Friendsheet is a new Facebook app where users can pin images and choose to disclose or hide comments. Marketers should be able to interpret that inviting competitors into the field is not a threat, but rather a tactic that must be used carefully by giving due respect and space.

Another example of marketing through social integration is by adding a plug-in into another. Thus, a blog site can contain a Facebook plug-in to increase chances of comments and decreasing spam. A display of the volume of ‘likes’ and ‘tweets’ on a column of the site are another example to encourage sharing and voting Creating a Facebook app or Twitter widget manually also serves the purpose.

Email marketers are increasingly including social networks in their campaigns. This way, users can share the content as well as connect. They recommend that proving incentive to subscribers to use social network icons has proven successful. This may be in monetary form or other promotional offer, such as featuring the user on their site. The ‘Newsletter Sign Up’ app on Facebook is a great marketing tool to include.

Looking at the recent media trends, one can also see how different mediums are being used for promotion. WORLD WRESTLING TV broadcasts contain Twitter and Facebook icons for users to interact with during the event. Wrestlers are also using YouTube to attract more fans. Other channels will follow suit once they realize the impact of using social media in entertainment marketing.

A study conducted by Marketingprofs shows barely a quarter of US companies are integrating social media as part of their marketing efforts, and the majority of these are the larger sized companies. Health and financial industries are least inclined and the main challenge is the willingness for companies take the initiative to incorporate change at the micro and macro levels.

Communication is a complex subject, and each new form of oral, visual, or digital dialogue has its own set of criteria that make it effective; as well as its own snake pit of hazards that can make it downright dangerous. Let’s put the current Macarena’s of marketing, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, aside for one moment and speak about another hot trend in marketing communication – video.

Visual communication is about tapping into your audience’s emotional response to innate psychological desires: that’s the reason video is such a powerful marketing and branding vehicle. Video possesses more emotionally connective tools than any other medium. Using picture, movement, color, sound design, music, and motion graphics to speak directly to an audience with each viewer experiencing an intimate one-on-one experience makes Web video unique in its ability to communicate online. But you have to know how to use these tools in order for them to be effective and to make a memorable impact on your audience. Audience response is less about what you say, and more about how you make people feel. Use these tools without sufficient understanding, purpose and expertise and you may make the wrong kind of impression.

“People forget what you say, but they remember how you made them feel.” – Warren Beatty

You Ain’t No Tony Robbins

I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs and most know that appearing in their own marketing videos is a dangerous game. No one wants to look like a fool; however there are those whose egos and/or acceptance of the hype and misinformation surrounding personal branding have led them down the proverbial garden path of delusion. I trace a lot of this current excess in ego-marketing to three things: open access to great communication tools and venues; the mystique of the misguided personal branding concept; and a failed grasp of the implications of the so-called customer-conversation revolution.

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

Low-priced high tech hardware and software combined with easy access to inexpensive high-speed online presentation venues has created a new class of entrepreneur who has great ambition and ideas but with little understanding of how various communication methods differ, and what makes each effective.

Because video involves so many different elements, with some communicating directly and others subliminally, it is imperative that you understand how each impacts the presentation and delivery of the message. Concept, script, performance and styling each impact an audience in different ways. If even one of these elements is off, the result will be a muddled and confused message met with skepticism and disbelief. Of all the elements mentioned, the most important is performance; a bad performance by an entrepreneur can make him or her appear to be a fake, no matter how well intentioned and genuine they are.

There are charismatic business speakers like Tony Robbins who are presentation phenoms, and there are a few entrepreneurs who can make people hang on every word, but these people are few and far between. If you’ve ever thought of being your own company spokesperson in order to save money or to inflate your ego, ask yourself, are you really as good as Tony Robbins? Unless you’re a communication savant, it is best to have your marketing communication created and presented by people who know what they are doing.

The Personal Branding Myth

You often hear celebrities talk about ‘Their Brand’ as if they were a laundry detergent, a notion that reveals a lack of understanding of the differences between brand and personality. It’s the equivalent of people talking about themselves in the third person; something that is oft-putting, and often a sign of a narcissistic personality disorder, not surprising considering the arrogance that can develop from being catered to by media and fans.

Personal Branding is nothing more than another way of saying ‘self-promotion.’ Unfortunately it often crosses the line that separates marketing your business, and that icky feeling you get when you hear over-hyped media stars talking about themselves as if they were products. Unfortunately this trend has crept into the realm of entrepreneurial marketing, a trend that does not serve the entrepreneur well when brand is confused with an individual’s personality.

Number 6: “I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own… I am not a number, I am a person!” – The Prisoner

The Web provides a wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurs, but common sense has been buried by a tsunami of fad marketing hype. Social media has turned meaningful communication into nonsensical blather, privacy into an unlocked diary, and real relationships into fanciful imposters. There was a time when people fought desperately for their individual humanity as artfully portrayed by Patrick McGoohan in the classic 1960s “The Prisoner.” Sure we have moved on, this is a different age, a different time, and technology has opened the door to all kinds of new opportunities; but no matter how much technology has changed, people are still people, and the fundamentals still count no matter how much the purveyors of the next marketing gimmick scream at us to jump on board before you miss the boat. Let the shysters, charlatans and carpetbaggers sell their snake oil to someone else. You are not a number or a product, you’re an individual, and that carries more weight in the marketplace than a pet rock.

Businesses Are Entities That Differ From The People Who Run Them

It is important for entrepreneurs to understand businesses are entities that differ from the people who run them. Businesses have an identity that is created by the collective experiences of its customers, employees, and colleagues: a company can have a personality but it is not a person. People are not a brand, and why for heaven’s sake would people want to be degraded to the point that they are no-longer human beings but a product, a product that can be discarded and deemed obsolete like last year’s Blackberry.

The poor economy, high jobless rate, and universal access to the Web has produced a large number of entrepreneurs who are talented and full of new exciting ideas but who lack the business experience necessary to guard against the formidable avalanche of misinformation and confused marketing tactics, tactics like Personal Branding. Describing yourself as something less than a person reduces your company’s impact, and diminishes your ability to be an effective manager. It takes a lot of skill to run a business; one could argue that entrepreneurs have the toughest job of all, including those high-priced corporate executives with their legions of advisors and yes-men.

Entrepreneurs have to make tough decisions and sometimes they are going to make mistakes. A business can survive a mistake if it’s handled properly because no one expects a company to be perfect, but if that mistake is owned and attributed directly to the boss, then it becomes personal, and people are less forgiving. If you want your company to be synonymous with you as it’s personality, you better be perfect, or your business will suffer.

Social Media Is Not The Same As Managing Your Brand

Years ago the ‘Clue Train Manifesto’ championed the idea of giving the consumer a voice, an idea that is not without merit. No one would argue that customers should be ignored, but that is not the same as allowing the inmates to run the prison. Clients have every right to comment on their experience with your company and you ignore those comments at your peril. That said, this is not the 1950s; this is the digital age where memes spread like a bad case of head-lice, and not always with justification. The Web is wonderful but it has little in the way of checks and balances. It’s one thing for a disgruntled customer to march up and down in front of a store waving a placard warning passers-by of some perceived business slight, but it is quite another to have that message spread across the digital universe with the speed, force, and impact of a runaway freight train.

If You Don’t Manage Your Brand, Someone Else Will

It’s currently not fashionable to be a control-freak, but I’ll remind you that the single most influential business leader of the last thirty years was an intolerable control-freak by the name of Steve Jobs. No one had a bigger ego than Jobs and no matter how much he is associated with the company he co-founded, he knew that Apple stood separate – he was a significant tool of the enterprise, but still only a part of the whole.

No matter how big or small your business, you must manage your brand. Brand may be defined as the position it holds in the collective minds of your audience, but that does not mean you can’t manage it, after all that’s the real job of running a business.

A Final Word

In the end, online entrepreneurs must understand it is people who buy what they sell. You can use every marketing technique and scheme ever invented, plus every form of analytics and demographics available, but if you don’t understand what makes people tick, you’ll never be more than another online wannabe.

While much of the business world has adopted the internet as its primary marketing outlet as opposed to print pieces, the importance of quality content has remained the same. Quality content is crucial to your internet marketing plan for a few reasons.

Websites require content. While a flashy website with slideshows and moving icons is fun to look at, websites still need quality, written content to draw the readers in. Just as with print pieces, the content needs to educate and inform consumers. Then, it needs to persuade them to buy. Graphics and photos are nice, but usually they are not the reason consumers buy the product or service. Instead, it’s the written content that drives the sale.

Article Marketing is all about content. In order to make the sale at all, traffic needs to be driven to your website. That’s where article marketing comes in. Article marketing is a form of free advertising in which you write and post articles on article directories on the internet. As consumers search for topics related to your product or service, they are directed to these articles which, in turn, direct them to your business website. Article marketing offers a couple of benefits. First, it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising. There is usually little or not cost associated with posting to the directories. The cost to your business would primarily be in paying a professional writer to write the articles and post them for you. Secondly, the traffic these articles will direct to your website is targeted traffic. That is, these consumers were actively searching for information related to your product or website. They are much more likely to make a purchase from you.

Content dictates your search engine rankings. Graphics optimized for the search engines: Content should not just be written well. It should also be optimized for the search engines so your website gets a higher ranking. Optimizing content for the search engines requires some research and knowledge about how to find keywords and determine which keywords are being searched for and how to incorporate those into your article marketing plan and into your website content.
Quality content should be custom-written and researched to your business’ specifications and needs. It should be well-written and free of grammatical, spelling and mechanical errors.

There a 7 Essential Keys to Successful Internet Marketing that I cover in this article here today.

The first thing I want to let you know is that working from home, and becoming a network marketer is not as easy as people say it is. It is very challenging; you have probably always worked for someone else. Therefore someone always told you what you had to do. Well, now you are the boss, you are the one who is responsible for making the decisions on what has to be done on a daily basis.

The most important thing that you have to do is “revenue producing activities.” This can be writing articles, posting them on directories, or on your blog, social media, making video’s and placing ads whether free or paid. This is the only way you will make any money online. You need to drive traffic to your website.

So the number 1 essential key to becoming a successful internet marketer taking action on a daily basis.

Number 2 is getting the right mindset, lots of people do this differently, I like to start each day out with meditation and during this time I use affirmations to help get my mind ready to take action. You must train your mind, or you will fail miserably.

The 3rd Key I am going to give you is to take care of yourself, by this I mean, eating right and getting some sort of exercise everyday. It may only be a walk, hitting the gym or perhaps yoga at home. You will be sitting in front of your computer for hours, so remember to always get some sort of exercise in at least once a day. This will help improve your productivity, because you will be taking care of you first.

You must have a strong “WHY” you do the things you do. This is the 4th Essential Key to becoming a successful internet marketer. It is almost the same thing as setting goals for yourself, but in many cases having a reason to reach those goals will be that driving force that is needed to accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Number 5; get the education that is needed to become successful internet marketer. There is a lot of information readily available on the internet, just make sure you don’t get hung up on information overload. Take it one step at a time, once you learn a new skill-set, take action on it; implement what you just learned, then when you have that one mastered, take on something new. Attending events were you can learn from those who are doing what you want to do. I have found this to be the very best way to not only learn new skills and strategies but also to help with that mindset issue. Networking with those who are successful just makes it all become real, because you know now these people are no different than yourself, they just got started before you.

Number 6; Find yourself a Mentor, this is someone who is doing what you want to do, this will just make your life a whole lot easier. Almost all mentors will do one on one training with you to get yu going in the right direction. You see they can help you with everything I have just covered here for you today.

Now for the last one, number 7, Never give up when the odds are stacked against you! If you follow my advice above the only way you will fail is if you QUIT! Like I said in the beginning of this article it will be challenging. But you can do this, take massive action and make it fun and become a successful internet marketer!

Good Luck in your online network marketing venture. Start, Loving what you do & doing what you love. See You At The Top!

Do you have a Mentor?

Have you ever thought of getting yourself one?

This is someone who will work with you one on one to help shorten your learning curve and get you started each day in the right direction.

Thinking of where to target for your upcoming Every Door Direct Mail campaign? This program mails to all residents and businesses within carrier routes in a zip code. Knowing where you want to mail is crucial to what kind of response you receive back. Using mapping tools that make it easy to see your local area give you a better idea of how many mailers you need to reach all of your target market.

The carrier routes that you select should be based on what areas will give you the greatest returns. The key to targeting your area would be to select areas that are closest to your store to gain the most response there first and then fan out to other areas to expand your client base. Always keep in mind the areas that are most profitable to you for future mailers. Knowing your customers and your area will help generate a higher response for your mailer.

The denser the area, the more resident and business counts there are in those carrier routes. Selecting carrier routes that your offer will appeal to the majority of the population will make your mailer useful to your customer and profitable to you. Try using a tool that will show you all of the carrier routes in your area to make it easy to visualize your target area. Your target area should consist of residents and businesses where your services would be most necessary.

When choosing carrier routes, be aware of those that include customers who have a constant need for your service. Always include those routes when you offer a new promotion or special. Having the use of a reliable mapping tool that you can see your local area makes selecting your carrier routes much more efficient and in turn, more profitable to your business!

Chris Barr is a marketing professional and graduate of Christopher Newport University. His areas of expertise include direct mail, internet marketing, copy writing, SEO, and new business development. Chris currently serves as Marketing Director for Taradel LLC in Richmond, VA.