Mwhowell2k\'s Author Archive — Page 2
admin • 2nd Jun 2011 • blog, General
The main objective of a business website is representation of the company and describing the products and services offered by it. The website must make sure that enough information in this regard is available. Transparency is another factor while designing a business website. This can be achieved through the “About Us” page which should provide enough information about the management, the objectives, the history and the philosophy of the company represented. Photographs on this page enhance credibility, since they present a crystal clear transparent picture to the visitor which says “we have nothing to hide”.
Some designers tend to provide contact information in the “About Us” page Although it is not incorrect, a better usage would be to create a “Contact Us” page. Please make sure the contact us page is simple and short. Many websites have long forms to fill with departmental details and other formalities. Keeping this short would help in two ways — it will not be an irritant to the visitor, the other, the company can avoid getting spurious and incomplete information.
The categories explaining the products and services offered by the company should be complete including pictures of the products. Use pictures sparingly lest they distract the user from reading the content. Always keep the content regarding products and services up-to-date thru “news” or “blog” pages. The news page can be supported by writing relevant press releases rich in keyword content and distributing them to the important press release sites. This will help bring in more traffic to your site at the same time building credibility.
Use a “testimonials” page to put up comments from customers. This would not only help in pushing your products and services but also in making the customers re visit and make further purchases. This page should convey user concern and should not be a sales pitch.
admin • 2nd Jun 2011 • featured
MWW helps writers become published authors!
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admin • 26th May 2011 • blog, General
We have a tendency to come up with an idea that we think is the greatest thing since sliced bread. We’re absolutely convinced that everybody will beat a path to our door to buy our product. We spend lots of money to develop a sales campaign, build a website, buy advertising and so on, and spend a lot of time and effort to draw people to our website, get good search engine positioning, and then more often than not we’re disappointed because very few people buy our products.
Could it be that the marketplace doesn’t care about our opinion?
Does that hurt your ego? It shouldn’t. It should open your eyes to this very simple, but wildly profound truth.
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK, IT’S WHAT THE MARKETPLACE THINKS THAT IS IMPORTANT!
Big companies spend millions of dollars on market research, testing and surveys before they ever spend any money in developing a product or marketing a product. Doesn’t it make sense that before we ever spend a dime on any kind of product development, website development or whatever that we should spend some time first to find out what people are buying, when do they buy, and how do they buy? By doing proper research in advance, you’ll save yourself a lot of wasted time and effort, and you’ll be rewarded many times over.
Finding profitable “niches” is not a difficult process, but it can make all the difference in the world as to whether or not your business will be a huge success or a dismal failure.
admin • 19th May 2011 • blog, General
Start strong: Your title and initial lines should briefly and directly convey what you want to say. Include the “who, what, where, when and why” in the lead of your press release. The remaining part of your press release should include supporting facts and examples.
Make it easy for the media: Some media agencies and journalists will grab your press release and carry it in their publications with slight editing or no alteration. But even if it’s not used word for word, journalists may use it as fodder for other stories or to create their own story ideas. The more information and details you include, the less work the media has to do.
Think like the reader: Your press release should be able to keep the reader’s interest. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Would you want to read your press release?
Make it relevant: Try to point out real examples to support the message you want to communicate. Show why your information is important and how it benefits the reader. If your release isn’t newsworthy, don’t expect anyone to read it.
Support your story with real facts: Facts make your point stronger and tell the journalist you’ve already done much of the research for them. If you pull facts from other sources, make sure you attribute them. Avoid fluff and add-ons. And never make anything up. If content seems too good to be true, tone it down or you could hurt your credibility.
Include company information: The press release should conclude with a short description of your company, including where your company is based, what products and service it provides and a brief history.
Be concise: Avoid using superfluous adjectives, extravagant language, or unnecessary cliches. Get to the point and tell your story as directly as possible.
Get permission: Companies can be defensive about their name and image. Get written permission before including information or quotes from officials or associates of other companies/organizations.
Avoid exclamation points: The use of exclamation points may hurt your credibility by creating unnecessary hype. However, if you have to use an exclamation point, use only one! Not several!!!
Avoid industry jargon: The harder your press release is to understand for journalists and laymen, the less likely it is to be picked up. A limited use of industry terminology is ok, if you’re trying to optimize the news release for internet search engines.
admin • 12th May 2011 • blog, General
Here is the basic rule of every business: you have to sell things to earn money. Salesmanship, or the art of closing a sales, therefore, is of ultimate importance for any business venture. After all, we can’t expect any earnings if we don’t make any sales.
Winning customers is essential for the success of your enterprise. Here are 5 methods by which you could gain a good number of customers, and keep them for a long and profitable business for you and your family.
1. Always deliver quality goods or services.
There is no better vehicle for our business message than our products themselves. Consistently offering things that are more than worth our customers’ time and money will brand us as enterprises that are committed to quality products and services. This would only serve us well in future dealings with the same clients. Additionally, this would make our clients as advertising vehicles for our business as well, as they would spread the word about the excellence of our service to people belonging to their network.
2. Always try to over-deliver.
People love receiving more than what they paid for. If you consistently give them some extras, their minds would be conditioned to trust your business for future transactions.
3. Provide bonuses.
In addition to the product you’re selling, add some more goods that would perk up the package. Do this in a manner that you will make your customers aware of the value of the bonuses if they were otherwise purchased. This would definitely increase the worth of your product, and such would make it more favorable for a successful sale. Additionally, your bonuses would foster good will with your clients, and this could go a long, long way for future orders.
4. Build relationships.
The importance of building good relationships with your customers cannot be undermined. Try to humanize your approach so that your customers can relate to you as someone who is more than just a business provider, but also as a friend.
5. Make use of a mailing list.
A mailing list is an Internet marketers number one weapon. By capturing the contact details of people who may not have been interested with their current offer, they will be able to condition the same people for future sales. And this could serve their businesses well for quite a long time, as one successful sale can beget another and another after that. Take good care of your subscriber base, and they will take good care of your business in return.
Winning customers is more than just luck. It entails a lot of strategizing and good planning. Retaining customers involve the same level of commitment as well. In the highly competitive world of online marketing, trust plays an integral role in achieving our goals. Try your best to win your customers’ trust. Take care of it. And for sure, this trust would fuel good business for you for many years to come.
admin • 5th May 2011 • blog, General
Search engine marketing can be complex. Endless opportunities to advertise and market, constantly changing trends and technologies, and overly complex solutions all come with the territory. So, what you don’t need when you’re evaluating or creating your search engine marketing strategy is lengthy explanations about how different techniques work. Instead, seek out advisors who can guide you with simple explanations and techniques based on real results.
1. Establish Your Internet Marketing Strategy Goal
“What is THE purpose of my website?”
Once you answer that question, all other aspects of search engine marketing strategy can be leveraged to help you achieve that purpose. Typically, people use their website for many different purposes. Regardless, you still need to answer this question. The focus you will get from it will help you create a more effective strategy.
Here are the top three most common answers to the question “What is THE purpose of my website?”
- To sell things
- To generate leads for my sales team
- To educate my target audience
It can be this simple! Just decide which of the three answers above suits you best (or create your own) and then move on to step 2.
2. Establish a Search Engine Marketing Plan
Search engine marketing consistently generates leads, sales, etc. at a lower cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale than traditional mediums like TV or direct mail advertising. It makes sense when you think about it: when people want to find something online, they go to Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. and search for it.
Search engine marketing is all about SHOWING UP when people search for what you sell, offer, or have on your website. There is a growing body of knowledge (books, articles, etc.) on how to do this. And like anything else, it has become over analyzed and too complex. To further complicate things, some search engine marketing techniques are ethical and legitimate, while some are not. The best approach is to create a search engine marketing plan that focuses on two aspects:
- Search engine optimization – showing up in the “organic” area of the search engine’s results
- Pay-per click advertising – showing up in the “paid” area of the search engine’s results
For search engine optimization, first realize there is no “silver bullet.” There just isn’t a way to easily get ranked consistently high in the search engines. It is a combination of factors that always come down to one underlying truth: build your website according to web standards, with a focus on accessibility for all.
Just like search engine optimization, there is no “silver bullet” for pay-per click advertising, either. Instead, the formula for PPC success is in well-placed bids (what you will pay to have your ad show up) combined with meaningful landing pages (where people go when they click on your ad).
3. Conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The goal of search engine optimization is to make changes to your website to get higher rankings in search engines. Yet, search engine optimization is a confusing sector. On one hand, there are “snake oil salesmen” ready to get you a #1 ranking with their latest trick. On the other hand, the things that actually do work are very simple, and frankly, just not very “sexy.”
The best strategy to take is a common-sense approach to SEO: develop standards for your website that ALL pages must adhere to. If you do this, and enforce it, you can then branch out to some of the other “niche” aspects of SEO.
Here’s a sample list of SEO standards to enforce on your website:
- Write descriptive HTML page titles that really describe the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)
- Write a summary sentence that really describes the page it is on (in 255 characters or less)
- Write page content that is focused
- Write descriptive ALT text for all images that describes the concept the image illustrates and never use images for text
- Build all pages to comply with current web standards observed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Only once your web pages comply with the above standards should you start more advanced SEO techniques, including keyword targeting, 301 redirects, link building (getting more links to your site), RSS news feeds, blogs, and SEO-specific metrics and tracking.
4. Leverage Pay-Per Click Advertising
Pay-per click advertising helps you get more traffic from search engines through advertising in search engine results. You pick terms that people search on. You bid a price per click on your ad that you are willing to pay. You ad shows up when someone searches on that term, and, if you’re lucky, they click on your ad and come to your website.
So, pay-per click advertising really boils down to 3 components:
- Picking keywords to advertise on (i.e. target keywords)
- Determining what to bid for those target keywords
- Writing copy for the ads that show up when people search
Picking keywords is all about knowing what terms your customers, clients, etc. would use when searching for your product or service. There are several tools to help you generate ideas. The best tools also check to see how many searches-per-month your target keywords receive. You typically want to find keywords that generate a lot of searches every month, but are focused enough for your business.
Determining what to bid for your keywords can be a highly-scientific process, sometimes managed by complex software and several key metrics. To keep it simple, let a tool like Google Adwords Traffic Estimator recommend to you what to bid at first. Start there, and start small. Your best bet is to lock-in a low daily budget limit until you are comfortable with the impressions your ads are getting, the flow of traffic from the ads to your website, and what those people do once they get to your website.
Writing ad copy comes down to writing a headline that people will click on, and creating compelling copy below that headline/link that will get people to click.
Headlines are best created by following what magazine covers do: focus on getting attention through eye-catching, short phrases.
Writing effective ad copy below the title/link is really about reinforcing the term(s) search for. This means using the keywords in the ad copy, and starting the copy with an action verb.
By following the approach above, you can create or evaluate your search engine marketing strategy, focus on what matters most when executing your plans, and more effectively achieve your goals.
admin • 27th Apr 2011 • blog, General
Opt-in marketing requires the permission of customer before you are allowed to send or promote any marketing materials, usually in newsletters form delivered via e-mail. The more targeted opt-in marketing mail is sent, the more chances there is to generate sales and more sales. To do this, you must build a list of all those who are interested in your niche and wants to subscribe to your opt-in marketing list.
From your list, you will get your targeted customer, this is a good list since they already have shown interest in what you have to show and sell since they have willingly signed in for your list. These are the people who have liked what they have seen in your site and have decided they want to see more and maybe even purchase what ever product or service your site has to offer.
Here are a few ways to build your list:
1) Create a web form in your site that immediately follows the end of your content. Write a simple short statement about how they would like to see more and get updated about the site. Then there should be an area where they could put in their name and e-mail address. This web form will automatically save and send you the submission. As more people sign in, your list will be growing.
2) Make your website impressive. Depending on what your site is all about, you need to capture your website visitor’s fancy. You need to have well written articles. Make your site useful and very easy to use. Invest in having your website professionally created. Go for a look that borders between simplicity and sophisticated.
3) Provide good service and products. A return customer is more likely to bring in more business. Even then and now, a satisfied customer will recommend a business always. Word of mouth and recommendations alone can rake in more business than an expensive ad. As your clientele roster grows so shall your list. With more members on the list, the more people will get to know about what you have new to offer.
4) Keep a clean and private list. Never lose the trust your customers have entrusted you. If you provide e-mails to others and they get spammed, many will probably unsubscribe to you. Remember, a good reputation will drive in more traffic and subscribers as well as strengthen the loyalty of your customers.
5) Ask! Ask your potential customers and clients for permission to add them to your email list. Tell them the benefits of doing so. If you have customer interaction, place a email sign up paper form on the counter and ask customers to add their email address to the list.
Want to learn more?
How to Quickly Build Your Email List
5 Ways to Build your Email List with Facebook
6 Ways To Build Your Email List Offline
admin • 19th Apr 2011 • blog, General
Have you just started blogging? Or have you been blogging for a while? As you may already know, a blog is an excellent tool to let the world know about your business or your product, to connect with potential customers and promote your expertise. But how can you maximize your blog’s impact? Here are five tips to do just that:
Blog Consistently. Many business owners get excited about blogging, post 3-6 times, and then promptly forget about the blog. I have seen many blogs that were started a year or two ago, have a grand total of five posts, and haven’t been updated since sometime last year.
To get the desired effect (search engine and human traffic), you need to update your blog on a regular basis. Search engines love new content and keep coming back to index it. Potential customers also like new content; it’s what keeps them coming back to read your blog.
Use Your Blog For Branding. Your blog is an extension of your business, so make your blog have a look and feel that mirrors that of your business web site.
If your blog is hosted on the same domain as your web site, you should match the look and feel of your web site exactly.
Use Search Engine Optimization To Optimize Each Blog Post. The purpose of your blog is to get people who are in your target market to read your posts and enter your sphere of influence.
Treat each one of your blog posts as a separate file to be optimized for search engines. Use a keyword research tool to find phrases that are related to the main subject of the post, and weave them into the content of the post.
Have A Special Offer On Your Blog. Do you offer a free special report? Do you offer a mini course as a bonus for new newsletter subscribers? Add the offer to your blog. This will transform people from casual surfers who just happened to find your blog to newsletter subscribers.
Share Information About Your Events, Services, Products and Seminars. You might think that everyone has already heard about your upcoming event on life and work balance or your e-book about achieving financial success. Not so! The person reading your blog might be hearing about you for the very first time, so they have no idea about your event or products unless you specifically tell them.
Avoid overselling, as it will dramatically reduce the number of your blog readers. Do, however, let your blog readers know about your seminars, services and products. If you don’t tell them, nobody will.
A blog is an excellent tool to generate additional web site traffic, get new newsletter subscribers and sell more products. Use your blog to introduce potential customers to your business.
admin • 14th Apr 2011 • blog, General
Developing a relationship with media covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of exposure, including getting links from trusted media web sites. Distributing releases online can be an effective link building tactic, and opens the door for exposure in news search sites.
admin • 12th Apr 2011 • blog, General
These are some simple steps and rules to follow to create your own simply branded photo strip:
1. Image Choice: Decide on 5 images that work in random order. The key difference between personal profile photo strips and the ones on your Facebook page is you cannot change the order.
2. Image Size: These images are horizontal and scaled to 97 X 68 pixels. So either create them at that size or make sure they scale and crop well at that size.
3. Create Photo Album: Create an image album specifically for your photo strip to keep them separate from other content.
4. Upload Images: Add your 5 images here, upload them, and they will automatically load into your photo strip as the most recent uploads. Decide whether you want to publish the images or not for fans to comment on the update.
5. Upkeep Images: Keep it clean. When you add other images to the wall or other photo albums, you will need to X out those images to bring all 5 photo strip images back into view.
Source: 35 Creative Facebook Fan Page Photo Strips
