9th
APR

5 Ways to Leverage Real Time Search in Your Online Marketing Mix

Posted by BlogPostman under Pay-Per-Click

Since late 2009 when Google introduced real time search, the concept has gained a lot of attention. Today, real time search is at the top of the priority lists for all the major search engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo!. As part of the new technology, Google is combining live updates from sites like Twitter with the latest news headlines and blog posts in search results. For web searchers, real time search means the ability to discover breaking news the minute it’s happening. For marketers, it presents a whole host of opportunities to increase online visibility. Here, we’ve provided five ways to leverage real time search in your online marketing efforts. 1. Develop the type of content that supports real time SEO With real time search, frequently publishing online content becomes a must. Try incorporating these three types of content to support both traditional and real time SEO programs: Tweets and Facebook fan page updates: Micro content from social sites now has the ability to appear in search results. It’s quick and easy to frequently post Tweets and Facebook fan pages updates, so both should play a big role in your real time SEO content strategy. Blog posts: Blogging presents the opportunity to help your content rank and show thought leadership at the same time – since blog posts can offer more valuable information than micro content. Optimized press releases: By optimizing press releases and submitting them through authoritative newswires, you can help your content achieve high rankings. 2. Mobilize your fan base Creating a core group of brand advocates is important for a number of reasons. They recommend your products and services to their friends and family, defend your reputation in times of trouble and are more likely to adopt future products and services you introduce. Now add one more benefit to the list: Brand advocates – particularly authoritative ones – can link to your content to help keep in the real time stream. In addition, brand advocates who are active on social sites like Twitter can create their own content about your company that can appear in real time search results. 3. Know what’s hot in the news With real time search, it’s important to recognize both what users are searching for online and what they’re discussing via social channels – at this very minute. Create frequently updated content that speaks to the latest topics and trends, and is optimized for the latest search terms. A variety of tools exist to help monitor search and conversation trends: Google Trends : Use this free tool to find the hottest topics and hottest searches in Google Social Mention : Determine the strength, sentiment and reach for terms used throughout the social web, including blogs, microblogs, social networks, video sites and news sites BlogPulse : Find the top blog posts, key phrases, new stories and more from across the search universe or related a specific topic Delicious : See the types of content that goes wild across the social web Trendistic : Learn trending topics in Twitter over the last 24 hours, week, month or more (see image below) Trendistic shows “online marketing” trends over the past 30 days. 4. Time your content promotion efforts wisely Give your content an extra boost by monitoring when blog posts, articles and other online content are indexes in Google News or Google Blog Search. Then ensure tweets, Facebook fan page updates and other social content promotions are timed right after the content is indexed. Doing so will help you take advantage of every opportunity to appear in real time search results. 5. Optimize your web site and online content for mobile technologies Real time search is relevant on many mobile devices, including Android and iPhone devices. So Web site optimization for mobile technologies becomes even more important. Consider these few mobile SEO tips: Limit the use of images Keep the design simple and clean Test to ensure your site appears as it should across various mobile devices The bottom line is, it’s crucial to take advantage of every real time search opportunity that comes around. Remember that these opportunities won’t stick around for long – presenting themselves quickly and then disappearing. It is real time, after all. Have you implemented real time SEO into your online marketing mix? Tell us what best practices you’ve found so far. © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | 5 Ways to Leverage Real Time Search in Your Online Marketing Mix | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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5 Ways to Leverage Real Time Search in Your Online Marketing Mix

8th
APR

Are Seo Packages A Good Investment?

Posted by BlogPostman under Pay-Per-Click

When you own a website, your primary focus is to attract a constant flow of new (organic) traffic.  You will likely have a set of established, returning visitors whom you can count on to make purchases, but the success of any company is marked by its growth.  When you are seeking to make your website bigger, better, or more popular, the simple fact is that you need more visitors.  While Pay Per Click advertising is a common method of attempting this, the development of bots and companies that would click just to generate income or make your numbers look higher than they really are caused this market to largely decline.  Ultimately, without visitors to your page you have no sales.  Furthermore, if your page hits are being generated by ad clicks, then the people visiting your page likely don’t understand or have interest in what it is that you are actually offering.  SEO packages are different that they offer a chance for you to get organic, unpaid traffic flowing to your website.  With these packages, you are able to commission a steady stream of articles that provide important and relevant content, ensuring that readers know exactly what you have to offer and that they visit your site because they are genuinely interested. Not to mention how happy it makes the search engines to feed them on a regular basis. When it comes down to it, quality SEO packages are an investment in your company.  Article marketing takes a bit longer than standard click based advertising to really show its full potential, but ultimately it is the best option for your site.  When paid clicks lead people to your site, they are apt to simply click away when they realize they are not where they thought they would be.  Article marketing, however, ensures that every click and every follow through is from someone who is looking specifically for your page.  This greatly increases the chances that the visitor will purchase your products or services. SEO packages also offer the distinct benefit of remaining available to readers for as long as the directory is active.  This means that an article can continue to generate new readers and new business for many years to come.  For only a single investment, you can easily provide yourself with long term organic traffic and other benefits, while pay per click advertising brings in traffic only as long as you are still paying for your ads to remain active. Another thing that makes an SEO package a true investment is that it enables you to commission a large number of expert written articles that will be submitted over time.  This spacing ensures that readers are always being offered new content and new answers.  It also offers the chance to present your company as an expert in the field, using your expertise on your product matter to help answer common questions or solve common problems. At the end of the day, SEO packages are simply the smarter way to go.  They work far more efficiently than standard pay per click advertising, and offer readers much more benefit than the keyword stuffed articles that flooded the market only a few years in the past.  Search Engine Optimization today is about providing necessary content that solves a problem and that provides information relevant to the keywords and topics chosen.  If your website is in need of a long term boost in traffic and you are seeking a way to bring in organic traffic and interested parties, an SEO package makes a great choice.  More visitors certainly equates more sales, especially when they are going to your site because they are already interested in your content. - About the Author: Words You Want is your one stop resource for all of your writing needs.  Words You Want offers a variety of services including SEO packages , article directory submission, SEO article writing , ghostwriting, eBook writing, travel writing, equine writing and more.    Article Source

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Are Seo Packages A Good Investment?

8th

Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

Posted by under Blog Marketing, Pay-Per-Click

As companies that realize the value of online marketing understand the need to publish engaging content, one of the most common considerations is a company blog.  Blog software is fundamentally one of the easiest content management software systems to install and use. Of course the software isn’t magic. The content and ability to reach and engage with customers is a big part of what makes a business blog successful. For those companies that are thinking of starting a blog or reinvesting resources into a company blogging effort that has gone stale, some of the most important questions to ask are:  Have you identified specific goals for the blog? How will you measure success? In sports you can’t score if there isn’t a goal and it’s no different with business blogging.  There are a variety of reasons why publishing ongoing communications that allow readers to interact adds value to a business. Add to that the distribution via RSS that extends the reach of your message and  it’s easy to see why so many companies start blogging. The failure for many business blogs is centered around not making a connection between business goals, blog specific objectives and most importantly, how meeting customer needs leads to the first two. Here are three key questions to consider as you design your plan for business blogging success: Why start a business blog? What end goals or outcomes can you reasonably expect? There are many good reasons to start a blog. But are those reasons good enough to start and stay blogging for the long haul? Our survey on blogging and SEO showed 90% citing blogging as important, significantly important or a primary SEO tactic. 94% of bloggers reported seeing measurable SEO benefits from blogging within 12 months. Initiate and foster customer engagement Improve coverage by media and bloggers Improve search engine visibility Increase mentions on other blogs, social networking, news, bookmarking and media sites Build thought leadership Provide an informative communication channel Recognize employees, clients, marketing partners and especially brand evangelists How will you know your blogging efforts are successful according to those goals? How are you measuring blogging success? We ran a poll last year with our readers that ranked their most important measures of blogging success. Here is the distribution: Engagement: comments, links 36% Improved brand recognition 31% Build thought leadership 31% Search engine rankings 31% Better communicate with customers 30% Traffic to the blog 27% Coverage by media and other blogs 18% Traffic to the corporate web site 16% Sales leads 16% Industry Recognition 13% Sell products 2% Improved customer satisfaction 11% Page views 9% Time on Site 6% Ad revenue on the blog 5% What tools are you using to measure blog performance? Goals for business and the blog are great but it’s essential to have the right tools in place for analytics. One of the biggest mistakes is to rely on things like Google Alerts. Web analytics (Google Analytics, Woopra, Clicky, etc) Feedburner Social media monitoring tools Link analysis tools Comment tracking tools Clipping services Forum conversation tracking tools It’s fundamental, this notion of setting goals, understanding outcomes and the tools needed to measure. But you know the saying, “Common sense is the least common thing on Earth.”  Companies can achieve great return on investment with the right plan and leadership in a blogging effort. The key is to do the baseline work to build a foundation upon which it can grow and succeed.  Stay the course and leverage both listening and engagement tools to guide content. Develop networks and distribution channels to grow readership and reach. Take the time to really understand the impact of data provided by reporting tools and create reports for executives that highlight business goals. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced with setting, measuring and reaching business goals through corporate blogging? Have you started a business blog only to shut it down? Have your company blogging efforts been successful beyond expectations? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Setting and Measuring Goals for Business Blogging

5th
APR

Sponsored Posts – Measure The Risk Carefully

Posted by under Pay-Per-Click

Sponsored posts have been a hot topic in the blogosphere and among marketers the last few years. What exactly is a sponsored post?  The simple answer is:  a company pays a blogger cash to blog about their product or service.  This is different than an advertorial since the blogger is paid cash to write the content as opposed to the sponsor creating the message. An entire cottage industry of companies such as IZEA, Smorty and a slew of others have sprung up to offer a variety of methods to pay for sponsored posts.  Some require bloggers to say good things.  Others tell bloggers they are free to write what they wish.  But in either case, there are potential risks involved marketers should be aware of. Many digital audiences appear to have an  issue with sponsored posts because they see it as a breach of unwritten editorial rules of the web.  It is for that core reason sponsored posts remain controversial. For the purposes of this post, I am just talking about cash for blog posts.  This a different animal than offering sampling, trials or demos of products. Let’s dig into why sponsored – aka cash for blog posts – are something you should measure the risk of carefully: Sponsored posts may draw the eyes of the engines Cash for blog posts could be risky behavior if the sponsored links are follow links.  Matt Cutts at Google has publicly stated that paid posts should not affect search engines .   A simple solution for companies brokering sponsored posts is to require the no-follow attribute added to links within the content.  Some pay-per-post companies offering this service state they require it.  Some bloggers may adhere.  But many bloggers have no idea what a no-follow attribute is and may not follow this guideline.  Additionally, bloggers and marketers engaging in outright cash-for-play are involved in risky behavior even with no-follow links.  This is due to halo effect of linking in the social web, and may walk a thin line with the engines who are paying attention to these campaigns. Before engaging in sponsored posts, consider organic outreach More than 80% of bloggers are already writing on products and brands .  In other words: be remarkable, have great marketing/PR and you’ll be talked about.  Learn the intersection of social media and PR , begin content marketing and engage in strategies that inspire natural coverage, conversation and influence.  The organic approach yields the highest results: since sponsored posts must have no-follow links, the SEO and PR intersection does not exist. Sponsored posts may train audiences to expect cash to write about you By engaging in sponsored posts, you may succeed in training audiences to expect a return every time they mention your brand or product.  Instead of growing in an organic fashion, sponsored posts may keep your brand out of the natural conversations and put you on a treadmill of having to pay cash for coverage.  And that’s not a sustainable way to grow a web community . May be seen as inauthentic Due to FCC rules , all sponsored content must be disclosed.  With this disclosure and transparency, readers see the content was influenced by cash, not the author’s true perception of the product or brand.  This potentially destroys the true power of word of mouth .  It affects the blogger as well:  they may lose the trust of a carefully built audience.  Audiences may not believe a blogger thought a product was great because that blogger was paid to talk about it. Sponsored posts are advertising – not social media Companies who pay bloggers cash to write about them are engaging in advertising, not social media.  Would you pay someone cash to talk about your company or product at a party?  What would everyone else at the party think?  That’s exactly what happens on the social web when users see bloggers taking cash to write up products.  So if you think it’s a risky play to pay people cash to talk about your brand or product in person, it’s equally so online (perhaps even more so since the web is referential). Organic push methods do exist Newswires, article submissions, advertorials, syndication products, and other paid methods of gaining exposure amongst web audiences exist.  The social web as a whole has less issues with these services because they are not paying individuals directly to talk about them.  Rather, they are paying to have their messages added to areas they will be found – and then reacted to – without cash going directly to users or leveraging a personal brand for influence.  Communications professionals can use paid tools to cross the editorial line with less risk than directly paying cash to individuals. Conclusion Forrester research has been touting the positives of sponsored conversations.  Jeremiah Owyang says they are here to stay .  There are companies engaging in this tactic and doing fine.  I’m not ruling the tactic out entirely, but I do wish to caution marketing and PR professionals to weigh the risk carefully.  Sponsored posts may run counter to a social media marketing strategy focused on inspiring organic attention and building a community based on trust.  They do not provide the SEO benefits of organic outreach.  Consider your larger objectives and strategies carefully and ask yourself  if sponsored posts are the tactic for you.

5th

Advantages Of Pay Per Click Method In Making Money On The Internet

Posted by BlogPostman under Pay-Per-Click

One of the most popular ways in making money online is via pay per click (PPC) method, but what is this method about?  Can it truly be beneficial? PPC for an Online Merchant PPC involves putting little advertisements on other people’s websites or even on the search engine results pages.  You pay a pre-agreed small amount every time your ad is clicked on.  There are quite a number of nice things about this method.  First, you get to choose the keywords which you want your advertisements to appear under and what the exact wording of your ad should be.  Also, it is your decision as to how much you are going to pay per click and how much you would be willing to spend in a day.  You can also choose which regions you would like your ads to be displayed in (in the case of search engine result pages ads). PPC and SEO PPC is a great advertising technique so you can generate fast traffic to your site.  Search engine optimization or SEO can not give immediate results like PPC can.  If you want to get into this kind of advertising, you can check on the major services: Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, Miva, and Go Click. PPC for Affiliate Marketers PPC is a great way to earn money in affiliate marketing.  The affiliate can earn some passive income by simply placing an ad on his or her website.  Every time a visitor clicks on the link (ad), the affiliate gets a certain amount. – About the Author: Aden Clark is an online business mentor that learns average people how to start and develop a successful online business. Join his Free, 7 day, online business course that will teach you how to copy his exact method that generates at least $100/day. - Learn how to make at least $100 per day on autopilot, – Free video tutorials that explain everything step by step, – No experience is required to make money from this method. Visit Profit-Academy.com now to get started on the Free Business Course that teaches you exactly how to Make Money Online ! If you stick to this one method then you can easily create enough income to quit your day job. Article Source

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Advantages Of Pay Per Click Method In Making Money On The Internet