Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Twitter Tuesdays

If you follow me on twitter, then you’ve probably seen several new features on all of my blogs.  I’m trying to give myself tasks and a plan for my blogs.  It makes blogging regularly a lot easier if you have a plan and schedule.  Here on Simple WAHM, I want to give you all the information you need for blogging, working at home, starting your own business and everything having to do with being a Work at home Mom.  Twitter Tuesdays will be about using twitter to create and enhance your business!  Sometimes I’ll discuss a twitter term, or sometimes I’ll give you lots of cool twitter tools, or people to follow on twitter.  Whatever the case, you’ll always find something interesting here about Twitter on Twitter Tuesdays!

Read the rest of this entry »

As a blogger who loves free stuff, and who occasionally posts for pay, the FTC guidelines on Testimonials & Endorsements for bloggers really concerned me.  I worried that maybe my well of free things and tiny Huge payments would dry up.  Or at the very least I’d have to pay extra taxes or penalties if I didn’t disclose my relationships properly.  Luckily, there are a lot of smarter more informed people out there in the internet who really understand what’s going on.  So here are some great articles to help you figure out these new rules. Read the rest of this entry »

Article by Lynette Chandler

Did you know there are lots of ways RSS can be used for your business? Here are some example uses that you may not know about. Quick note: Some can be easily abused so… use them wisely, if you use it.

Twitter: Automatically create a new tweet when you have new posts. There are many ways to do this, a popular and free tool to use is Twitterfeed.
Read the rest of this entry »

If given the choice, would you rather walk into an insurance agent’s office where you were greeted with a friendly hello and the staff called you by name when you paid your bill, or would you rather walk into an office where the staff acted as if accepting your payment was a waste of their time?

Most people want to do business with people they like. It is hard to like someone who makes you feel uncomfortable. However, if they feel that they are treated with kindness and feel that you are their friend or trusted advisor, they will feel that they have a relationship with you. Read the rest of this entry »

Squidoo is a website where a network of users can create pages, known as lenses, on various topics that they have knowledge in, or at least have some interest in. Ads are displayed on these lenses, and the users who create them can receive commissions when those ads are clicked upon by their lenses’ visitors. However, you can earn even more by using Squidoo to market your products.

Marketing your own products with Squidoo is very easy. When editing your page, use the “write” feature to add some simple HTML. If you sell information products, you can offer a free ebook or special report and a link for the sign-up form for your newsletter. Once they are your subscriber, you can continue to market your products to them.

You can also use the “write module” to post articles and links to your information product’s landing pages. Providing the content will help you get indexed in the search engines and your visitors will appreciate the fact that they can learn something from your site.

Since each lens should have its own unique topic, you can create a lens for each of the topics you would like to establish yourself as an expert in. You can then create a lens roll and link your lenses together. This can create a stream of traffic for you. If you have other business blogs or feature a podcast on the subject, add that information to your lens as well. If you have created a physical product, you can add pictures of it to your Squidoo site.

In addition to adding content, links, and pictures to your lens, you can join Squidoo groups. If someone is searching for information on a topic, they may choose to find a group on the subject in order to find lenses on that subject. This will also allow you to interact with other people interested in the subject of your lens. This is a ready-made market of people interested in your products.

Just like your website, you will want to keep your lens fresh by adding new content each week. This will encourage your visitors to return again and again. You may want to pick one day each week to add something such as an article or a link to something your visitors may find useful. You can even add links to viral reports and other things that you are offering on your own website.

By using these techniques you can add targeted traffic to your site, increase the size of your mailing list, and add to the number of your customers. Plus, Squidoo is free. You’ll be growing your business and saving money that you may otherwise be spending on pay-per-click programs.

There is no question that blogs are great for business. When you blog, you can connect with your target market and promote your product(s). Blogger is a free, easy to use blogging service offered by Google. Using this service can be a great way to market your business.

When you use a service such as Blogger, you can create posts that explain the features and benefits of your product in a subtle way. For instance, if you have an information product on growing tulips, you can create posts that give a bit of helpful information. At the end of the post you can add “for more information ”.

If you have a physical product, you can create similar posts, giving people reasons to buy your product. If you happen to sell kitchenware, you could create an informative post about the benefits of silicone bake ware. You can add pictures of your product to your post and include a link to the page where your readers can buy the bake ware.

Blogs serve as a great communication tool. You can keep your readers up to date with any changes you have made to your site, provide information on new products you are going to be introducing, and receive feedback on the types of products your customers wish you would develop.

Another way to communicate with your target market and position yourself as an expert is to establish a “question of the week” feature to your blog. Simply have your readers send in their questions, and then, one day each week, choose one of the questions to answer. Your readers will look forward to this interactivity and will take note to visit each week to see if their question was chosen.

You can also use Blogger to increase the size of your mailing list by adding a sign up form to your newsletter or other autoresponder list. Once people are subscribed to your newsletter, you can continue to market to them.

Adding links back to your website on your blog will also help your website gain search engine traffic. The search engines crawl the Internet, and when a site has a lot of links coming into it, the search engines take notice. This can help your website rise in the results pages when someone performs a search using one of the keywords on your page.

These are just a few of the reasons why it is important to have a blog and how you can use a service like Blogger for marketing purposes. As you get more familiar with blogging, you can add an RSS feed to your blog, which will notify your readers that you have created a new post. This will keep your readers coming back regularly, and further help your marketing efforts.

Press Release Profits:
This is a complete system that shows you exactly how to write and distribute a press release to get noticed by the media….potentially saving your hundreds or thousands of dollars in advertising costs.

The course includes an in-depth interview with Alice Seba (who started her online career as a press release writer), study guide, sample releases, video critiques and more.

You’ll learn how to:

- create a great hook or topic for your press release

- write a press release that makes you and your company look great, without sounding like an ad

- build your own media list- creative ways to get publicity…and a bunch more.

Grab your copy and stop paying for expensive advertising!!

You may have heard of the saying, “If you don’t ask for it, you’re not going to get it”. Well, if you want to know what your customers want, ask them! An “Ask Campaign” is a marketing strategy that you can use time and time again to create (and sell) more products and services.

If you have a website devoted to the topic of scrapbooking and are thinking about creating an information product, but are not sure what your customers are looking for, you can set up an ask campaign with the question, “What is your biggest question about scrapbooking?” or “What is holding you back from completing your albums?”, or any other question that you can think of.

You can send out an email to your mailing list, asking them to take part in your survey. You may want to dangle something free in front of them, such as a small report. You simply include a link in the email to your survey page, and then they fill out the questions. Once they have submitted the questions, you can have an autoresponder set up to send them a “thank you” email with the link to the free report.

As you read through the responses, you will notice that some questions get asked many times. Those are the questions that the majority of your visitors want answered, and those are the topics that should be included in your information product.

You can create anything from a special report to an ebook to a teleseminar using this method. You may want to take some time to create the written information and then hold a free teleseminar (and record it). Have someone “interview” you. You can give them the list of frequently asked questions and simply go down the list of questions together. You can do this on a conference line and open the telephone lines at the end of the call in case any of the guests have questions.

You can let your guests know that you have created an ebook or special report on the same subject and that you are going to record that night’s call and include it as a special free bonus for those that buy the special report or ebook. You can even announce the landing page URL on the call and start receiving orders before you are even done with the teleseminar.

An “Ask Campaign” can help you figure out exactly what your customers want. This will save you the time of researching various projects, only to find out that they want information on totally different topics. By using this marketing strategy, you are able to deliver the information they want, plus they will enjoy the fact that you took the time to ask them what they wanted.

Sweetie Marketing is an approach to Internet marketing that will help you grow your business without stepping on anyone’s toes in the process. Here are a few ways to grow your business as a sweetie.

Start out by being honest. Unfortunately, there are a lot of slick websites that promise big things and barely deliver. Be honest to your potential customers by letting them know exactly what you have to offer. And if someone comes to you for advice, be honest and let them know what you like about their product and what you would change.

When you are just starting out, you will undoubtedly be asking a lot of questions. Show your gratitude to those that help you along the way by letting them know you appreciate their kindness. If possible, try paying that kindness back by helping that person with something they need assistance with.

Helping other people will help you in the long run. Even if you are just starting out in your home business, a day will come when someone with less experience than you will come to you and ask for help in getting started. Perhaps they will want to know which autoresponder you recommend or advice on writing an ebook.

If someone asks you a question and you know the answer to it, tell them. Unless the answer to their question happens to be a top secret project you are working on, giving someone a bit of information isn’t going to hurt your business. Who knows? The person you are helping may one day become wildly successful and recommend your products to all of their customers.

Building relationships and networking is essential when it comes to business success. Work to build real relationships with those you meet. Rather than just strategizing about the benefits you will receive from the relationship, think about ways you can help that person.

Some people will take your help and not give you anything in return. Let that roll off your back. The majority of people will respond by helping you in some way. For example, if you meet someone who, you feel, would be a great business partner for another one of your friends, introduce the two of them. Their joint venture could be a great success, and they will find a way to repay you.

When you act in a considerate way and treat others how they should be treated, people will respect you as a person. They will want to do business with you because they know that you will only be acting in their best efforts. They will also feel good about recommending you and your products and services to people they know. This, of course, will further promote your business and help you achieve more success.

Your business brand is an integral part of your business. Your brand is a message that you send out to clients and prospective customers that tells them what you and your business are all about.

For instance, Subway Restaurants have branded themselves as a healthy, fresh alternative to other fast food options. When you walk into one of their restaurants, you see posters and images of healthy, fresh vegetables and whole grain breads. When you turn on the television or radio, you see and hear commercials that feature people who lost weight while enjoying Subway for lunch. And when you flip through magazines you see advertisements with the same marketing message.

Once you have established your brand, it is important to incorporate that brand into all of your marketing materials. This will help you create brand recognition. Potential customers will understand from the get-go what your service or product is all about and past customers will automatically think of you when they are in need of your product or service. They won’t even bother checking out the competition.

The easiest way to communicate your brand to others is to develop a logo or slogan that easily conveys what your product or service is all about. Try to develop something that is simple, unique, and easy to remember.

You should display your logo and slogan prominently on your website. Your website may be the first impression you make on potential customers, and past customers may become frequent visitors.

Business cards are a great way to market your business. There are a hundred uses for them, plus they are easy to carry and inexpensive. Most printers are more than willing to include an image of your logo on your business card. If, for some reason, that isn’t possible, you can still use your slogan as the tagline on your card.

You may also want to consider purchasing some business letterhead. Letterhead is stationary that has your business logo and slogan printed at the top. If you don’t find yourself mailing too many postal letters to people, you can simply buy some heavier weight paper from an office supply store and use your home printer to create letterhead as needed.

Signature lines for your email program work in the same manner as letterhead and can easily be created. Your email program can automatically insert your signature line when you send email. This creates a professional image. You do not have to create anything fancy. A simple line that states your name, business name, URL, and perhaps your slogan is sufficient.

You can also tie your brand into your products. For example, Rachael Ray has built an empire on the “30 minute meal”. One of her television shows and several of her books have encompassed that tagline in their title. And she always features a few 30-minute meal recipes in her monthly magazine.