Everyone in business nowadays knows that you have to be online to have serious earnings potential and stay competitive in the marketplace because the vast majority of consumers are online and many go online to seek out their future purchases or compare prices on items. Thus having a recognizable online brand identity and specific marketing is essential for a successful product sales campaign. Developing a brand strategy for online business is similar to developing one for regular marketing purposes, you simply have to redefine some elements and take your mission and goal of expansion and credibility further.
1. Define product demographics
Who will be interested in your product and want to purchase it? What kind of person is the brand made for? Set some clear demographics so you know who you’ll be marketing to and have some sort of concept of what you might do to spark their interest or catch their attention.
2. Tune into demographics’ online portals
Once your target group has been identified you’ll need to figure out where they are online and what they’re into that will allow you to reach them. If you’re marketing to 30-50 year old women you may be looking into parenting forums, working woman websites and mom savings blogs as this group seems to spend a great deal of their time online in these arenas. Hire people to blog and post on these sites to start discussions and talk about your products. This will give you an unbiased look at what the average view of your product is and how you can improve the brand or further strengthen its presence online. These online portals are also where you’ll later be advertising and pushing the brand identity later on so it’s nice to establish a presence early on even if it’s an invisible one that you simply use as a reference.
3. Create some demos
Make a couple examples of your brand identity items including an online logo, slogan, overall look and marketing campaign. You need to have more than one option so that if one proves to be unsuccessful in the beginning you have another to turn to later on. Or you can give consumers the option of choosing what they like in a poll, competition or survey of some sort.
4. Ask customers
Once you have a potential online brand strategy in place you can have a test run with your target consumers. This can be done a number of ways; through a survey, a free trial, incentive and reward programs or even a competition. Have a consumers come up with your brand identity for you through the guise of a competition in which the winner gets a cash prize or other large prize. Surveys can track what consumers think of your current brand identity and provide helpful feedback on what works or doesn’t work with your current design. This can be a voluntary survey however those with rewards or incentives yield higher numbers of people filling them out and giving more detailed answers.
5. Track results
Once you have a brand strategy in place you need to track the results to see if it’s working at whatever the goal of the strategy was. If the brand is new then the strategy is likely to increase awareness among the public and interest amongst the target demographic base. If the brand is more established the goal might be to increase the earnings by a specific percentage over a designated length of time. Watch the number of hits you get on ads, on your website, polls and so on. See if one market does better than another and after finding out why decide how to rearrange your marketing campaign funds and adjust your brand strategy accordingly.
If you have any questions about online branding, visit my blog and use the contact form to ask.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak before a group of small business owners who wanted to know how they could market their businesses online through a website.
While a lot of questions were posed, one topic that kept popping up and which lead to an interesting discussion from different participants is Twitter.. if it is really worth considering as a marketing channel. One participant quoted a drop off rate of about 60%.
So is Twitter really worth the time and effort? Here are key points that came up and I wish to underscore for you.
- Twitter is not a magic bullet solution for improving an online business, it is just another networking opportunity just like any other, a venue for you to meet new people.. whether those relationships become significant.. turn into business opportunities or personal relationships, is up to you and who it is you meet
- Just like any venue or opportunity to network, results may vary and that would depend largely on the people who are at that venue, or on that channel, and if they would be interested in YOU, who you are and what you have
- It is about YOU, when you get on a social networking site, people see and get to know you and what you do, if you interest them then good, if they don’t fancy you then no harm no foul, move on… again think of Twitter as simply a virtual version of real life meet ups, mixers and such
- Since Twitter is a medium to network and build relationships, then leverage on that opportunity, the chance to establish, build and maintain relationships that CAN lead to business opportunities, establish your authority and earn trust.
A lot of people have this misconception about Twitter and I think it is primarily the fault of Internet Marketers who sell information products and software that are to do with Twitter, a key part of their marketing focuses on huge income generated from Twitter. So that people are then lead to believe that Twitter is the ultimate solution to improving a business on the internet.
So, should you Twitter?
My honest answer would be, it depends on your results.. Like any marketing activity you undertake, you need to have some sort of way to gauge results of your actions, so if you are on Twitter your metrics may be things like traffic sent from Twitter, click through rate on your links, number of people following you, number of mentions of your name or number of ReTweets other people give you.. and maybe ultimately number of sales generated from people as a result of your correspondence or contact with them on Twitter
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Hello!
Please watch the video below. This will give you an overview of the SEO strategy that we will use. Then read instructions below. Hit the Full Screen button on the lower right section of the video box to get a clear view.
Next Steps.
1. Download this excel file that contains your master list of social sites, social bookmarking sites, article directories and feed sites. You will need to create accounts on these sites using a new email address created specifically for this purpose. If an email address has already been created for you, then you no longer need to create a new one.
When creating accounts on these social sites you can either use your brand name (if this activity is meant to achieve branding goals) or a keyword phrase (if your goal is to get a page on your site ranked for a keyword phrase).
For example… if I wanted to brand my name, and I wanted to create a blog on WordPress.com, I would use my name in the URL that I would create on that account, which would come out as http://roysencio.wordpress.com; if this was on Blogger, it would come out to be http://roysencio.blogspot.com; on Squidoo it would appear as http://www.squidoo.com/roysencio.
Second option for this example, if I wanted to get ranked for the keyword “SEO Consultant”, then I would create those accounts using that keyword; on WordPress.com, as http://seoconsultant.wordpress.com; if this was on Blogger, it would come out to be http://seoconsultant.blogspot.com; on Squidoo it would appear as http://www.squidoo.com/seoconsultant.
How to decide which to use?
I would use my name, brand name or company name if I wanted to use these sites for company announcements, press releases and other official company updates. If I were using these sites to upload articles, and those articles were themselves optimized for certain keywords, then I would use a keyword phrase in the naming the site/blog. An example… I want my blog www.roysencio.com to rank for SEO consultant, so I would create an account on WordPress, give it a URL of http://seoconsultant.wordpress.com, then upload an article also targeted at the keyword phrase, and the article may go something like “How to Choose the Right SEO Consultant for your Website”. The main page of the blog can have a link to my blog main page; and if I am using the social site for teaser articles, I will have that teaser article link to the original blog article on my blog.
2. Browse through each of the sites on the Excel file to see how they look. Here are their classifications.
- social sites, are public sites where you can add your content/articles that have links that point to your own website/blog
- article directories, are huge article libraries… if this is not part of your strategy then you don’t need to create accounts on these sites
- social bookmarking sites, are public sites where people bookmark and share their favorite web pages and websites
- video sites, are websites where you can upload video.. if you are not using video marketing, you don’t need to create accounts on these sites
- feed submission sites, websites where you can submit RSS feeds of your social sites, not all have RSS feeds, just submit the ones that do
Sheet 1 has the list of those websites, Sheet 2 is an example of an actual campaign where my target keyword was a brand name of a product that was launched last year, my sites ranked very well for a search for that keyword phrase and occupied several spots on Google’s first page for that phrase. You can check out those sites, take a look at the articles and where the links point.
Since Google updates its algorithms constantly, this may not exactly be the same linking style I use today, but it is close. This will give you an idea how to use links in teaser articles posted on social sites. In the video above, I made it clear that teaser articles point to (a) the main article on your blog and (b) the main page of your website, for the latter I recommend using an strong call to action offer as the anchor text (words that are part of the clickable link to your main page).
3. If everything is clear and understood, go ahead and create accounts on these sites. If unclear, feel free to send me a PM or post a comment or question below.
Brand identity is extremely important for a company’s survival, growth and overall longevity. Customers want to shop from or use the services of a company they can trust due to the satisfaction they have shown and their track record. Consumer confidence is key. Once you have established a brand identity and have a complete concept of how you are perceived by the public your work still isn’t done. In fact, it’s never done. To remain competitive online you have to continue to strengthen your brand identity so you won’t be forgotten or outsold and overshadowed by another retailer or service provider.
Connect on Social Networks
Social networking isn’t just for personal contacts and relationships anymore, millions are using these networks for work as well. Businesses can create pages which people can then become “fans” of. This gives a brand a forum to reach potential customers on a personal level. They can have a unique experience with the brand online and turn to it whenever they please. These networks allow a brand to experiment with new concepts, ask for feedback from consumers and of course, promote their product or service. Creating individual pages and networks for each brand allows consumers to show off their lifestyle to others as well. By displaying pages you’re a fan of other people can see what you’re into, the products you use and what you like to do as brand identity can translate into personal identity as well. Then personal referrals turn into business sales for you because one person tells their friend and they tell someone and so on.
Offer Incentives and Rewards
The power of personal referrals is incredible. Offer an incentive that customers get a percentage of sales back in the form of credit, points or free gifts and hundreds upon thousands of people will be motivated enough to send the information to their friends and family in hopes of earning enough points, credits or other rewards to get free items. Discounts, promotions and incentives are great selling points to get new customers in to try your product. Rewards programs keep the customers you have from trying something else when your competitors offer new discounts and freebies. The better your incentives and rewards programs the more customers you’ll be able to secure for the long run and the stronger your brand identity will become because you’ll have gained credibility from your following.
Google Ads
Advertising will always help strengthen your online brand identity because it will remind consumers first that you exist, second that you’re a trustworthy and viable company and third that you’re the best. The more that your brand name is seen the more people will begin to associate it with being the best. Using Google Ads is easy and the most reliable and popular form of advertising online. Your ads will be displayed on various websites which you can target based on your product demographics base. The more you want your ads seen the more ads you pay to have shown, simple and easy.
If you have any questions about , visit my blog and use the contact form to ask a question.
A lot of Verizon subscribers have been waiting for the Google Nexus One, but it seems it would be in both Verizon and Google’s interests to delay.. for Verizon it gives them time to get rid of some of their 3g smart phones Palm Pre Plus and Pixi whose prices they have slashed down to $49.99 and $29.99. While Google, well, best not go head to head with the currently launching iPad from Apple which is making waves this weekend.
Apple’s new iPad hit stores just this morning and here in San Francisco, people in the hundreds have been lining up… some had been there all night, other had arrived early that morning.
I am guessing they will wait about a week or two, so the iPad launch will come to pass, and Verizon users who had gotten iPads or have an interest in them won’t be distracted and will give their undivided attention to the Nexus One Verizon version, when it is finally made available.
Apple Store on Stockton Street, San Francisco at 7am Saturday
Image Source: http://news.cnet.com/2300-31324_3-10003023.html
Advertising on TV networks has always been a little complicated and expensive… it actually still is! It can be a long process that involves too many people… there are the people that put your ad together then there are the people who recommend the right places to air your TV ad and make those placements and book your TV spots.
Today, Google AdWords allows you to book your ads on TV networks all by yourself. Watch the video below to see how it works.
Mark Twain had an idea about copywriting when he said to “Kill all your darlings”, meaning say it straight and say it great. The same goes for creating copy that promotes your brand.
With all the media bombardment at every turn, you’ve probably seen it all – exaggerated headlines, over the top testimonials and claims. It might be effective in catching the attention of your customers but it’s a lousy way of building long-term patronage and partnerships. What happens when the hype is over?
Here are a few rules to follow when creating your content or copy:
1. Simple = Good
Simple is always better. It’s easier to remember and harder to miss. According to Luke Sullivan (Whipple, Squeeze This)
simple breaks through all the advertising clutter. So before you start writing, don’t forget to check your cliches at the door.
2. Numbers aren’t always great
Lose 10 pounds in 7 days or 10 Tips to A New You will grab a person’s interest but this will only lead to a one-time buy (hopefully).
When your customer snaps out of the starry-eyed high and find out your product doesn’t work then the numbers will definitely spell trouble for your business.
3. Most of the time, there’s never anything more
We’ve heard of this line and some people have even fallen for it once or twice. It goes more or less like “But wait, there’s more! If you call now, you get the Super Pro Ultraxxx for a very low, low price of $99.99.” Would you seriously consider buying the product? Or for those who were cuckolded, would you want to buy another one? I don’t think so.
According to Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner of Editorial Emergency “It’s not just a matter of making sales; it’s a matter of making lasting connections and establishing a brand that offers genuine value. And treating potential clients with respect. And sleeping at night”
The bottom line is: Don’t treat prospects like suckers born every minute. Write good copy and establish lasting relationships. Long-term clients build your brand so talk to them and communicate with them accordingly.
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Article by Guest Author: Carla Marie Adlawan
Carla Marie Adlawan, fresh from university with Business degree in hand, decided to jump into the world of advertising as a copywriter. Four years later, she’s still spitting copy at the same agency and from the same desk. She’s had years of experience working with local and multi-national clients spanning various industries from IT to F&B, Real Estate to Communications, Retail and Merchandising to Transportation and the Academe.
During her free time she prowls the streets to rid the city of crime, which is another term for freelance.
Visit her blog, Writings of a Street Rat.
If I were to pick one word and use that same word as the sole criteria and absolute basis for how well your website is ranked on Google, the word would be relevance. Relevance of a search term to content on a page; relevance as evidenced by link popularity of that page on other web pages on the same website or on other websites and corresponding click throughs from those links; relevance as manifested in behavior of visitors that land on that page; relevance as quantified by click throughs from a website’s search engine results page (SERP) listing. The latter two, has recently recently become even more important to SEO professionals with Google’s personalized search results feature that rolled out in December of 2009.
With Google personalized search, the search results (listings) you see on Google’s SERPs will show you websites that you have actually visited in the past and spent time on because Google has factored in your previous search behavior (your act of searching on Google, clicking a listing and spending time on certain websites, and how often you visit) into the way they rank pages on your search. Google does that automatically, even if you have not activated this feature, but you can actually get search results that does not take into consideration your previous search behavior by clicking the “view customizations link” on the SERP.
So if you are a website owner tracking your rankings or an SEO professional tracking rankings because it is a key metric to gauge results of your SEO activities, then your metrics are skewed or to a graver extent, inaccurate and misleading.
Google is watching what you click on in search results and learns that you like certain sites. For example, if you often search for specific keywords, and on the top 10 organic listings on the next page there is a web page ranked on the number 9 spot, if you click that site and visit that site regularly, or search for the same keywords later or search for related keywords and you end up visiting that same website, over time Google gives that site a boost in rankings, might end up being in the top 3 or even ranked number 1, because it starts to believe that you like that website. But the ranking boost it gets are only for your results you see on your browser, and not for all other searchers and users. In other words if the site is number 1 on the Google listings you see on your browser, it is not number 1 on other users’ browsers especially if those users have not had previous interaction with that website.
So if you are tracking your rankings, if done with the personalized search feature active, you will not get an accurate representation of what your rankings actually are in general for the city/country you are in.
There has also been a question of privacy, “is Google invading your privacy by watching what you are doing and taking note of your behavior on the websites you visit?”
More information about you is actually kept if you are logged into to your Google account while performing these searches, if logged out, there is only limited data that Google collects about you and your behavior, but still it is enough to change what you see on the results page. Below is a table that shows you what they gather if you are logged in or logged out.
So is personalized search bad?
In the aspect of tracking behavior I believe Google to be walking a thin line.. as the char above shows, it appears that by logging in to your Google account, Google takes this as a sign that you allow your behavior and identity to be monitored. But, has Google informed you about this?
Second thing is, as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant, the biggest concern is keyword rankings of clients might not be credible or accurate, however this can be easily remedied by simply doing the search again without search customizations. Moreover with a better understanding of how personalized search works, SEOs can make adjustments in order to even leverage on personalized search that is active by default, and use that to get that a ranking boost for their websites. I know I have, but if asked how… I am afraid I rather keep this strategy to myself and not make it easily and publicly available.
Reference and Image Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195
A lot of people get a little confused when it comes to branding, so I recorded this video on how to create an online branding strategy to help you put together a plan that will develop trust in your brand.. whether it is a product, service, company or simply your name; increase visibility on search engines and a corresponding increase in traffic from search engines; and finally increased visibility on other websites such as Web 2.0 and social sites plus an increase of referred traffic from these websites.
If you have comments or questions please use the comment form below. Please feel free to share, ReTweet or send this video to your friends who might find it helpful.
Traffic is the lifeblood of any website. No visitors, means no customers, no business. A lot of people talk about free traffic but there actually is no such thing as free traffic, as there is likely some sort of opportunity cost involved like paying someone to do your traffic generating tasks, and if you do it yourself your time is certainly worth something. You would be surprised how many people still believe that they can sit back and relax and wait for traffic to hit their websites after they are built. Does not happen that way. You would need to promote your website, just like you would promote a business.
There are many ways to get more visitors to your website but here is a list of the fastest and easiest ways and a brief description of each.
1. Email Signatures
If you have a business website, you should at least have an email signature that has a link to your website AND your unique selling proposition or any value statement that catches attention and prompts a reader to click the link to your website.
2. Social Networking and Social Media Accounts
If you have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube then you have the opportunity to tell people on your network about your website, product or services. However there is the right way and a wrong way to do that, and from what I have seen, a lot of people do it the wrong way.
Do not spam nor annoy people with messages that they are not interested in. The key to getting people to your website through social properties is to catch their attention by posting your own or sharing other people’s content such notes, articles, links, and videos that are of interest to people on your network. The key there is to first get their attention, then sustain their interest with whatever piece of content they are viewing, the longer they consume that content a desire in them brews, then make them take action by giving them an irresistible offer or incentive.
I always underscore the three key elements to a successful social marketing campaign:
- continuously grow your network
- keep posting content that people on your network will enjoy or find useful
- interact with people in your network in order to establish a rapport and build trust
You can send traffic to your website from social sites through the links that you include with the content that you publish.
3. Craigslist and Classified Ads Websites
If you are selling products or services and you cater to a local audience, Craigslist is a great way to be able to put those products and services in front of customers who are already looking for what you have to offer. In fact, Craigslist is a great way to quickly dispose of products or inventory that you do not want cluttering your shelves, because you want to make room for new stuff.
Craigslist allows you to post classified ads that contain links in the listing, links that readers click and are sent to wherever those links point.
4. Press Release Submission
If you own a business, you probably have sent out Press Releases to media outfits requesting that they get published or the story carried. You would probably see a lot of these on newspapers. The same thing works online, you submit a newsworthy story to Press Release websites that will publish and distribute your story to media outfits. There are free sites and paid sites that you can submit to and of course the paid sites offer some form of added value.
The traffic from Press Releases will come in three ways:
- people reading the Press Release on the PR sites where it is published click a link in that takes them to your website
- people subscribed via RSS feeds to these PR sites will receive notices of your new PR via email
- people reading news websites who carried your PR story click the link that takes them to your website
5. Email Marketing
If you are an existing business and have customers, leverage on existing customers by getting them on your mailing list. Satisfied customers often make repeat buys from a seller that has earned their trust. Again, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The wrong way would be to, not be in touch with your customer then suddenly send them a message that you have a sale. You would need to be in touch with your customer through email, immediately after they make a purchase and find out if they are satisfied with the transaction; keep in touch with them by providing them with useful information that would make them make the most out of the product they had purchased; then offer them special deals on related products. It is also important that you get their permission for you to send them email messages, and this is easily accomplished with many email marketing services such as , which I use and have used for several years now.
6. Article Marketing
This is one of the most effective means of getting traffic today. Simply put, it is the process of writing articles that are relevant to your prospective customers, articles they would find helpful or useful and would contain a call to action for them to click a link that is part of that article. You would need to submit that to article directories such as ezinearticles.com or goarticles.com.
The traffic you will receive come in the form of visitors reading that article published on those article directories and the traffic from websites that republish that article on their websites. Article directories allow other websites to republish articles as long as the links remain intact.
You can also publish these articles on high traffic social sites; blog sites like WordPress.com and Blogger.com; content sites like Hugpages.com and Squidoo.com. These sites have a huge number of pages and communities tagged or categorize according to topic or subject matter. Publish content on these sites and tag them with relevant keywords; words or phrases that best describe your content, the same words and phrase that people on these sites use on the website’s internal search engine in order to find your content.
7. Forum Posting
Forums or online bulletin boards are online communities where you can find people of similar interests. You would need to join forums where your target customers are found and contribute in threads or discussions, providing useful content that will help resolve any of their issues or problems. Make sure to include a link on your website on your forum signature, with your unique selling proposition or a value statement.
8. Yahoo and Help Sites Posting
A few years ago, a friend of mine laughed at the idea of going to Yahoo Answers and answering questions, she found it silly. Well, the fact of the matter is, Yahoo answers has proven to be a good source of traffic. All you have to do is find answers that you can provide good answers to, and if you can use your website as a reference to those answers or an added resource you can post that link in your answer.
9. Blog Commenting
Blog commenting today is often referred to as blog spam, since a lot of people simply leave brief non helpful comments at the end of blog posts, just so they can get a link from that blog post. The right way to do it, is contribute to the discussion, add something helpful or useful to the blog post so that the owner will allow your comment to remain and you keep that link.
Traffic from blog comment links will come in the form of readers who found your comments useful.
10. Integration Marketing
Integration marketing is a term I heard being used by Kim Roach, but this is nothing new. A lot of companies have partnerships and co branding activities. This method of increasing traffic is simply the act of finding related businesses that you can partner with, and put your product in their sales process.
In business partnerships, you can for instance be a contract plumber who gets business from an architect, who hires you to take care of plumbing for a house the architect is building. In the virtual world, you can be an elearning software vendor who ties up with a human resource and training consultant who sells training DVDs online, and when DVD buyers check out, the buyer is given a one time offer where they can try your elearning system for free and a link where they can claim that offer. Another example that has more of a direct impact on sales rather than traffic is, you can be a seller of cellular phone skins and accessories who ties up with a cell phone retailer, and in the check out process when a customer buys a phone from that retailer, the customer will be shown your skins and cell phone accessories at discounted prices.
All the strategies above are FREE methods, but again.. they are not exactly free because your time has a price to it, right? I believe time is precious and certainly not free. If you don’t do it yourself, you can hire someone to do all that for you.
