Online Marketing Advice

 

How to Use Link Building to Improve Website Rankings

2/16/2010

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If you have your own business then you will probably have noticed how hard it can be to keep it ranking well in online searches. The truth is that the competition is increasing rapidly and as such is making it difficult to keep on top of the opposition. One way that you can try and improve this is by using something known as link building which helps enhance website optimisation.

What is Link Building?

If you have ever used a search engine yourself then you will probably know that often people tend to only look at the first page or so of results. This is bad news for those sites that rank on the third or lower pages as they get overlooked. For this reason link building can really come in useful as it can help bring your website up to the top of the rankings. This can be a particularly time consuming process but ultimately it works well so it is worth the extra effort! 

Essentially link building refers to the quality, amount and the relevance of any links that are pointing at your website. Therefore if a link to your site is included on a number of other sites it will be deemed by the search engine to be of importance. You may not realise but every link that points to your site will increase the popularity of the site and ultimately it will rank much higher in website optimisation.

How Does Link Building Work?

When it comes to link building there are two main ways that you can go about this. There are a number of website that will request reciprocal links i.e. they will want you to put their web link onto your site in order to help them. However there are also a number of one way links which do not request help in this way. 

You will find that a number of these websites may charge you for their help whilst others will be pleased to assist you for free. 

Although link building can be a very time consuming and slow process it is one that ultimately yields fantastic results and helps website optimisation. Once you have built up enough links pointing at your site your ranking will increase and you should find you get a lot more traffic to your website!
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How to Revolutionise the Way You Use Social Networking Sites

2/16/2010

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Social networking sites are some of the most popular ways to market and advertise ideas for business. They offer you a ready made audience and a great way to interact with potential customers. However if you use a lot of these you may find it hard to keep on top of them all. This short article will show you three sites that could change the way you work! 

Minggl

Minggl was designed to work as an add on for uses of Firefox and Explorer. Essentially it allows you to connect to your social networking sites so you can receive instant updates and access an address book. If you use Minggl you can choose to update anything from one to all of your statuses in one go as well as send messages. If there are only certain people you want to hear from you can opt to filter friends’ updates. Minggl is compatible with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg and Flickr although this is said to be increasing soon. If you want to use Minggl you can find it at minggl.com.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed is slightly different to some of the applications you may have seen. With this one you can receive updates via a master feed of all online activity but you cannot update any information on your social sites. One of the great aspects of FriendFeed is that your friends do not need to have the program themselves but you can still read their blog, Flickr, and Twitter. It also works as a social networking site in its own right allowing you to post photos, links and comments. If you are interested in FriendFeed and ideas for business go to friendfeed.com.

Flock 

You may not have heard of Flock before but it has been described as being a well integrated social media web browser. Using Flock enables you to see all of your recent updates from a variety of social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Flickr and YouTube. It will also allow you to create new updates as well as manage your accounts and blog as well as providing a tailored homepage with network updates and RSS feeds. Although not perfect it is easy to use and can help save a lot of time if you like to regularly maintain your social networking sites. If you want to try it out and discover ideas for business then you can download it from flock.com.
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7 Personality Characteristics You Need to Create and Run a Successful Business

2/16/2010

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If you want to be a successful entrepreneur then there are a number of desirable characteristics you should have. Although not essential it is important that you possess at least some of these in order to have the drive and determination to achieve your goals. Many of these can be learned over time however you will always need the motivation to get started.  

This short article will give you 7 of the most important characteristics needed to begin successful work from home business opportunities.

Have Fun

If you do something that you enjoy and can take pleasure in it then you are more likely to remain motivated. It also means that you will be happy to dedicate more time and effort to making it a success. 

Believe in your Business

It is vital that you believe 100% in your work from home business opportunities and what it is that you do and/or sell. If you don’t then it is highly unlikely you will make a success of your business as you just won’t have the drive to keep it going. You should also be prepared to spend a lot of time working on your business and be aware that it is all too easy to get side tracked, especially if you are working from home!

Plan Ahead

Planning effectively is an incredibly important but often overlooked part to setting up and running work from home business opportunities. Only by planning can you truly understand exactly what you need to do and how you can achieve success. It will also hopefully get you into a routine of researching and analyzing everything to do with your business. By having a plan you will be able to keep clear in your mind the goals you have and can strive towards making these a reality.

Keep Control of Your Money

If you are going to make a success of your business you need to keep track of all the money that goes in and out. Failure to do so could mean the end of your business if you cannot cover the cost of materials needed. It is therefore essential to keep your accounts up to date at all times and be completely organised when it comes to your money.

Achieve Expert Status

One of the best ways to create a successful business is to be seen as an expert in your field. If you establish a positive reputation and people realise that you know what you are talking about then they are more likely to come to you. Essentially you could view being seen as an expert as a way of getting new business but they find you rather then vice versa. 

Invest in your Business

In order to make your business as successful as it can be you will need to keep on top with all the latest news and ideas. For this reason it is worth taking the time and money to buy or subscribe to newsletters, magazines, publications etc to help improve your skills. It could also be worth joining relevant associations and attending seminars and workshops that could help you become a better businessman or woman in the long run.  Therefore you should always invest in yourself and your business to make sure you are up to date and using the best methods possible.

Organization is Key

To run a business well you really need to be able to organise yourself and your day to day activities. Failure to do so could mean you miss appointments and deadlines. Make sure that you have all the necessary systems in place to keep on top of everything. Use and update your calendar regularly and create lists so you know exactly what needs doing. Keep all your paperwork filed away where you can find it and maybe consider colour coding different areas of work to make your life easier!
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5 Simple Tips to Improving your Organisational Skills Today!

2/16/2010

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If you want to have a successful business income opportunity the best place to start is getting yourself organised. Many people often find themselves unsure of what they are supposed to be doing or missing deadlines but if you organise yourself well this could soon be a thing of the past. Best of all it is not hard and these 5 simple tips will show you how to get started.

Get your desk and paperwork in order

If your files have seen better days and your filing system leaves something to be desired then this should be your first task. Make sure all your paperwork is up to date and where it should be so that you can easily find it. If you have a lot of files then you could try implementing a colour code system to help you locate them much quicker. 

Having a clean and tidy desk area to work in can also help to keep you calm and more in control. When you do not know where anything is and have messed strewed all over the place your work is going to suffer!

Lists

Some people hate lists but the truth is that those who regularly create a list of tasks to complete tend to be more organised. It is incredibly easy to forget something that you were supposed to do so make a list every morning or every week depending upon your work schedule. Make sure to keep it updated too as things come up. Ticking tasks off as you complete them is also incredibly satisfying and often gives you the motivation to keep going just so you can clear your list! 

Keep life simple with just one calendar

These days calendars are everywhere! You will most likely have one on your phone, your computer, in your diary and hanging on the wall. If you want to be organised then you will need to choose one of these to keep track of appointments etc otherwise you risk missing them. If you have several different work commitments then you could try using different colours for each or buying a calendar that has individual sections.

Organise your calendar

If you have some big commitments coming up then it could be worth setting yourself reminders leading up to the event of anything you need to do for it. This can be a great way to stay in control and feel confident that you are on top of everything. It also minimises the chances of being under prepared and helps you make the best of your business income opportunity.

Keep your goals in mind

It is important to always have a list of work goals to aspire to. In this way you will remain focused on what it is you need to do as well as helping to keep you motivated with your business income opportunity. These goals can be as big or as small as you want, just make sure that you refer to them regularly to keep you on the path to achieving them!
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Top Tips for Making a Success of Your Marketing Today!

2/10/2010

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One of the most important aspects of marketing is writing in an informative and clear way. However it is important to be aware that it can take more then just this to create a successful marketing campaign. If you are serious about making a profit then you will need to know exactly how best to approach this. 

Keep it Relevant and Interesting

It is important that you keep your content to the point and make it interesting. People are often busy and do not want to have to trawl through pages of text or they will quickly lose interest. For this reason you should make sure that you say everything you need to say in a coherent manner without rambling.

Try to engage your readers and make them feel involved in what you have to say. If your content is boring to read then people tend to switch off or worse still, close the page down. If you offer people help and solutions in a motivational and interesting way then they are far more likely to continue reading or contact you. Remember to always think about the consumer! 

Be polite

One sure fire way to alienate your potential customers quickly is to go in with the hard sell. Unfortunately many people make the mistake of believing you need to continuously mention your product or what it is you do to get people interested. However this could not be further from the truth. Often all you will succeed in doing is destroying any trust they may have had in you. After all, if whatever it is you are marketing is really great it will speak for itself with only a little gentle persuasion from you! 

It is also wise to avoid making any claims that are unbelievable since most people will realise this straightaway. As a result you could seriously damage your reputation and many will be put off from coming to you.  Try to understand exactly what it is your target audience are interested in and see what it really is they want to hear and show them how you can meet this. 

Understand the market

It is incredibly important to make sure that you understand the market you are targeting and have assessed the competition. There is no point concentrating your marketing in areas where there will be little or no interest in the first place. 

You should also try to market via as many different mediums as possible. Try using both offline and online methods for maximum exposure! 

Make it Easy to Understand

It is important to make sure that what you are writing is easy to understand otherwise you will alienate yourself from your public. Try to avoid using words that people may not understand, jargon and anything too technical.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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How to Use Twitter to Effectively Develop Your Business

2/10/2010

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Twitter is one of the many social networking sites available on the internet and is incredibly popular with people from all walks of life. For this reason it gives you the perfect platform to market and develop your business, providing you know how to use it!

What is Twitter?

Simply put Twitter allows you to create instant messages for all to view. These are referred to as Tweets and are limited to 140 characters. The idea is to follow people and for them to follow you so that whenever you or anyone else Tweets everyone can see this straight away. There are reported to be around 5 to 10 thousand new people a day joining and around 5 million users in total so it is easy to see why this can be such a great way to improve your business.  

Twitter allows you great insight into what others are thinking and can be a great way to ask questions, increase traffic to your site and spread the word! You can also connect with your target audience on a more personal level to improve brand recognition. 

One great feature of Twitter is Twitter Search which allows you to search and see what others may be saying about your business. You can then reply to these and continue building new relationships. This is something that very few other marketing methods can allow you to do.  

How Can Twitter Help Your Business?

If you follow the right people on Twitter and manage to build up your followers then it can be a great form of marketing. If you make sure to Tweet on a daily basis and structure your Tweets well you will soon gain peoples attention. You can even track your results to see what kind of Tweets work the best. It is important to always include useful information and resources as well as asking plenty of questions to get people to interact with you. After all, how often do you get the opportunity to get your name noticed by big names! It could even lead to having real conversations with people who may have an interest in what it is you do.

Make sure that you stay on top of Twitter and post informative links as well as topics for conversation regularly. You should also try and respond to Tweets to keep the interaction alive. 

Twitter is also a fantastic way to get new traffic to your site and for generating leads. It can help you build new relationships with important people as well as help you to expand your contact base. 

Twitter Applications

If you do decide to use Twitter there are a number of applications available that could really help you out. These include TwitterFox for users of Firefox to view Tweets on thier web browser, TweetLater for scheduling Tweets and the Tweetosphere allowing you to track topics.

If you already use Twitter and other social networking sites such as Facebook then Ping.fm will allow you to update all these sites in one go.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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How to Use Google AdWords to Increase Traffic to your Site, Explained!

2/10/2010

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If you have been looking into using Google AdWords then you may wonder how best to approach it. This short article will give you a few key ideas to help you get more traffic to your site!

What is a Quality Score?

You may have seen the term quality score around but what is it actually based on? Well no one actually knows the exact areas used to ascertain this score but there are a few areas that play a key role. These include the match between your keyword and your ad, keyword performance, the amount and quality of keyword related content on your page and website and how much time visitors spend at your website. 

Keywords

Selecting the keywords to use is an area that requires a lot of thought. You will need to decide whether you should choose one single keyword or a keyword phrase. The keywords you choose will depend on what your site is about. Try carrying out some free keyword research first using google.com/key words or freekeywords.wordtracker.com to make sure you choose the best keywords possible.

Some keywords can be expensive so you will need to decide if you can recoup this later. It may be worth considering if you can get some of the top bidders to become associates of your site as well as perhaps offering competitors who can send traffic your way something back or buying exit traffic from other sites.

Checking your Ads

Once you have placed your ads you will of course want to know how they are doing. One option is to use Google's Traffic Estimator but this is not always the best way. You may find that your ads rank better by simply placing sensible bids and then checking back to see the average positions of your keywords. If you find they have not been working very well then you can change them as you see fit. It is important to be aware that Google tends to tell you your average position so your ads may in fact be ranking very highly in one area and not so great it others.

Lastly it is important to be aware that Google can disapprove ads if you do not meet with their editorial guidelines or if you violate their policies.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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How To Make a Lot of Money Using Very Few Words

12/2/2009

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If you are looking for a way to promote your UK home business for free you would be a twit to ignore Twitter!

Twitter is a relatively new social networking site and one which often causes some confusion. However for those in the know it can provide you with a great way of networking and also promoting your UK home business. It allows you to provide information on what it is you do, what products or services you have to offer and any promotions or special discounts that are available.

Tweeting?

If you are new to twitter you may find some of the terms slightly confusing at first. A ‘tweet’ is essentially text written by the owner of the account with a maximum total of 140 characters. This is then displayed on your profile. By creating these tweets anyone who follows your status updates will be informed of any promotion for your business and can reply if they feel necessary. This provides a great source of advertising for your business.

Choosing your target audience

It is important that you make sure that you select your target audience or ‘followers’ carefully and choose only those who may be interested in what your business has to offer. There is no point in spending time and effort promoting yourself to someone who has little interest or need for your UK home business. Once you have built up a list of followers you should do your best to interact with them on their posts and build up a relationship. In this way they will become familiar with you and your reputation will hopefully increase.

Do not spam

As with any form of business promotion it is important to respect your client base and avoid spamming them. This will only lead to alienating your potential customers and they are then unlikely to use your business or mention you to friends or family. You should therefore make sure that you do not over ‘tweet’ and that you mix up your posts a little to avoid it sounding like constant promotion. After all, Twitter is essentially a fun social networking site.

Remember to keep all of your ‘tweets’ professional and informative as you only have a limited number of characters with which to promote your UK home business. Include keywords and links and perhaps from time to time offer discounts especially for your followers so that they can see that you value their friendship and business. Overall you should treat Twitter as any other type of business promotion and make sure that you take your time to do your research and build up business contacts slowly and carefully.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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Do You Know Where To Find Your Customers Online? Read This and Find Out.

12/2/2009

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When you are looking for ways to promote your business online it’s important to know where to find your potential customers. In most cases there will be an online chat forum dedicated in your particular subject and these forums can be a fantastic way of promoting what you have to offer.

Using online forums to promote a business may not be an area that you have considered, but it should be. Forums can provide you with the perfect platform to gain ideas, subtly carry out some market research as well as for promoting your UK home business. Not only is this free but it also saves you a lot of effort and allows you to speak to and interact with potential customers.

Research is important

However this does not mean that this type of promotion is completely quick and easy. It will require you to do some prior research to find forums that are relevant to your business and also for you to slowly become a part of the community. Trying to find larger forums that are very active and have a number of members is a great way to ensure you have a wider audience.

It is important to remember that forums are not specifically designed as a way for people to promote their business and by doing this you can quickly alienate yourself. You may find that some forums have a marketplace or trading area but even so you are not advised to just jump straight in and promote your business. More often then not many forums will have rules preventing you from spamming or promoting your business so tread carefully.

Interact with members

In order to get the most out of the forum you should interact with other members, post on threads and become better known and trusted before you mention your UK home business. In this way you can build up a good, solid reputation with other members and you are more likely to be listened too and gain more custom. Often those who just join up to a forum and make no effort to contribute will be ignored.

Making sure that you spend some time on the forum will not only allow you to become a genuine member but will also allow you to ask questions and be given useful answers that could benefit you in the long run.

Using signatures

One of the great features of forums is that the majority will allow you to have a signature of some sort which will automatically show up every time you make a post. This can consist of words, links or pictures and could be a very useful way of linking to your business without having to mention it straight out. However you should make sure that it is not too long or too fussy and does not make it seem like the reason you joined was purely for promotion.

Overall forums can make a really great free addition to promoting your UK home business. Just make sure that you abide by any rules of the forum, slowly build up trust and respect and do not over promote.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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Did you know That Facebook Can Be a Fantastic Way To Promote Your Business?

12/2/2009

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Facebook is perhaps one of the biggest social networking sites around at the moment and as such can provide you with a great way to promote your UK home business. It provides you with a way of building up a contact base and keeping people informed of everything you are doing. If you are unfamiliar with Facebook it may take a little time for you to get to grips with it but is worth the effort. All that is required is some time invested on your part.

Using Facebook Groups

Facebook has an ever increasing number of groups and these can provide you with access to like minded people who are likely to be interested in your business and what you have to offer. The main way in which people use Facebook is by setting up a group page for your UK home business. This will then give you a platform in which to explain what it is you do. You can then choose to add existing friends and contacts or ask them to invite anyone they feel may be interested. Facebook also allows you to look for similar groups and invite members to join yours from there.

One of the advantages that Facebook has over twitter is that you can directly email members of your group. It is however wise to remember that you must keep this professional at all times and do not send too many emails as you may end up alienating people.

Status Updates

Another way of keeping in your contacts up to date with everything you are doing is via your status updates. This enables you to post updates and information for all of your contacts to see and can be a great way to get them to engage with you by commenting on your status updates.

Those that do respond in this way are often interested in your business and you could then think about providing subtle links to your site or your products or services. You may also like to run special promotions or discounts for members of your group to make them feel that you value their business.

It is important to remember that Facebook does not offer a quick way of promoting your UK home business and it can take much time and effort in order to build up a suitable contact base. You should never under any circumstances spam your contact list as this could well be detrimental to the overall perception and success of your business.

Click here to receive FREE online marketing advice and tips to help you run a profitable home business.
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