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Localized methods for Maryland
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Internet marketing tips for Discovery Toys in Maryland
By ArticleArticle911.com
For updates visit the Discovery Toys Tips Blog
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Are you earning moola on the web?
You're doing business in Maryland or maybe Maryland is the state you reside. You're promoting a product or service and you wish to market it to customers who live in Maryland and various other locations too. You've read that internet surfers are spending money head over heels every day shopping online and you're determined to figure out how you can get your share of the pie.
True Statement #1
People do make good money on the web, but it's most likely not you.
True Statement #2
Business owners that do make the money, are not necessarily brighter than you.
True Statement #3
What separates those that make money and those that go broke has more to do with common sense approaches than graduate course degrees. The difference in the 'haves' and 'have-nots' is not measured by any number of college degrees, but rather by the application of a few common sense strategies.
Are you a person like any of the following?
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A person involved with Discovery Toys
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An individual reselling someone else's products or services?
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A small business, with your own products or services?
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An affiliate, linking to other sites to collect commissions on
customers you refer?
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A network marketer, distributor, or direct sales professional
marketing products or services of your 'parent' company?
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Someone with a garage full of 'stuff' you want to get rid of?
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A website owner living in Maryland
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Or an individual thinking about doing one of the items listed
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If you are any of the above types, this article is for you. You are about to discover exactly what to do this year to help guarantee that next year your business, website or blog is more profitable.
Internet marketing tips and methods for Discovery Toys...
If you wanted to clarify 'what' the Internet is, you could make a strong case for the argument:
The web is a place to find things
Listen closely to what many people say when they're talking about the net:
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"Look what I found online yesterday..."
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"I'll check MapQuest to find directions..."
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"Do a Google, and get back to me with on what comes up..."
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"Yes, I compared 4 like items and found the best buy online at..."
Everybody's looking, finding, or searching for something. Everybody. So, it's your business to help them find you. It's a little more effort, but it's not nearly as hard as you would likely expect. Give yourself about one hour to explore in detail each strategy listed below. After you understand the basics, you might wish to pace your efforts so that once week you tackle one approach until you have each one working.
STRATEGY #1
Blogs have become a required part of any well planned marketing strategy. Bottom line, get one. A blog is nothing more than a platform for you to rattle on about what you're involved in... perhaps topics related to your business or web site, your profession, or the benefits and testimonials surrounding your products and services.
Promote your business locally by focusing on how this all relates to Maryland or the benefits people from Maryland might experience.
The reason a blog is a must for your online campaign strategy is because it gives you an instant presence on the internet to provide news and information about the activities you are doing. Your blog should link to your various other web pages and sites. Blogs are "search engine" friendly and much more likely to get listed in Google, MSN search, Yahoo etc than your website.
Invest a little quality time setting up a 'profile page' on your blog (or connected to your blog) that tells visitors a little about you and your website. Also remember to link to this profile page from your various other web site pages.
Post short but frequent messages every week (more often if possible). Keep it lively, interesting, and topical but above all don't hype and don't publish sales pitches.
Need advice? Here are links to a few premier blogs that offer top notch services. Some are hosted others you can host.
STRATEGY #2
Invest a little time reading about "folksonomy" or "tags" and how they can benefit your online marketing promotion. A good place to spend time at is Technorati http://www.technorati.com/help/tags.html
Once you understand the basics of how tags interact with your site, start using them on your blog and in comments you post to other blogs. Open a free photo sharing account at Flickr http://flickr.com/ to upload photos with descriptive titles and stories related to your business, Discovery Toys, or your products and services. Don't forget your tags!
Open a FURL http://furl.net/ account to save and share bookmarks or favorites linked to all your important web pages. Again, add well worded descriptions and associate proper tags to every bookmarked page.
Never stop linking... return to your other site pages, your blog, and your profile page and add links to your Flickr and FURL pages.
STRATEGY #3
Start an opt-in e-mail list and/or give visitors the invitation to subscribe to your RSS or XML feed.
Most online business owners have unfortunately found out few people purchase anything on that first visit. How often has anyone ordered or even emailed you from your site? It takes a bit more "schmoozing" to get past first base, so to speak.
Here's what researchers have learned about who's most likely to buy products or services on the Internet:
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91% of opt-in subscribers are more likely to buy... (Source: eMarketer Inc)
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94% of US adults who have subscribed to a permission based (opt-in) email have made a purchase from the retailer... (Source: eMarketer Inc)
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40% of adults with net access, subscribe to or have received opt-in e-mail in the past three months... (Source: Bigfoot Interactive)
What's the bottom line here? No matter how much traffic you drive to your web pages or blog, if you do not provide visitors a motivating reason to sign-up for a newsletter, you will likely hamper your opportunity to make sales by over 90%. Add a subscription box to every page that you plan to direct internet traffic to. Do not list any web page on a search engine, business card, or other promotion if that page does not have a way for visitors to join your list.
Internet marketing tips Bonus Idea: Many website owners now offer XML or RSS feeds as an alternative to newsletter subscriptions (not necessarily a replacement). Explore options to offer XML or RSS feeds to your web site visitors. Email as a marketing vehicle has lost some of its penetration and profitability in recent years. Users are confused about what is quality content in their inbox and what is SPAM and unsolicited advertisements. XML or RSS feeds are not nearly as technical as they sound and are worth looking into.
STRATEGY #4
A search engine marketing campaign will generate more website traffic at a lower investment than any other form of website marketing. Without question. Yet the overwhelming majority of website owners ignore this path to a continuous flow of highly targeted visitors.
Consider these statistics.
Jupiter-MetaMetrix statistics show that search engine usage is expanding at double-digit rates. Marketing Sherpa studies report that website owners who implement search engine marketing campaigns realize a 24% - 500% greater revenue.
A Georgia Tech study shows that 85% of its participants discovered websites through search engines and were searching with the intent to make a purchase.
And... eMarketer research showed that over the past year, search engine marketing has grown tremendously. Growing up to 125% in last year alone -- (US statistics). Paid search accounts for over 30% of total online ad investing.
All these millions are being spent by small businesses, large businesses and people just like you. It's called PAY-PER-CLICK ( PPC or COST-PER-CLICK ) and it allows you maximum control over your search engine listings. No more optimizing, waiting and praying only to end up as listing number 5405 on page 417 under the keyword phrase "why bother" because that's where some search engine employee (or worse yet, some robot) thought you belonged.
Pay Per Click places you behind the mix-master where you can whip-up well worded PPC ads (called listings) with spiffy headlines (called titles), interesting descriptions (10 to 20 words or so) and bake up perfect matches between keywords and keyword phrases. YOU chose and the destination or landing pages you want to link search customers to.
With pay-per-click, site owners decide how high in the rankings (or search results page) they want to appear by bidding penny by penny for the top spots. Keywords popular among web site owners cost more while other more diligent site owners find less expensive keyword niches that may bring equally good results for much lower per-click bid rates.
The unique advantage in PPC advertising is that you can bid on dozens or hundreds of keywords connected to your products, services, business or affiliate offer while never spending a penny until someone CLICKS your listing. Add to this the fact that some keyword listings in some PPCs can start as low as 1 cent a click.
There are many expert websites and eBooks with recommendations about setting up a PPC marketing campaign. Many charge you upwards of $100 (be careful), but the best we've found is free and is available to anyone joining this internet marketing newsletter.
We recommend the following newsletter
(All list members get a free search engine tips PDF)
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine and Marketing Ideas
Here are a few expert search engine tips and keyword discovery ideas to get you started:
- On the subject of ad copy (the words which will comprise your numerous different listing titles and descriptions) we can sum it up briefly: RELATE your listing to the keyword the searcher has typed, SPARK curiosity in their minds to encourage a visit, be TRUTHFUL, be BRIEF, be CLEAR, don't HYPE, and FILTER out bad clicks.
- FILTER OUT BAD CLICKS? Yes, if your product is NOT for certain searchers, be clear upfront before they click. Example: If you bid on the keyword 'herbal shampoo' because your product is an herbal dog shampoo, make sure your ad copy reads: for dogs, pets, or animals. If you only fulfill orders in Canada, state this upfront in your listing ad copy. There is no need to pay for a visitor click if you cannot service a particular customer's needs. Use words to filter out bad clicks.
- There are many good resources to help you with ad copy, writing, and knowing what to say about your product. We recommend the eBook by Kim Klaver, "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It". Click here for a complimentary 'Mini-edition' of this eBook.
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The Maryland Marketing Strategy
Go local. Yes, entrepreneurs from Maryland search for stuff to buy using "Maryland" as their keyword. That means you must include search ads targeting Maryland and bid on keyword phrases which have your state: Maryland.
Ad Calculator A straightforward and easy-to-use tool, but incredibly powerful in the hands of the serious Internet marketer. Ad Calculator calculates the maximum you should pay per click, or per thousand impressions ("CPM"), for any of your advertising campaigns. (Exclusive Product) |
Click/Counter Tracker PHP Script A simple but powerful script that allows you to track how many clicks each of your ads receives as well as the number of visitors to your web pages. (Exclusive Product) |
Image Protection Rocket Image Protection Rocket can stop people copying your images, prevents right-click in user's web browsers, and also offers a premier bandwidth protection ("anti leech"). (Exclusive Product) |
CBRocket PHP Script Allow visitors to search ClickBank from your site. Display the latest ClickBank products (download *ALL* the latest data with the click of a mouse button). Show targeted ads on your web pages, and more! (Exclusive Product) |
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The secret to success with any pay-per-click marketing campaign is preparation and consistency. Do your homework at the start to find less expensive keywords to bid on, compose a quality title and description for your search listing and stick with it for at least 8 months as you learn the methods. Set a consistent budget that you are comfortable with (perhaps $77 a month) and consider that your investment in the search engine school of hard knocks. After you graduate, you'll begin to see results. It's an education worth the time, money and commitment.
STRATEGY #5
Don't start any other techniques until you have the techniques outlined in this article implemented. However, you should invest in yourself by reading articles and eBooks on internet marketing.
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ArticleArticle911.com source:
Article researched by ArticleArticle911.com staff and contributors.
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© Copyright 2005 by
ArticleArticle911.com
or article author
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