B2B Marketing & Lead Generation predictions for 2011!

Lead generation is an intrinsic part of each B2B organization, without this activity it is not possible to keep a business up and running. 2010 saw several interesting trends in the space of B2b online Marketing and Lead generation.

According to a current eMarketer report, in 2010 marketers put more money into online advertising than newspapers, with online marketing budgets touching a whooping $26 billion.

The year also saw, B2B marketers taking to social media with a vengeance, according to a study by Biz Report, 86% of B2B firms today are using social media, compared to 82% of B2C outfits. This is in line with Outsell’s ‘Annual Advertising and Marketing Study 2010′, where it stated that B2B Marketing spending on social networking sites would increase 43.3% in 2010.

Insurance Claim Industry-2011 Online Marketing Specials

All marketing services emphasize search engine optimization features to help clients' with organic search results. From Google video ads and directory listings, to website development and full page search engine optimized ads, Insurance Claim Contractor is dedicated to providing their customers with the best bang for their buck!

The use of the internet continues to be recognized as a primary source of searching for services and provides tremendous opportunity for growing a business, therefore Insurance Claim Contractor Group is committed to assisting their customers develop a solid online presence in their local area and profit from the claims industry’s most innovative resources.

Insurance Claim Contractor Group offers EVERYTHING insurance claim professionals need to advertise their business and services. ICC offers “one-stop shopping” for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising by utilizing cutting-edge search engine optimization features. Insurance Claim Contractor Group work effortlessly to drive local traffic to customers seeking insurance claim services.

Localisation and Good Copywriting Keys to Online Marketing in 2011

One online marketing expert has made his predictions for the major areas of interest in the sector set to dominate the New Year.

Hit Search founder Andrew Redfern said that copywriting skills will become “more important than ever” in 2011 as quality of content starts to be the decider in many online advertising campaigns.

He said that marketing teams will have to raise the bar when it comes to their knowledge skills, as they respond to the increasingly fragmented nature of the online marketing arena.

A third area in which online marketing is due to develop is in terms of planning, he went on. The new ability on search engines such as Google to carry out localised searches and focus on cross-platform resources, ­­­means that online advertising campaigns will need to be better integrated over the next 12 months if they are to be successful.

Google Adwords and Adsense, Marketing Assistance for Online Business

Google Adwords and Adsense are two of the services that Google offers to businesses both offline and online. Their inclusion in any marketing campaign can generate a lot of revenue for very little investment. Even if you own a small business in a small community, you can still become global using Google Adwords and Adsense.

This is a service that allows a member (anyone can sign up), to advertise on websites across the internet. You can use as much money as you like, setup your marketing campaign based on a budget, days you want it to run and even how much you want to spend on each click that you get. PPC, or pay per click is how advertisers get websites to display their ads, they pay the websites, through Google and Google Adwords.

Online marketing budgets near $26 billion in 2010

According to a latest report from eMarketer, internet advertising expenditures reached nearly $26 billion in 2010, further highlighting the importance of B2B online marketing.

For the first time, internet-based channels have exceeded spend devoted to traditional newspaper marketing. The source reports that online marketing expenditures hit $25.8 billion during 2010, while newspaper budgets shrank to $25.7 billion. This is a tremendous difference from previous year, when companies spent nearly $5 billion more on newspapers ($27.6 billion) than the web ($22.7 billion.)

The gap between the two formats is only expected to develop. The source predicts that in 2011, online marketing spend will reach $28.5 billion, while newspapers will trail by nearly $4 billion at $24.6 billion.

Online Business Booming This Holiday Season

Is it a sign of an improving saving or just better marketing? There are plenty of theories, but one apparent fact, online retailers are booming this holiday period compared to previous year. Online business is up by a whopping twelve percent over the holiday season in 2009.

The big promotion days saw some of the biggest growth. Cyber Monday was up 16%, and December 17th, which retailers this current year dubbed, Free Shipping Day," saw a 61% jump compared to that day in December a year ago.

This past week saw even more growth, about 14% compared to previous year. The people lugging the boxes are noticing.

Twitter Marketing Textbook Style

Twitter Marketing is currently available to each one with the launch of Textbook Twitter Marketing, a video course offering full tuition on the subject. With Twitter being the 11th most visited site online, more and more business owners are turning to the site on a daily basis to try and assist with their marketing efforts. But a lack of knowledge, combined with a saturation of poor quality marketing is turning many people away from an otherwise lucrative method of generating traffic.

Twitter opening a base in the UK would make 'perfect sense'

That is according to Justin Cooke, chair of the British Interactive Media Association, who said that having a base in the UK would make "just right sense" for Twitter and would help them "establish a stronghold into Europe and beyond".

Previous this week the Daily Telegraph reported that Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson released a personal plea to Twitter to create a new European HQ in the UK.

The move could see a number of businesses working closely with Twitter, helping them to develop their online marketing campaigns.

Mr Cooke added that a move to the UK by the micro blogging site could also help make a more technology-educated nation.

Small Businesses Using Online Tools For Marketing

Small businesses have been using social networking tools more than ever before, according to a latest survey by an online marketing group.

While word-of-mouth was at the top of the list, with 90.6 percent of people saying that the form was very main, online tools were found to be more important than ever, according to the poll conducted by Constant Contact. Sixty-eight percent said that their site was very important, while 58.6 percent felt the same way about email marketing.

"Small businesses are also slower to adopt social media, in part because many of them lack a strong web presence to start with," wrote Debra Aho Williamson for eMarketer.

Local Online Marketing: Google Places Becomes Very Important

Everyone currently and then, like a bird pooping on your favorite shirt, something happens and you must adapt to the circumstances. The novel idea of walking under that huge tree doesn’t seem so smart anymore, you won’t leave banana peels on the floor if you slip and drop, and you’ll stop ignoring Google Places when you realize how main the platform truly is.

When it comes to online marketing, companies that rely on local clients absolutely must have a Google Places account. I suggest going for the win and signing up for the “Tags” as a way to boost exposure and raise click-throughs. Tags are fundamentally features that provide improved exposure by displaying additional information about one’s business — featured website link, coupon, live update from business owner, etc. They’re an excellent technique to stand out from the crowd.

Mobile sites may be be better than apps for online marketing services

Internet marketing services looking to take advantage of the growing numbers of mobile shoppers may find a site optimised for the platform could be better than an app, one expert has stated.

Econsultancy's senior reporter Graham Charlton said that, while recognised brands could appeal to an existing consumer base with apps, the same may not be true for less established names.

Companies that rely on customers finding their services through search engines may attract more customers if they have a well-designed mobile website that can be easily used by people searching through their smartphone, he explained.

Vietnam has big potential in online marketing: Google

A representative of Google in South East Asia shared his optimistic view on Vietnam market in a seminar on export solutions and online marketing on Wednesday, citing the increasing number of Internet user in the country.

Ghislain Le Chatelier told the seminar “Export Solutions and Online Marketing Applications for enterprises” that he saw big potential in the market where internet users are growing rapidly to around 26 million internet users currently.

The head of Online Sales and Operations for South East Asia of Google said that e-commerce that is growing fast in Vietnam will also support the online marketing and advertising.

“I’m very optimistic with the trends that more and more people are going to do their exports online,” he said the seminar held by the Emerald Consulting in HCMC on Wednesday.

SEO is the 'shop window' for online marketing

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the "shop window" for engaging customers online and its value for businesses cannot be underestimated.

That is according to Gemma Greaves, marketing director at The Marketing Society, who added that SEO has become a "key tactic" in online marketing strategies now.

Zenith Optimedia's forecast previous this week that online advertising expenditure is set to grow three times quicker than the whole advertising market over the next three years.

Online ad revenues continue growth in 2010

Firms are seeing greater revenue from their B2B online marketing initiatives, according to a current report from eMarketer, highlighting the importance of internet-based communication channels to brands.

Internet ad revenue exploded during 2010, with eMarketer predicting a 13.9 percent growth over the last year. The firm anticipates this trend will continue, with online marketing expenditures increasing by double digits for the next four years and surpassing $40 billion by 2014.

Online marketing

Marketing as we have always known it is slowly coming to an end. When you think of the word marketing you are probably thinking about costly newspaper and magazine ads, billboards, radio, television and the works. Although these marketing tools can still be very successful, you might just want to begin opening yourself up to the online world. Millions of people search the internet daily for businesses or merely just socialising with friends and family. The fact of the matter is that if you do not have an online presence, people might be missing your product and as every generation becomes more technologically inclined online marketing is the way to go.

There are quite a few different ways of online marketing. One of the most popular trends these days are to use social networking portals like Facebook and Twitter to get to the literally millions of daily users. By being active on these social networks you will always be "top of mind" when these people, friends and family come to that inevitable moment in their lives where they either require your service or know someone else who could benefit it.

Massive Passive Profits for Effortless Internet Marketing

Massive Passive Profit brings trust for those who are already desperate to earn money from their online marketing efforts. As well as for those you want to enter the marketing world even without internet marketing knowledge and for those who have been trying different internet marketing techniques but still end up with negative results.

How can this be possible? Bill McRea and Mike Williams designed the Massive Passive Profit Software to automate the processes in internet marketing. Both creators of the software claim the application to be an autopilot as it builds a site with necessary themes and plug-ins, builds the content, builds up links and sets up the monetization system to monitor earnings from the website.

Then what should the website owner do? Just let the software do the task while waiting for the cash to flow. This is where the term passive profit rooted. You are passive as a marketer for you are not really doing any marketing efforts and yet, you are getting overwhelming traffic to your site bringing in more profits than you can imagine.

Email, Social Media Level Playing Field For SMBs

If social media is online marketing's present marquee star, email is its veteran performer: It may not generate the headlines, but it dutifully shows up for work every day. The tactic has often appealed to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) because of its relatively low expenses (compared with, say, print or TV) and scalability.

Email can be an valuable, cost-efficient way to reach an audience of 5,000 or 5 million, depending on the budget and the business, while a full-page ad in USA Today is, well, a complete page ad in USA Today -- a very visible pulpit, if you can afford it, but one less likely to suit resource-constrained SMBs or their particular markets.

FTC proposes Do Not Track tool for Web marketing

Federal regulators are proposing to create a "Do Not Track" tool for the Internet so that people could avoid marketers from tracking their Web browsing habits and other online activities in order to target advertising.

The proposal, inspired by the government's existing "Do Not Call" registry for telemarketers, is one of a series of recommendations outlined in a privacy statement released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission. The report lays out a broad framework for protecting consumer privacy both online and offline as personal data collection becomes ubiquitous — often without consumer knowledge.

The FTC trust the report will help guide the marketing industry as it develops self-regulatory principles to define acceptable corporate behavior and inform lawmakers and other policymakers as they draft new rules of the road to protect privacy. The FTC has limited authority to write those rules itself, so new regulations would likely need congressional action.

Protecting consumer privacy, the agency says, is critical as marketers — mainly online marketers — are analyzing the websites consumers visit, the online links they click, Internet searches, online and offline purchases, the physical locations of mobile phones and other wireless devices and all sorts of personal information disclosed on social networking sites.

One in ten to access online marketing services via mobile

One in ten consumers in the UK will use their cell phone device to make Christmas purchases this year, according to a new survey.

Econsultancy reports the figures, complied by Tesco, reveal a third of people take advantage of their smartphones as it allows them to fit shopping into busy schedules and offers reduced pressure levels.

The study also showed it is not just those on the move who may be considering this method of shopping, as half of respondents stated they used their phone while watching TV, with one in four accessing online services during their commute to and from work.

A similar trend has been seen in the US, where a current report by the Mobile Marketing Association found 59 per cent of people in the country are planning to use their mobile for internet shopping, with 13 per cent paying for gifts through their device.

Online Spending Up on Turkey Day and Black Friday

It appears as if turkey isn’t the only thing consumed on Thanksgiving Day as the online purchase number reported by comScore shows a 28% raise in online commerce for the holiday.

That raise was also reported for the Black Friday online event. We await, of course, data from CyberMonday but until it actually happens we’ll refrain from giving numbers

As has been the case for the past few years, year over year numbers need to be considered in the context of what the before year has been like. We are still slogging through the worst recession in a long time (oh wait that’s right, the recession is over according to Washington’s latest Fantasy Economist League report). As a result, when you see big increases year over year it’s not always a sign of huge growth. It’s more like a sign of the hope of recovery.

So however you look at it, it is improvement. Also an improvement is the apparent shift from concentrating so much on one day (Black Friday) and seeing how offline sales for the holiday weekend were up. Whenever we get too myopic and concentrate on one thing too much we tend to create bad assumptions which will be followed by bad decisions. That’s bad policy.

Email marketing in the time of social media

Ironically, the increase of social networking sites and social media have caused email volumes to soar rather than decline. What’s more, industry research shows that many internet users check their email before they do anything else when they wake up in the morning.

In a current study release by the US Direct Marketing Association, it was shown that email delivers the best ROI against all the other online marketing options, including social media.

The fact is that email still plays a central role in most users’ online lives, but marketers have not yet caught up to how much its role has changed in the past five years. There are higher email volumes than ever before, which means that content requires to be highly targeted and relevant to break through the noise.

Email is still a channel that offers enormous reach and flexibility for marketers, but we do need to use it in a more engaging and sophisticated manner if we are to create the most of its potential in a socially networked world.

Companies need to align their social media and email campaigns more closely than they have to date. For example, they should create it simpler for their customers to share email promotions via Twitter and Facebook than most do at the moment.

They also need to tap into the psychology of the active online user who likes to be first with main news or interesting special offers.

Retail Holiday Online Marketing: Has Black Friday and Cyber Monday Come Early This Year?

While it's not surprising that online holiday deals are being publicized prior to Cyber Monday, I was surprised to see advertising no longer promoting "pre-Thanksgiving sales" but instead Black Friday before Black Friday sales (giving the impression that the prices are slashed almost as much.) This year shops are opening even earlier and many are posting their Black Friday sales online Thanksgiving Eve. Will this take away from relaxing into a tryptophan induced coma on turkey day to opt for the insanity of holiday shopping online earlier than what we've seen in years past ? And how does that affect Cyber Monday?

When some may enjoy the physical exhaustion and adrenaline rush of shopping the brick and mortar stores on Black Friday, the internet has provided a portal to the similar level of price reduction minus the insanity of camping outside a store and dealing with the crowds. Cyber Monday has been designated when we will see the biggest rate cuts...but has the current serge of pre-holiday sales make Cyber Monday seem almost like any other day of discounts in the holiday shopping season? To be honest, it seems like it is beginning to blur a bit.

Online marketing services see e-commerce growth in October

Current figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group and Capgemini sale index showed internet marketing services experienced significant growth in e-commerce during October.

Shoppers in the UK spent a total of £5.2 billion on the internet during the previous month – the equivalent of £85 per person, which was an increase of 23 per cent when compared with the same period a year ago.

Chris Webster, chief of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, said the results were better than expected and reminded retailers now is a crucial time to be exploring innovative strategies and promotion to gain an edge over the competition.

"The web is consistently seen as the place to go for bargains and retailers with an online presence should utilize this to their advantage", he added.

The study comes as eMarketer forecasts sales in the US online sector are expected to reach $38.5 billion (£24.3 billion) over the festive season.

Google's online marketing services strategy includes social media

Google has stated the use of social media is a part of the company's online PR strategy, but denied it was focusing its attention on rivalling Facebook.

The Independent reports the organisation's chief financial officer Patrick Pichette told Australian television social features would be included in "many of our products".

However, he stressed search was still the firm's primary product and any social elements are "just one chapter" of the digital world, along with developments such as cloud computing and mobile services.

Mr Pichette also dismissed the plan that Facebook, which recently introduced a messaging service that has been hyped as a 'gmail killer', was becoming his organisation's main rival.

Continuing, he stated the key principle of Google was "understanding the internet is changing the world" and making money was not the company's only aim.

He added the search engine aimed to be at the heart of a "dramatically expanding" digital economy where innovation was vital.

Apple to launch online marketing services in December

Apple has announced its iAd mobile marketing method will become available to European businesses from December.

The company said the system will allow advertisers to "reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users right in their favourite apps" and offer developers a fresh source of income.

Several main advertisers in the country have signed up for the service since it was introduced to the US in July and the feature is expected to account for 21 per cent of the nation's mobile display marketing revenue.

Major European brands that have agreed to use the system include Renault, Louis Vuitton and L'Oreal.

Marc Menesguen, head of strategic marketing at the beauty product maker, stated iAd would offer online marketing services providers an "unparalleled opportunity to reach and serve the most engaged and discerning customers".

The content will be available to users with products running Apple's iOS platform, which according to a current report by Gartner was responsible for 16.7 per cent of the smartphone market in the third quarter of 2010.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.

US online marketing services worth $6.4bn in last quarter

Online marketing companies in the US saw revenues of $6.4 billion (£4 billion) in the third quarter of 2010, according to a new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The figure was the highest quarterly result ever and showed a 17 per cent increase from the same period a year ago, the organisation stated.

David Silverman, a partner at PwC, noted the statistics demonstrated an "accelerating shift in consumer behaviour towards the internet and away from traditional media".

President and chief executive officer of IAB Randall Rothenberg said companies are using internet marketing services to engage with their customers and the sector is a key contributor to the growth of the economy.

The group's current half-yearly report revealed search was the main focus of online advertising, responsible for 47 per cent of revenue, more than double the 23 per cent that was provided by display banners, the next biggest sector.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.

RVT.com Adds iPad, Facebook and Google DFP Functionality for More Powerful Online Marketing Presence

RVT.com, the leading Internet classified ad site for fresh and used RVs for sale, travel and 5th wheel trailers, motor homes and campers, has launched three new online marketing initiatives, including an iPad RV shopper magazine, a Facebook Marketplace presence and a new partnership with Google DFP (Dart for Publishers) for targeted RV ad placement by geography, category or keyword.

The new RVT.com Buy & Sell Magazine for iPad, the first of its kind, is a dynamic tablet-formatted digital magazine that allows RV shoppers to browse or search RVT.com's entire inventory of over 40,000 new and used RVs for sale from more than 430 RV dealers and thousands of private sellers.

"This dynamic magazine-style version of RVT.com puts our inventory in the hands of thousands of RVers with an interface that allows the RV Shopper to quickly and easily 'flip' through RVs for sale in his/her region," said Shawn Friesen, RVT.com marketing director. "It is the most enjoyable and convenient way to shop for RVs online, and will generate more quality leads for our RV dealer, industry and individual advertisers." The new app will be available for download from iTunes later this month.

Online marketing helps Burberry achieve 18% revenue increase

Through an “ambitious” digital campaign across several platforms, fashion house Burberry has achieved an 18% increase in their revenue for the first half of the year with digital sales rising by 50 percent.

Burberry’s investment in the wide-spread campaign has paid off, providing a rise in its gross business edge, which standards at 64.3 percent, with pre-tax profit rising to £117.7 million a 49 percent rise.

Using digital and content marketing technique, including the launch of a popular Facebook page, and the live transmission of their September runway show on the internet, Burberry has “expanded aggressively into social marketing”, reports Brand Republic. Over 650,000 Burberry devotees tuned in to watch the show, part of the three million Facebook ‘fans’.

The show was also shown to audiences across 25 flagship stores, through Burberry’s new “retail theatre” technology. Additionally, a new Burberry iPhone application allows users to make instant purchase, and a “global digital commerce platform” is currently undergoing tests, with a release due in the new few months.

The launch of a mini-website - focusing on the classic red, camel and black trench coats - has also improved Burberry’s brand reach. Sales of non-clothing products, such as accessories and bags have also seen a 26 percent growth.

Chief Executive of the brand, Angela Ahrendts is confident that the Burberry brand strategy and marketing campaign has been the key driver in their pre-tax profits: “the continued focus on the brand, ongoing investment in infrastructure…and a disciplined approach to driving growth, underpin our confidence in delivering long-term sustainable returns.”

Getting the most from your online marketing budget

SEO or search engine optimization has become the heart and soul of the Internet marketing industry and many Canadian MSPs and VARs are looking at Search Optimization as part of their overall online marketing strategy.

Each and every reseller or service supplier wants to be on the top of search engine results page (SERP). This has created a need for search engine optimizers who alter and optimize the Web sites in such a manner that they become search engine friendly and bring in traffic and revenue to the organizations.

Like any competitive field of business, SEO hasn’t escaped from the hands of crooks and ne’er-do-wells who make tall claims on search engine optimization. It is main for you to detect such frauds before you assign them an optimization job. Here are a few tips which will help you in sorting a fraud SEO service provider from a real one:

• Guaranteed Ranking: The only people who can guarantee you a ranking are search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing but the fact is none of them do SEO! Not even the top ten optimizers in the world in the world can guarantee you a ranking so never fall for such tall claims.

• Quick results: Good SEO is a time-consuming process. It takes time to organically rank a Web site high. It takes at least a month to effectively reflect growth after optimization. So stay away from catchy claims like ‘First page ranking in 15 days’. ‘Guaranteed results in 7 days.’

• Too-Good-To-Be-True Rates: ‘Quality never comes cheap.’ If you choose the wrong SEO service provider, it can be an exercise in futility costing you time and money. The Internet is a great tool to search for market-standard rates. Do not go to optimizers who quote unbelievably low rates.

• Black Hat Techniques: There are lot of unethical techniques for getting your Web site higher ranking on the Web. The down side of this is such practices might invite permanent penalty from the search engines and prove detrimental for your Web site. Make sure your optimizer doesn’t use black hat techniques for optimization.

• Secret and Proprietary: As the owner of the Web site, you are entitled to know what are the exact optimization techniques that your Web site is going through. In case any service provider denies you the information citing secrecy and proprietary information, it is advisable to stay away from them.

• Technical Brainstorming: If your SEO service provider is bombarding you with technological terms and high end techniques it is most likely that he/she is poor with the application of what business is looking for. Good optimizers seldom talk in technical language with their clients and fake optimizers might want to hide their lack of knowledge with such terminology. The old ‘dazzle them with BS’ truism comes to mind.

Successful internet marketing

I have another interesting topic to discuss with you from our Internet marketing toolbox. Today's subject is "Online Directories."

I admit that I am not as excited about online directories as I am about other online marketing tools. Seems there must be about 2,000 directories out there on the Internet right now, and it grows every day. I freshly heard one of my teachers state that 30 percent of the Internet is new all the time.

Now that is a simple statement to glance over without thinking about its importance. If 30 percent of the Internet is new all the time, that means any month you work online, another third has been added to the Internet.

Right now, it is estimated that there are about 15-20 billion websites on the World Wide Web. That's impressive, but it is nothing compared to the 30-35 billion that will exist next year.

Just the sheer numbers are staggering. With this kind of volume, how is a business owner going to compete? Fortunately, we have all the tools we need to do that.

One of these tools is Online Directories. While most people consider a directory just a good place to look for things, it is far more than that to the savvy online marketer.

Super Bowl Ads and the Evolution of Online Marketing

Do you remember Pets.com? Back in 2000, the internet company made a big splash with a clever Super Bowl ad that had pet owners rushing to the site to purchase dog food. Actually, not the second part. Like a lot of companies during the dot.com boom, the Super Bowl ad was the first and final hurrah for Pets.com.

While you won’t see the return of the dot.com dandies this Super Bowl, Advertising Age is predicting a big run on ads that are digitally and socially enhanced. Go study the article. I’ll wait.

Back? Great. Pete Blackshaw makes a reference to a POEM framework: paid media, owned media and earned media. It’s his contention, and I totally agree, that the successful brands will find a way to balance the golden POEM triangle in order to get the very most out of each ad dollar.

Let’s look at the Super Bowl. The ads have become as important as the game. They’re the only reason I watch. But in the past, even the most ingenious ads had a small shelf life. Today, that doesn’t have to be the case. That clever ad can now rest on a company’s home page or Facebook page. People can leave comments on it and share it with friends. Before the game is even over, viewers will likely be Tweeting about their favorite ads and if you’ve done your job right, they’ll mention the brand. Remember herding cats? Do you remember the company behind the ad? No one does.

With the suitable mix of TV, social and digital marketing, a single Super Bowl ad can live on through the Stanley Cup finals and beyond. As Blackshaw says, “Google never forgets.” Just like I was reminded of Pets.com and EDS (the herding cats people) when I looked up the history of Super Bowl ads. Once it’s out there on the net, it’s there to stay.

Top 4 Free Online Marketing Tools for Holiday Success

1. Update your website with holiday specific products and services.

You have made the effort to customize your product offerings for the holiday period, but have you added them to your website? As simple as it sounds, make sure you have added holiday product and service information to online spaces, including websites, social media pages and business directory profiles. This step is often overlooked but is incredibly valuable to making sites appear more frequently in searches for seasonal gifts and services.

2. Add seasonally relevant keywords to website content.

At this time of year, consumers are web searching for particular gifts and products. Modifying or adding seasonal keywords to content listings increases the chance that online shoppers looking for something specific will find you.

3. Update online listings EARLY.

It may appear like the holidays are still weeks away, but NOW is the best time to make these online updates. Making changes by early November allows sufficient time for search engines to index and rank new content. Updating information well in advance of the holiday season will help ensure products and services are more easily found throughout the busy shopping season.

4. Take advantage of FREE, online business directories.

Your website is your online home, but why not keep your business on the competitive edge by listing it on an online directory, especially if the listing is free? Online directories offer smart marketing tools that help businesses distinguish themselves – including search engine optimization, customized tagging and categorization. You have the opportunity to include your business’ information, images of products and services, maps, and other relevant information to connect to local customers.

Whether your website’s function is to allow clients to complete online transactions or to entice customers to visit your store, an increase in online traffic drives business. Making seasonal updates, adding relevant keywords and taking part in online directories are easy and effective ways to boost online traffic, and make the most of the busy holiday shopping season.

SEO Expert Waseem Saddique Helps Boost Online Marketing

Weseem Saddique is offering his marketing expertise to help online businesses succeed through Search Engine Optimisation.

Search engine optimisation, often referred to as SEO, is an online marketing technique where keywords are optimised in the copy of a website so that it ranks highly in a search engine.

When launching your own online business there are many important factors to take into consideration, but SEO does not always seem to appear to be one of them, Mr Saddique understands that a successful SEO campaign can make a huge difference to your chances of success.

Marketing Guru, Waseem Saddique can make any business shine through SEO. "Search Engine Optimisation is important because it can help your website communicate with your target audience".

Waseem uses different SEO techniques to give a website exposure and gain attention for your business by directing relevant traffic to your website and gain trust.

A website is the most powerful sales technique but if it doesn't rank highly in search engines, it won't get anywhere. Waseem's extensive knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click management systems, allow him to take total control of a company's online marketing campaign to ensure that their website has high visibility on search engines and attract more qualified visitors.

"I can take control and produce powerful marketing campaigns to accelerate traffic to a website. SEO is a major investment for any online business, it produces results that last". If SEO isn't considered at the development stage then major changes will need to be made to the copy, however if your website is developed with SEO in mind, they will be optimised effectively, preventing the need for major changes in the future.

Balancing SEO with online marketing content

Online retailers require to balance marketing elements with proper search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

This pertains to online consumer behavior. Browsers generally click the top ranking sites for their desired queries. Once they’ve been redirected to the link, they get little time to read the text. In fact, when they see lengthy text blocks, their first instinct is to hit back.

This is where the balance comes in handy. Good SEO will get you to the top of the rankings. But, if the site relied on huge blocks of text to get there, then it probably won’t convert into a sale.

The key here is to be more visual than textual. Craft a page design that’s appealing to the eye with minimal—but compelling—amounts of ad copy.

Of course, none of this is full-proof. You have to study your goal market’s behavior to develop the best internet marketing strategy for your business. Try it out!

Online marketing CEO sells for loss

Online brand marketing company CEO Christian Lassonde and his wife, Jennifer, sold a four-bedroom, 3.5-bath home in Tiburon to Jeffrey W. Messina and Cynthia Messina for $4.4 million on Sept. 3.

The Lassondes bought the home for $4.8 million in March 2008.

The 4,335-square-foot brick home was built in 1997 and combines Colonial and Georgian styles.

It comes with hardwood flooring, a recently renovated kitchen with Italian granite countertops and a master bedroom with a fireplace. The home also features views of Mount Tamalpais and the bay.

Christian Lassonde is the president and CEO of Millions of Us, a Sausalito company that markets brands through virtual worlds, multiplayer online games and social media.

He's previously worked as a program manager at Linden Lab, as well as a network programmer at LucasArts.

Jennifer Lassonde is the director of human resources at Millions of Us.

Small, Midsized Businesses to Increase Online Marketing Budgets in 2011

Marketing budgets are set to rise, according to a current survey of more than 750 small to midsized business (SMB) respondents. Key factors prompting marketing budget growth in 2011 are increased expectation of the position and impact of social media and the realized return on investment in e-mail marketing efforts.

The survey, fielded by Zoomerang, a leading online survey and polling tool, and GrowBiz Media, a SMB content provider and consultant, offers an understanding of how companies with fewer than 1,000 employees preparation to allocate 2011 budgets.

Heading into 2011, most SMBs plan to raise their marketing spend in both online and print mediums, with online activities receiving the largest increases. Among the marketing initiatives expected to increase the most are e-mail, website and social media marketing.

"It is remarkable to see the fresh ways that small and midsized businesses are adapting different technologies to make the most effective and creative use of their budgets," said Alex Terry, General Manager of Zoomerang. "More small to midsized companies are incorporating social media practices into their business improvement strategies. As a result, this area of marketing is poised to see an incredible uptick in the next year."

Among the more than 750 businesses surveyed, 34 percent indicated that they presently use social media in their marketing efforts. Of those using social media, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were the most common channels chosen, used by 80 percent, 37 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

"Once again small and midsized business owners have shown their willingness to embrace new thoughts and marketing methods," said Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media. "It's also encouraging that these business owners are planning to increase their 2011 marketing budgets, which will hopefully lead to an overall economic boost in the country."

For more detail on the survey and its results, visit www.zoomerang.com/smb-marketing-practices-survey-2010 to view the report in its entirety.

About Zoomerang

Zoomerang was introduced by MarketTools in 1999 as the world's initial Web-based survey tool. Zoomerang surveys and polls are fast, easy-to-use and powerful. Millions of individuals and thousands of businesses, non-profits and educational institutions trust Zoomerang to help them make more informed decisions with least cost and effort. Zoomerang provides customizable survey templates for the most common questions including customer satisfaction, meeting feedback, product feedback, event planning, online voting and hundreds more. Zoomerang customers can take advantage of Zoomerang Sample, a panel of more than 2.5 million consumers ready to take surveys, and professional services including expert survey design and survey programming. For more information, visit www.zoomerang.com.

About GrowBiz Media

Content and consulting company GrowBiz Media helps marketers, media companies, government agencies and other organizations effectively reach the small and midsized business audience. Rieva Lesonsky, founder and CEO of GrowBiz Media, was formerly the editorial director of Entrepreneur magazine and has been part of the world of entrepreneurs for nearly 30 years. GrowBiz Media's blog, www.SmallBizDaily.com, provides resources, inspiration and information to help entrepreneurs begin and grow their companies. For more information, visit www.growbizmedia.com.

Website marketing and sales opportunities 'to soar'

Sales lead generation opportunities will continue to grow quickly across online platforms in the coming years, new research suggests.

Find out more about websites

A report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) notes that the UK's internet economy is now worth £100 billion, or 7.2 per cent of the UK's GDP last year.

It also showed that for every £1 of e-commerce goods and service imported, the country exports £2.80.

BCG commented: "The report finds that this share is likely to grow by about ten per cent annually, reaching ten per cent of GDP by 2015."

In addition, the group found that internet firms now employ around 250,000 of the people currently working in the UK.

The news comes after recent figures from comScore showed that the UK is second only to the Netherlands in terms of European nations that make most use of the internet.

It was found that in the UK, the average website visits per visitor score was 71.3 for September 2010.

Online Marketing for Beginners

While everyone is tightening their belts due to the crisis in the economy, many have turned to online marketing. With millions and millions of people using the internet, any type of online business would certainly have its fair share of potential customers.

Doing business in the world wide web may charge you less as compared to putting up a real or physical business, gives you the convenience of working at home and could well cut your normal working hours each day.

Here are some things to consider when opening an online business:

Brainstorming

This is the initial step and could very well be the key factor in your success. Look for a good digital product to promote, easy to sell and has lots of potential clients such as ebooks and computer softwares.

Marketing Strategy

Develop a marketing plan and strategy to be used for your campaign. Determine the demographics such as age, gender and location of persons that are most likely to purchase your product. This will help you target your customers and in doing so, could save you a lot of time and money.

Promotion and Implementation

There are a lot of free tools and platforms that can be used to promote digital products or your website itself. Try using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace to advertise your products. This way, you are able to use a free service and reach out to a wide range of potential customers. You may also consider making use of optimization service providers to help you market your products. Though it may cost you some cash, it could save you time and effort.

With problems in the economy, everyone is trying to look for a good business to earn money. The key to success is utilizing all the resources available and make good use of it. The internet has been a great tool not only for communication but also for business as well.

Google traffic figures good for online marketing services

Businesses using Google's range of internet marketing services should be interested to learn the search giant has increased its traffic share to 6.4 per cent of all internet utilize.

The record figures, complied by online security firm Arbor Networks, include records for the company's search engine, as well as statistics for its other areas such as YouTube.

Craig Labovitz, who conducted the research for Arbor, said even with overall internet usage rising by 40 to 45 per cent a year, Google's share was still impressive.

"While its not news that Google is big, what is amazing is how much bigger [it] continues to get," he said.

The numbers may be further fine news for the search engine's advertisers and investors, coming shortly after the organisation announced increased profits for the third quarter of the year.

Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, said the brand had an "excellent quarter" and "continued to show significant momentum".

Alternative search engines could help online marketing services

Businesses looking to maximise their search engine optimisation services should be looking beyond Google at alternative strategies, according to one specialist.

Writing for Search Engine Watch, Bas van den Beld highlighted several key search tools focusing on niche or particular types of content that all marketers should be thinking about.

Mr Van Den Beld emphasised sites such as YouTube, which receives two billion views a day, as a chance of which search marketers will almost certainly be aware, but few have taken full advantage of.

"Many people are surprised to learn that YouTube is the second major search engine," Mr Van Den Beld said, pointing out that the video sharing site deals with more searches than Bing or Yahoo.

With 1.5 million business-oriented queries on the site each week and a hugely diverse user base, YouTube is "the place to be", according to Mr Van Den Beld.

He added with YouTube videos showing up in Google's universal results, it offers an extra opportunity for marketers to get their products to the top of the web's biggest search engine.

Mr Van Den Beld also suggested social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook as brilliant options for marketers looking to broaden their search potential.

WebiMax's Online Marketing Efforts Optimize Sites Big and Small

WebiMax.com (www.webimax.com), an online marketing firm concentrating on search engine optimization, supplies its services to businesses of all sizes big and small. The SEO company is currently ranked as the number-one provider of search engine optimization by TopSEOs.com. WebiMax's dynamic group is able to address online marketing needs of all companies regardless of their age, search engine rank, and size.

CEO, Ken Wisnefski envisioned an online marketing company that could handle the wishes of any client. "In the beginning of my own career, I remember being intimidated by the 'bigger' players within my industry," relates Wisnefski. "I knew my business could help clients just as much as my larger competitors who enjoyed more exposure, I just needed a little push to get me on my way to better rankings on the search engines. We get a lot of online marketing clients who have the same issues, and I am proud that WebiMax has the tools and experience to address them. On the other hand, some bigger companies desire to keep their good rankings and popularity, and we have the resources to help them as well. Our online marketing tactics are customized to fit each client, their size, and present online marketing needs."

VP of Online Marketing, Todd Bailey, relays a story about newly helping a client get their site online and optimized in just a few weeks. "A client came to us with a loose vision for a site," remembers Bailey. "The client had a common idea at first, then members of our team spent several days with them formulating something more tangible. From there, our Web design team came up with great images and designs to match the client's vision; our copywriting team researched and composed optimized copy using germane keywords to their industry and products; and, our pay-per-click team helped begin a Google AdWords campaign to get them some immediate exposure on the search engines. The client was amazed to see how their 'loose idea' came to fruition via a entirely optimized and great looking site in just a few weeks."

My Online Business Strategy - The Secret to Affiliate Marketing Success

Gary Gregory today launched an innovative marketing product that features live online support and an easy to use system for all experience levels. My Online Business Strategy (M.O.B.S.) is designed to provide affiliate marketers with a simple process to quickly create a successful online business.

Unlike some other marketing systems that require extensive knowledge of marketing theory and terminology, Gary Gregory's My Online Business Strategy can be used by beginners with no experience in marketing or search engine optimization. The new system uses a popular web platform with proven results in quickly building up search engine traffic.

My Online Business Strategy uses a process that appeals to search engine algorithms and that can start drawing visitors even before users have completed all the necessary steps. According to Gregory, the M.O.B.S. process will ensure users of a steady flow of traffic, and many sites consistently attract between 500 to 5000 unique visitors every day.

The vast majority of online shoppers still use the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to find products that they are interested in purchasing. Attracting online business requires web sites to place highly on search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords that pertain to their products and services. However, many internet marketers have found that achieving good search results is difficult in such a competitive marketplace.

Unlike other marketing products, My Online Business Strategy features live support so that clients will be able to get the help they need without long delays. According to Gregory, his system is the only product that internet marketers will need to make money online. M.O.B.S. is geared toward beginners and those who have struggled with internet marketing and in that vein features live support for the entire life of the product.

Vistaprint Enables Micro Businesses to Easily Adopt Search Marketing

Vistaprint N.V. (VPRT 37.75, +0.05, +0.13%) , a important online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses and the home, today announced the launch of its Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) tool as well as custom blogs for its user-friendly internet marketing packages. The two fresh features were designed to be simple and effective for any micro business looking to increase its search engine rankings and highlight Vistaprint's desire to help micro businesses easily and effectively utilize online marketing. The company's internet marketing team has also set up exact accounts on social networking platforms to keep the growing number of Vistaprint customers up to date with the latest changes while educating them on the best practices in the industry.

"Micro businesses and small businesses of all kinds are marketing online because they've realized that's where a lot of potential clients are going to find them," said Whitney Pegden, senior product marketing associate at Vistaprint. "While we have added a number of fresh and exciting features to our websites packages -- including contact forms, maps, shopping carts and matching email addresses for domains -- we're also focused on educating our customers to help them succeed. We're providing tools that guide them through things like search marketing with copywriting, which will maximize their online efforts. Our goal is to make internet marketing as easy as designing a business card."

The new features add to a broader suite of internet marketing products and services offered by Vistaprint, with custom websites, email marketing and online search profiles. The newly launched SEO tool helps customers to quickly and easily optimize their site to be found by search engines and also assists customers in creating relevant content that will help to develop their site ranking. The tool, which is integrated into Vistaprint's website builder, uses an optimization report card which evaluates a user's site and allows them to capitalize on search opportunities immediately. The SEO tool makes it extremely easy for non-technical users to optimize their site and improve their rank without any prior knowledge of search marketing. The tool costs $9.99 per month and can be easily added to any existing Vistaprint website package.

The Future of Online Marketing Is Here

Marketing is highly important to every kind of business. It is important to make sure that your business is getting the recognition that it deserves as well as making sure enough people are able to learn about your company for you to grow. What many have already found is it is possible to grow as long as there is a focus on online marketing. While SEO and PPC programs are still very big throughout the web, there are more people than ever subscribing to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

The reason why so many companies have been finding their place on the social networking sites is because of the ability to reach out to clients in a very organic way. It is not forced to gain attention from clients when you are simply making general announcements about the company and the things you are doing. Those who are into your company will be sure to follow your company online and they will surely get their friends involved as well. There are a few reasons why this advertising method is such a winner for so many different kinds of companies.

The price is right

One of the greatest things about marketing via Facebook or Twitter is that you do not have to have a huge budget. Both of the services are free to sign up for. The only thing it costs you is your time. Creating posts and tweets does not even take that much time to accomplish. Usually the job for social network marketing will fall to one person in the company and even then, it will be a part time responsibility. There are very few companies which invest a lot into these kinds of marketing strategies, yet there are big payoffs for the work you put into them.

Go to where the clients are

Marketing is very much like real estate in that location is everything. There is a natural link between where you market your company and the response you will get from your marketing methods. The best idea is to simply go to where the people you are trying to reach congregate at. Doing so will make it where you will be seen by those you are trying to reach. Since the majority of young, fresh clients with disposable income are on Facebook and Twitter, it is the location where more companies want to make sure they appear.

Access to all

One of the dilemmas companies have to face online is what kind of device they will make their websites geared towards. Having to choose between a regular computer, an iPhone and an iPad is enough to make any company nervous. The good news about marketing through Facebook and Twitter is they have done all of the hard work for you. Your information can be accessed by all through any device which has the ability to view the different social networking sites. This will make it where your company is viewable to all those you are looking reach no matter where they might be.

Google to offer new online course for ppc marketing users

Google is to launch a new online course covering remarketing.

Posting on the blog for its pay per click marketing service AdWords, Gordon Zhu said the one-hour, interactive session will take place on October 20th.

"Remarketing is a simple way to connect with your website visitors," he added.

It works by allowing advertisers to show tailored offers, such as last minute discounts, to people who have already visited their website via the Google Display Network.

The online course, which will include a question and answer session, will cover the benefits of the practice, as well as a guide to setting up remarketing in an AdWords account.

In a recent article for Search Engine Land, John Perich said remarketing could help firms to boost their acquisition rates by offering them a second opportunity to attract potential customers who did not convert the first time around.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.

Search Engine Marketing Agency Helps Clients Reach No.1 on Google

A growing Search Engine Optimisation Agency up in Lancashire have been quietly pushing their clients into number one positions on Google for search terms such as “press release delivery”, “laptops”, “touch screen” and “memory card”.


According to the rankings produced by topseo.com, who rank online marketing companies from the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and India, Custard Media are the fourth best SCO agency in the UK. They are ranked number one in the country by topseo.com for social media optimisation, content formation and reputation management.


Custard Media Managing Director Ssam Allcock stated, “We have specific expertise in-house which is unmatched in the UK for an agency of our size. This allows us to achieve outstanding results for our client base. We are able to quickly rank websites highly for some very competitive search conditions and we’re delighted that such a trusted authority as topseos.com has recognised our abilities.”

online marketing services boost Google profits

A rise in aggregate paid clicks and higher revenues from ads shown on partner sites helped Google record a 32 per cent annual increase in its third quarter profits.

The search engine recorded net income of $2.17 billion (£1.35 billion) between July and September, up from $1.64 billion during the corresponding period of last year.

Revenue from pay per click services for Google sites and AdSense partners rose by 16 per cent year-on-year and was four per cent higher compared with the second quarter.

Meanwhile, ads on the Google Network brought in $2.2 billion, or 30 per cent of total earnings, an increase of 22 per cent on Q3 2009.

The bulk of revenue came from sites owned by the company, such as YouTube. At $4.67 billion, this was also up 22 per cent on 12 months earlier.

Just over half (52 per cent) of earnings came from outside the US, the same level as the second quarter but down one per cent year-on-year.

"Google had an excellent quarter," said the search engine's chief executive Eric Schmidt.

"Our core business grew very well and our newer businesses – particularly display and mobile – continued to show significant momentum."

During the third quarter, Google's worldwide full-time workforce grew from 21,805 to 23,331.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.