online-marketing-today

Increase in demand for online marketing and digital media jobs in South Africa

2012-01-26T01:44:00.000-08:00

Google Trends demonstrate that South Africa currently ranks 4th fourth highest (after Pakistan, India and Ireland) in searches for 'Jobs in Online Marketing'. In Africa, Kenya shows the most searches for 'Internet Marketing', followed by South African and then Uganda with this search term peaking in January 2010 since 2004.

Most Popular Search Terms

While the terms 'Internet Marketing', 'Digital Marketing' and 'Online Marketing' are often used interchangeably within the industry, companies and recruiters should pay attention to how people within this field are searching and advertising for jobs.

From around 2004 to the end of 2007, the phrase "Internet Marketing" was most commonly used to describe this area of expertise. The term 'Online Marketing' has featured most prominently in search queries since 2009. 'Digital Marketing' was the most frequently used phrase in January 2010 and has been climbing gradually since, and is still being used frequently amongst online marketers.

Search Trends in South Africa

* Search trends show that job seekers search for these jobs most frequently in January, May and July months, with Mpumulanga currently trending as the region that most frequently searches for jobs within the Internet Marketing industry.
* In South Africa, the region that first showed any significant interest in online marketing jobs in early 2007 was Kwa-Zulu Natal.
* The Eastern Cape started to feature on Google Trends from October to December 2007, where after it showed a significant drop-off until July 2008.
* During the first quarter of 2008 Gauteng and the Western Cape both started showing interest in search for jobs in the online industry.
* Until January 2010 there was not much shift in search trends until the Free State started to feature.
* A dramatic rise in searches for 'internet marketing jobs' in the Northern Province and Mpumulanga started to come to the forefront in the first quarter of 2011.
* While Gauteng and the Western Cape seem to have an ongoing and steady interest in searches for 'internet marketing jobs, Mpumulanga continues to rank as one of the regions with the highest search trends within this field with search queries predominantly coming from Nelspruit.
* Polokwane, Bloemfontein and Kimberly all rank very high at present, as interest continues to grow for jobs in new media from these regions.

Online Content Supply versus Demand

While search continues to rise for web content matching search trends for 'Internet Marketing Job', 'Online Marketing Job' and 'Digital Marketing Job', a quick search for web pages that have been optimized to rank for these terms

Thanks: http://www.bizcommunity.com

PLR Internet Marketing Introduces New Service to Help Bloggers to Grow Their Blogs

2012-01-23T01:52:00.000-08:00

Big business blogging is a controlling way to build an audience and make money online. But bloggers face severe competition and can quickly fold under the relentless pressure to constantly deliver content and stand out from the crowd. What bloggers need is an edge - an "X factor" that reveals exactly how to proceed on the path to blogging success. PLR Internet Marketing's Warren Wooden gives bloggers that edge.

Calgary, Alberta (PRWEB) January 23, 2012

Business blogging is a powerful way to build an audience and make money online. But bloggers face fierce competition and can quickly fold under the relentless pressure to constantly deliver content and stand out from the crowd. What bloggers need is an edge - an "X factor" that reveals exactly how to proceed on the path to blogging success. PLR Internet Marketing's Warren Wooden solves that need with a new service that gives bloggers that edge, revealing exactly how they can stand out from the crowd.

Most bloggers know the basics - deliver good content and engage their audience - but there's so much more that they could be doing to get more traffic and make money from their blogs. And even the smallest obstacle could keep their blog from succeeding. But now, with the help of the new Blog Review Service by PLR Internet Marketing, bloggers have a clear path to advance their blogging business.

Thanks: http://www.sfgate.com/

How to choose the online sports equipment

2012-01-18T00:39:00.000-08:00

Taking pleasure in sports is amazing that millions, if not billions, of folks around the globe do on a regular basis. Despite the fact that most people will by no means intend to be enhanced than they presently are, there will always be those who crave to perk up their routine, and the right quality sports equipments can be of enormous help in attaining this.

If you are one such person who looks for quality in what all you acquire then you should just extend your thought to sports equipment as well. The search for your quality equipment stops at tracknfieldgear as we are establish in offering you the best quality sports equipment that will help you out to do a good ethics over the sports activities conjointly standing for its durability. Here in this article you will be able to find as of how to select the quality sports equipment.

Apart from using it as an athlete it also benefits us to stay fit so it is a complete need that you acquire for the beat quality equipment. Discus is one such leading game and when it comes to Discus all that matters is the speediness, power and techniques are the chief phases to be enclosed as it engages various course of action which are to be well thought-out a lot than others.

When it comes to sports equipment all that matters is the quality because they stand long way to go also helps us in several ways to make us fit. Tracknfieldgear.com is one such online sporting goods store which will help you find the best greater equipment. When you look out for sporting goods all that you must look is the standard of the product.

The advantage of most sports equipment will be declared by the target market of each product. As the gear planned at the greater part of those taking part in sports will be off-the-rack in order to be able to sell them at an inexpensive price, you will normally find that you have to make some compromises. But in terms of these sports equipment, you will find that the superior the class of equipment you use, the better the development in your performance will be. There may be several online sports equipment store but, the need for your quality centered sporting stuffs will end only when you reach tracknfieldgear.

At track and field gear you will be able to find the best superior products and we are one such chief Athletic gear suppliers as well as the most valued sports instruction equipment suppliers in Texas. You will be able to find in hurdles, discus throw, starting blocks, weight lifting equipment, shot put, track equipments and many others.

We believe in long term customer satisfaction so we sell only quality goods.

Websites closing down in protest of SOPA

2012-01-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

Google, YouTube, Wikepdia and several other major websites are coming together to protest a controversial bill. It's called SOPA and some people say if passed, it could very well shut down some of our favorite websites.

"The devil is in the details. And a lot of the details kind of concern people," IPFW Online Marketing Specialist John Kaufeld said.

IPFW Social Media expert, John Kaufeld, has been researching the Stop Online Piracy Act for months. He says the bill has good intentions. The goal's to protect peoples intellectual property from copyright infringement.

But unnecessary details in the bill concern technologists like Kaufeld.

"You have the representatives and the senators on one side saying 'Well we just really want to accomplish this one thing. We're trying to protect intellectual property.' But the technologists on the other hand are saying 'You know you're going after a fly with a shotgun and dynamite.'"

Kaufeld says most people don't understand the implications of what SOPA would do. It could blackout sites for months while they investigate cases of infringement. In turn that could cause a company or business to shut down.

Thanks: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news

Halloween the Sensational Gut Feeling

2012-01-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

Guys get ready it’s time to celebrate the Halloween party.
Have you chosen your invites???? Has the planning for Halloween started???
Get access to stuff that you had never thought about in your lifetime…..
Choose a costume that is more edgy and just rock on………..

Halloween is a chance for restrained people to let loose and turn spooky, wild, wicked, and naughty almost to do things that are stupid. So this time make sure that Your Halloween is more enjoyable and it will be, but only if you plan for something unusual rather the same dress up. Halloween is known for the dreadful dress up rather anything else. Here you can find few tips concerned with the Halloween costumes for all age groups and some ideas to give an awe factor. Make sure that the makeup and costumes which you wear has a mixed effect of art and science such that it is dreadful.

Dressing up completely different attires is basically fun however finding the simplest and right kind of outfit for Halloween is sort of powerful task. Ton of your time is needed to hold out through analysis then solely you'll return up with the simplest attires. You can go with the cloth primarily based on your style and preference. When it involves wear enticing costume, you've got to be little artistic to consider some special outfits to wear in party.

Interesting information to you “One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween” isn’t it exciting to know???

Though infants know nothing about the Halloween party it is fun dressing up for them and presenting them in the cutest way. While selecting infant Halloween costumes make sure that you opt for the one which your baby feels comfy. You can check out the various sites which offer the infant costumes and opt for the best one.

When it comes to women there are quite a lot of costumes like princess, bat girl, horror witch, and skeleton with bleeding-heart. While selecting for Halloween women costumes make sure that you opt the best costume suitable for you in varying styles and persona that will help you to look your "best" while you enjoy the partying.

Movie characters are great ideas for boys who wish to dress up for Halloween parties. When it comes to Boy’s costumes in Halloween, harry potter is in the trend. One of the main advantages in dressing up like a movie character for your Halloween party is it will help the onlookers to make out the character.

Adults are the one who make the most of from the Halloween party and they tend to blast off and enjoy off the charts to have a splendid time. When it comes to adult, costumes are available in a wide range like vampire look, deviled egg and many more.

On the whole, the best part of Halloween is that you could become anyone you wanted to be, even if was for one night.
Jackson is a Expert author for Halloween costumes and Women Costumes.He has written many articles like Boy’s costumes. For more information visit our site http://www.costumecenterusa.com.
Contact him at ccusamaster@gmail.com

5 online marketing trends worth watching in 2012

2011-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

The New Year is just around the corner and for small business owners the often daunting task of developing a solid online marketing strategy for 2012 looms ahead, too. What should small business owners focus their marketing efforts on in 2012? What marketing strategies will yield high conversion rates and generate lucrative sales for small businesses in the New Year?

To find out, BizBytes turned to Roberta Backus, chairwoman of Backus Turner International, a South Florida-based branding firm and Guido Gaona, director of the technology practice at Burston Marsteller Latin America. Backus has been in business for over 32 years and her client roster includes companies like Lowe’s Home Improvement and Trump International. Gaona’s clients include Sony, HP and Intel.

Backus and Gaona have identified five trends that small business owners should consider when developing their marketing plans for 2012.

Online reputation management. “Your company’s online reputation is going to become more important than ever in 2012,” Backus said. “You’ve got to monitor and maintain your online reputation closely. You don’t want to lose a sale because of a negative post that appears about your company in a search result. It’s imperative that you take control of what’s being said about you online. You’ve got to spend time each day putting out positive content about what you do.”

TIP: Backus recommends spending at least one hour each day putting out positive content about your company. Once you’ve created quality content, get your friends and clients to share it on their social networks as well.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/

Top 10 Legal Issues for Marketers in the Coming Year

2011-12-11T21:56:00.000-08:00

Self-Regulation at the Crossroads
Great strides were made in kids' advertising, food marketing and online behavioral tracking. The Children's Advertising Review Unit is self-regulation at its best. Marketers in the Food Initiative made practice changes legislatures couldn't pass without violating the First Amendment. About Ads is state-of-the-art in tracking data on the internet. But Congress and the FTC are impatient, and tensions could boil over in the coming year.

Celebrity Embarrassments
A surge in unseemly social-media behavior by celebrity endorsers indicates an affliction of bad judgment. It will get worse before it gets better, and brands will be embarrassed to the point of terminating contracts. Smart marketers will ensure that agreements allow them an escape from edgier celebs.
Clouds Ahead
The financial incentives make it inevitable that marketers will move their data and applications to the cloud. But with that transition comes the headache of security and privacy breaches. Once moved to a service in the cloud, control of data is reduced and risk increased. Will all the cost savings be lost to class-action lawyers?
Social Media Recalculated
The gold rush has been startling. Marketers have flocked to online services, including Facebook and LinkedIn, with no measurable ROI, at least not by any industry standards. But a study on digital measurement by the ANA, 4A's and IAB might finally lead to a currency everyone can agree on. Or it might not.
FTC vs. CFPB
Watch for a classic Washington standoff as the Federal Trade Commission parries with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over regulating financial-services marketing. Dodd-Frank created the CFPB to watch out for consumers and the financial biz. But Congress left the FTC with jurisdiction, too. They're supposed to work out an agreement on who regulates what. And no doubt they will do that. But then come appropriations. The honeymoon will end there.

source:http://adage.com

Web Talent Marketing Named Sixth Best Link Building Agency for December 2011 by topseos.com

2011-12-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

The independent authority on search vendors, topseos.com, has released their list of the best link building companies in the online marketing industry for the month of December 2011. Included in the list is Web Talent Marketing, an online marketing company from Lancaster, PA, as the sixth best link building company as the result of a meticulous evaluation process.

This evaluation process has been used to identify and evaluate the best online marketing companies offering link building services which leads to the creation of a list of the best companies in the industry. Web Talent Marketing was included in the evaluation in order to showcase their dedication to excellence as a top service provider. They offer consultation and link cultivation services which are custom tailored to their customers based on their needs.

topseos.com uses a meticulous evaluation process involving the use of a set of evaluation criteria in order to generate their list of the best. The set of evaluation criteria for link building services includes Assessment, Identify, Analysis, Acquisition, and Reporting. The evaluation process also involves connecting with at least three customer references from each service provider and obtaining information on their business practices and ethical link building procedures.

Source:pressmediawire.com

Toyota Drives Car Closer to Its New Role of Online Marketing Channel

2011-11-29T20:58:00.000-08:00

Toyota told us one was coming and now it is almost here: an automobile that not only connects to the Internet but embraces it. As more automobile makers move in this direction, this will become another channel available to digital marketers Called the Fun-Vii, the concept car debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show this week. Its sleek exterior mimics the look of a smartphone, with both the exterior and interior able to be adjusted to fit the driver’s mood, PC Magazine reports, via "skins" and other custom elements.

If that sounds like advertising possibilities that is because it is. PC Magazine reports that Toyota demoed the Fun-Vii with a side panel that displayed a greeting card. It is also a highly connected car, able to "link with surrounding vehicles and infrastructure.” The concept of the automobile as another data source for marketers has become a tantalizing one. This is a user group already primed for outreach, at least based on findings from a September 2011 report from Millennial Media and comScore.

Most notably, it reported that 63% of mobile auto campaigns lead to site search, about four times the 16% average rate. In addition, 58% of mobile auto campaigns lead to both dealer/store locator and viewing a map, compared to respective overall averages of 15% and 18% Salesforce.com also sees value in the sector and its investment in this space is likely to prime the car as a communication channel as well. Earlier this year the CRM vendor announced plans to build Toyota Friend, a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars Toyota Friend will be powered by Salesforce Chatter, Salesforce.com's enterprise social messaging platform. The offering will first roll out in Japan in Toyota's electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles due in 2012. Toyota Friend will connect Toyota customers with their cars, their dealership, and with Toyota.

Source : marketingvox.com

5 Tips for Creating Effective B2B Newsletters

2011-11-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

B2B marketers can take advantage of the power of email to enhance their image and sell more product. Email is a top digital marketing tactic, second only to search marketing. It is a cost-effective way to nurture your customers and prospects by creating and maintaining a relationship over time and throughout the long B2B sales cycle A B2B email newsletter can serve different purposes, such as attracting leads, encouraging prospects to close a sale, connecting with customers to reinforce your business relationship, and establishing your company’s authority as a industry expert. You can make your newsletter more effective by creating a reader-centric newsletter with the following tips.
1. Create personal copy
Speak directly to your recipients by expressing a personality that matches your brand, product, or market niche. That means giving your newsletter a voice that might sound like a colleague offering business advice over a cup of java. All companies have a personality, and your newsletter copy should reflect that voice.

Remember, you are marketing to individual decision makers; always envision your recipients reading your copy, and write it as if you were talking directly to that person.

2. Ask recipients to take action
The heart of your email message is the call-to-action, be it a request for product information, whitepaper download or webinar signup. B2B newsletters typically focus on product or company information, industry news, or how-to’s and tips on industry opportunities or problem solving of interest to customers.

You can focus on turning a prospect into a solid lead, converting a lead into a customer, or to keeping existing customers active. Have a specific goal in mind for each message in your email campaign with a clear call-to-action in each message, whether it’s downloading a white paper, requesting a product demo or taking advantage of a special offer.

A good way to encourage engagement is to add a relevant one-question survey to your next newsletter. You might ask recipients to check or click the newsletter section they find most valuable. Then report back to your readers on the results and action taken if applicable.

Google chief urges retailers to fire up Christmas online marketing

2011-11-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

Retailers should have their online Christmas campaigns ready for December 4, when the window for international online retailers shipping to Australia starts to close and searches aimed a finding local retail starts to rise, Google retail chief Ross McDonald says.

In a bid to help retailers make the most of the Christmas season, Google has unveiled a report on consumer shopping habits, including the categories currently attracting the most online searches.

So far, the big winners include mass merchant retailers (with searches up 47% year over year), followed by food and drinks (up 31%) and toys (up 28%).

Google has also identified key dates retailers need to be aware of:

* December 4. Shopping windows for international online retailers traditionally close, while searches for domestic online retailers rise.
* December 11. Searches for store names, plus “trading hours” or “location” begin to rise. Last year, searches for trading hours grew nearly 250% in the two weeks before Christmas. This year, such searches are already up 37% year over year, with a third of these searches coming from a mobile device.
* December 16. Searches spike for “store name”, “hours” and “location” on the last day that local online retailers can guarantee delivery before December 25, and the last in-store retail weekend before Christmas.

Ross McDonald, head of retail for Google Australia, says businesses need to take a strategic and long-term approach to their online Christmas campaign, claiming timing is everything.

India Map

Internet Marketing, It’s Easier Than You Think

2011-11-21T00:42:00.000-08:00

Earnest Hemingway once wrote a complete, compelling story in just six words:
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

A great museum’s curation is defined not only what’s inside, but what’s also left out.a solution should be as simple as possible, and no simpler 20% of the work gets 80% of the results the Problem With Marketers Marketing Themselves

I’ve been taking a close look at our industry these past few months. As I looked at Ontolo’s marketing tools, the marketing tools of our competitors, and the marketing content that’s pumped out on a daily basis, I began to notice something peculiar as you know, value is interpreted, in part, by the difficulty of the task. The more difficult the task, often, the more valuable it is to get the task done.

Online marketers are in an interesting position: The easier it is to market your business online, the less they get paid. Compared to other marketing practices, content costs (blogging, etc) are significantly lower to produce. The pervading mentality seems to be “Why not create inexpensive content that makes marketing look more difficult and, thereby, allow us to charge more for our work?” i don’t think this is a conscious deception, that’s not what I’m saying. But I am saying that the nature of the online marketing ecosystem promotes this kind of mentality.

India Map

Can a Marketing Contest Increase Sales for This Online Retailer

2011-11-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

More than 10 years ago, Don Chernoff introduced SkyRoll.com with the idea that a Web site could better explain his unique carry-on luggage and provide another sales channel for his products. Those sales, however, have been disappointing the idea for the SkyRoll line of products came out of Mr. Chernoff’s experiences as a frequent flier. One particular flight gave him the inspiration. “I’m watching this guy trying to fit this ungainly garment bag into the overhead bin, not a pretty sight,” Mr. Chernoff explains on his site.

Mr. Chernoff, who was trained as a materials engineer and computer chip maker for Intel, went home and created the prototype for the SkyRoll carry-on. “I bought a section of very large diameter PVC tubing, about the width of my suit jacket,” he continues. “I also bought some fabric and Velcro and enlisted a friend who was handy with a sewing machine to help make an outer cover. I wrapped the suit around the PVC and held it there with the cover. It worked. The suit came out wrinkle free. I had a concept but was a long way from a product you could actually use to travel.”soon after, he was in business. Fast forward 19 years and the SkyRoll products are available at certain retail outlets and online.

While Mr. Chernoff says he is happy with the look of his site, he is extremely disappointed in his sales in an effort to increase online sales, Mr. Chernoff had the site redesigned a year ago at a cost of about $2,000, but it hasn’t helped. He has also tried a variety of paid and unpaid marketing tactics to bolster traffic and sales, but he has gotten very little return on his time and money. He tried using Google AdWords, but spent only a few hundred dollars and found that it did little to help. The results for unpaid search were disappointing as well.

Tourism Links

Busy Week for New Trading

2011-11-13T22:16:00.000-08:00

If all goes according to plan, the U.S. IPO market could have its busiest week in more than a year nine initial public offerings are scheduled to trade beginning Wednesday, including consumer-review website Angie's List Inc. The last time IPO investors had such a full calendar was in December 2010.

Getting all nine out the door will require cooperation from the stock market, which took its biggest daily dive since mid-September on Wednesday as investors panicked in the face of Italy's surging bond yields. Two subsequent days of gains helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average end the week in positive territory it likely will also require some price flexibility, as evidenced by three recent IPOs that had very different pricing experiences: one sold above range, another within its range and a third that had to cut its valuation to get done.

The two most prominent deals ahead, from Angie's List and Delphi Automotive PLC., are scheduled to begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, respectively angie's List's $114 million capital-raising comes two weeks after another consumer Internet brand, Groupon Inc., had a successful debut, gaining nearly 31% on its first day. Like Groupon, Angie's List is a recognized web-based brand with a growing top line, but it is spending heavily on marketing to build its customer base, and isn't profitable.

Tourism Links

Black Friday Online Marketing Strategies

2011-11-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping top prize at 12:00:01 the day after Thanksgiving retailers rely on this day to get back into the “black” by moving old record out at highly reduced prices, while price-savvy consumers look for great deals on great products much of the success for this day however, is already in place up to 12 months earlier. Retailers consider their digital strategies well in advance. Here are four segmented outlooks Digital black Friday Strategy

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization involves a number of operations, increasing organic page rankings savvy businesses begin optimization campaigns three-to-six months prior to Black Friday/Cyber Monday, securing great page rankings before the start of holiday shopping consumers are no strangers to Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, using search engines to locate sales on desired products. SEO professionals address client Web pages, making adjustments resulting in better search engine placement and exposure. Additionally, specialists may optimize pages for long-tail phrases related to Black Friday (ex: “[your product's name] 2011 Black Friday sales”) and the particular year, increasing the likelihood of buyer traffic. Take advantage of the buying season; align your company with a search engine optimization firm, ensuring your website is optimized for success and revenue production.

Paid Search

Pay-per-click marketing is a close relative of search engine optimization. Both seek the same results (more website traffic) but utilize different methods to get there. Search engine optimization is a slow-building, solidly founded process. Pay-per-click advertising produces equally satisfying results, but in real time. The process of numbered variables demands diligence, patience, and experience. Experts walk a fine line, leveraging live ads, keeping a close watch on costs per click and returns on investment. A poorly managed PPC campaign quickly spells disaster for the moneymaking hopeful. However, a campaign headed by experience strikes while the iron is hot, keeping close to the dollar, making the most opportunity of an increased population of holiday shoppers display Networks are in prime season with excellent CPC’s and above average conversions during this time as shoppers frantically seek out coupon codes and other deals within a larger site base. The audience net should be reflective of the consumers net, so cast a wide net in this space this season.

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Online Video Ad Response Varies Greatly By Age Group

2011-11-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

There is plenty of talk of how the younger generation that has grown up in this hyper digital age. Those who are selling advertising talk about the sheer numbers. How many young people watch video online, how many hours of video they consume and on and on that’s fine but advertisers need to know if people respond to ads a new study shows that the younger the video watcher the less likely they are to be interested in ads.

The study done by Burst Media and reported by eMarketer shows just how people respond to online video ads by age group it is important to note that the audience for younger viewers of online video is a much larger percentage of the total number of people in that age group. eMarketer reports

Tourism Links

Seven Tips for Marketing a Business

2011-11-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

As more people use the Internet in search of information, online video becomes increasingly important for reaching and connecting with followers, fans and customers. Video's rise in power as a marketing tool is due to its attractiveness to web surfers. By adding a smile and a friendly voice, you can build rapport with your customers faster and help them relate to your business on a more personal level.

Video connects customers on a deeper level because it covers and reaches out to different types of learning styles: the visual where people learn by reading or seeing demonstrations of a product or service and the auditory where people connect by listening to audio.

Videos also help sites show up higher on the search engines. Browsers and search engines are becoming savvier and are spending less time reading endless web pages of text. Instead, they are picking up on keywords tagged on videos appearing on sites.

As a growing business, it is important that you integrate video into your online marketing efforts. Even if you start with a basic video tip on how to best use your product or service, just get it recorded and post it to YouTube, your own website and/or blog. Although most people like humor and creativity, they also like messages that help them save time or money or makes their life easier, and that's what you can provide.

Tourism Links

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Microsoft's clever 'family' marketing campaign is exceptional

2011-11-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's "It's a great time to be a family" marketing campaign keeps getting better. This ranks as one of my favorite high-tech promotionals in a decade and accomplishes something Microsoft has never successfully done in a mass-marketing campaign -- clearly show the benefits of multiple products working together. I spotted two more videos late today.

Before Microsoft launched the "I'm a PC" campaign three years ago, I recommended firing then new ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, after the Chairman Bill Gates and Comedian Jerry Seinfeld commercials aired. But I was wrong to make the recommendation. The agency has produced for Microsoft a string of creative hits, of which the family campaign is just the most recent.

As I explained about two weeks ago, the campaign sells the Microsoft lifestyle -- emphasizing relationships and technology enabling them. There's a real familiarity, because family is something most people can relate to. It's not like most of us are harvested in test tubes. The commercials are also clever, in the storytelling and how they present the benefits of multiple products. Keyword: Benefits. Not features, but benefits people gain from them.

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One Way to Automate Your Online Marketing Efforts

2011-11-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

If news breaks about your business or the industry that your business is in, you most likely want to react, and be seen reacting, to it as soon as possible. Companies try to stay on both sides of this web marketing race by being so-called "thought leaders" in their industries, producing complex, deeply-produced and ultimately pricey Web content that tracks industry and company news.

But this thought leadership strategy has a downside: Creating the content for even a modest blog is a full-time job, not to mention maintaining a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, while scanning the Web for news. But there is at least one tool that aims to streamline the way businesses produce and publish content to support their Web marketing efforts.

Curata is an online search curation and content posting tool that automatically gathers relevant articles and links from the Web and posts that content to a company's Website. It was launched last year, by Cambridge, Mass.-based marketing solutions firm HiveFire Inc.

Considering how critical having an engaging Web news presence can be for businesses, we tested a trial version of Curata. For about six weeks, we applied Curata's capabilities to a sports technology blog we created ourselves by hand. Here's what we found:

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Online marketing: Most businesses 'are aware of social media benefits'

2011-11-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

Organisations of all sizes are beginning to recognise the benefits associated with the use of social media as part of effective online marketing campaigns, but many are failing to embrace it to the highest degree.

This is the opinion of Simon Curtis, senior vice-president of strategic sales and business development for YES-Wallet.com, who suggested that many firms do not understand the extent of promotion online publicity can provide during the economic struggle.

"It is no good trying to be good at social media if your brand image and promotion in other channels does not match your social media image," he explained.

Mr Curtis claimed that social media's individual "culture" needs to be understood by users trying to connect with a particular audience in order to attract a higher rate of custom.

He also suggested that, due to the ever-increasing popularity of websites such as Facebook and Twitter, brands are becoming more clued up regarding the possibilities associated with using such pages to promote their products and offers.

"Most businesses are aware of the benefits of social media and have started to embrace it in their marketing and promotional activity. So today, you can see that many businesses are represented on Facebook and have Twitter feeds," Mr Curtis added.

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Online advertising market: Heading for shakeout

2011-10-31T02:43:00.000-07:00

The crowded advertising technology sector may be about to shake out some losers.

With north of 150 companies -- according to consultant and investment banker Luma Partners -- in the relatively new online advertising industry, there are simply too many competitors seeking too much of a return on capital.

Add in a drop-off in potential buyers and a declining appetite for public offerings, and the online advertising sector is due to stall, industry players and backers say.

"It's just not a big enough market for all the money invested," said Will Margiloff, chief executive officer of Ignition One, the digital marketing technology unit of Japanese ad agency Dentsu.

"That is a real challenge -- VCs and private equity guys are trying to figure out how to jump on the ad tech bandwagon and are really grasping. There can't be six or seven category leaders."

To Margiloff, the problem is that some of these companies frequently have more money invested in them than revenue potential, and often the revenue opportunity involves a more service-oriented action such as sales rather than a unique technological capability.

"The valuations that you see are more the heyday of the Right Media sale to Yahoo -- 10 times revenue," said Margiloff about Yahoo's $680 million purchase in 2007 of the remaining 80 percent stake in the company that it did not already own. "That is not reality ... Two to three times revenue is more realistic."

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Yahoo7 launches new online ad formats

2011-10-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yahoo7 has launched a new choice of online ad formats that tap into its messenger and mailbox services.

The new innovations, seen for the first time in the Australian market, will give advertisers the chance to insert ads within the messenger service which will project a five second ad over the top of messenger in a bid to prompt users to go to a larger panel ad.

Yahoo has also launched a mailbox takeover service which will run over the "email sent'' page pages within Yahoo's email service.

A small "email sent'' message will appear on the page, with the rest of the screen devoted to advertising.

Damon Scarr, commercial director at Yahoo7 said that the new formats were aimed at helping advertisers tap into consumer engagement with mail and messenger services.

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Getting Social Traffic on the SERPs Without SEO

2011-10-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

It’s coming up on a year since Matt Cutts announced that social signals are absolutely used as ranking factors for your content, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about here i’m going to talk about other ways that social can drive organic traffic to your site outside of links being retweeted or publicly shared by influencers.
Personalization

If you perform a search on Google for SEO, you’ll see something similar to the image below (I stripped out the paid ads). Note the position of the various results, especially the third result with is for a completely different definition of SEO.

It looks a bit different. Suddenly there are people that I’m connected to with my Google account showing up under results they’ve indicated that they like, through some form of sharing.

The first two results are the same, but Aaron Wall’s site SEOBook.com, which was sitting in fifth when I wasn’t logged in, is now third for me. In fourth I now see the SEOmoz.org home page. When I wasn’t logged in, there were articles from SEOmoz in 9th and 14th, but their home page wasn’t showing until 21st position, way down the SERPs. Thanks to Keri there’s a much higher chance that I would click on it with it being 17 places higher than it normally ranks.

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Muammar Gaddafi dead as Libya celebrates end of a tyrant

2011-10-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

1.46pm: With Gaddafi dead, what next for the Arab Spring uprising? Latrobe University international relations lecturer Luca Anceschi writes while the movement has been effective in bringing down unwanted regimes, it has failed to translate the basic claims of different uprisings into new political order. With the death of Gaddafi, the future of the 2011 Arab uprising is at a crossroad.

1.12pm: From his all-female bodyguards to his eccentric outfits to his golden gun, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was every bit the James Bond villain. Read how the boy born to Bedouins in 1942 rose to become one of the most feared, and powerful, figures in the Middle East.

12.55pm: Gaddafi, Qaddafi, Gadhafi, Qazzafi, Qadhdhafi, Qaththafi, Gadhdhafi, Khadafy? The ex-Libyan dictator has long been a Google search nightmare, due to the seemingly countless ways you can spell his name .

According to the Associated Press, it seems no one can pin down the spelling of his surname using the English alphabet. It's not just media organisations: Even official Libyan government documents vary widely in rendering his name in Latin letters.

Fairfax Media and Australian Associated Press use Gaddafi, while the Agence France-Presse style is Kadhafi and the US Associated Press goes with Gadhafi.

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Over 2,000 People are Talking About Internet Marketing Company on the Facebook Platform

2011-10-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Internet Marketing Company announced today that over 2,00 people are talking about the company on the Facebook Platform. To be exact, 2,049 people have mentioned the marketing company on the social-networking site's page for the Internet Marketing Company. The company has created a page on the platform, and interested parties can visit the page, read about the company, and then can choose to click 'Like' on the Facebook Platform page to be able to follow the company's news, or mention the company in one of their posts. Users who have logged onto the page to check out what the company is all about, have seen that they provide SEO services,link building services along with reputation management and other services.

"We are delighted to see that word about our internet marketing company is spreading through Facebook because members are taking about us on the platform," said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of the Internet Marketing Company.

Facebook gives everyone the power to share with the people they care about, making the world more open and transparent. Facebook users communicate and share information through the social graph, the network of connections and relationships between people. Facebook gives companies and the developer community access to the social graph through Facebook Platform. Using a rich set of tools and online services, developers can build applications that are deeply integrated into the Facebook website. Millions of Facebook users return to the site each day, providing unparalleled distribution potential for applications and the opportunity to build a business that is highly relevant to people's lives.

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Video Marketing Services Offered by a Leading Internet Marketing Company

2011-10-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

WL Marketing, a leading SEO and Internet marketing company, has just announced that they will now be offering video marketing services too. This is very good news for all those web businesses that want their videos to be out there on the Internet.

Online video marketing is in boom these days. In fact, experts opine that this is the fastest growing form of advertisement today, particularly on the Internet. Hundreds and thousands of people are today looking up YouTube, Google Videos, Yahoo Video, MetaCafe, Hulu, Daily Motion and others. According to statistics, video marketing grew at an astounding rate of more than eight hundred percent over the last three years. This is however just a start, as more and more people are visiting these video websites to see the latest submissions.

This offers a unique opportunity to web businesses. If you can distribute your online videos, you can make them find your website. All you have to do is just start your channel at these popular video websites. It is easy. You can inform people about your business and services or products. It is definitely a channel that can give your website a lot of web traffic. Video marketing not only brings web traffic from these video websites, but it also boosts their overall search engine ranks. Remarkable videos can help you convert prospects into customers. This is a growing industry that no serious business can ignore any more.

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When Business Intelligence Analyses Online Marketing

2011-10-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

To do so, they have developed the Online Marketing Intelligence Pack, tool with which users will be able to extract value from the data generated in Social Networks such as Facebook or Twitter, and analyze it together with the information provided by Google Analytics, turning it into relevant information.

The presentation of this new feature in the BI field will take place next October 19, and as usual in this technological company, the event will be held online, allowing people from all over the globe attend.

With this advance in the Enterprise software industry companies will have the full power of Business Intelligence serving their Online Marketing strategy, providing them information about the performance of their online marketing campaigns, motorization of the key indicators from Facebook, Twitter and Google Analytics, representing these results in predefined and customized reports and dashboards.

But without any doubt, this new tool’s most remarkable feature is the possibility of integrating this data with other from any internal software to gain a whole new level of analysis, as examples:

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SEO Company offering Internet website marketing Services

2011-10-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

The simple fact about an SEO Company offering affiliate marketing services should end up being exciting enough to ignite a sense of intrigue in you.

The simple fact about an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION Company offering affiliate marketing services should end up being exciting enough to ignite a sense of intrigue in you. The first factor one does immediately after running across a proposal in this way is checking out and about the features the company promises to provide. Online marketing services and online marketing services offered by an SEO Organization contain these schedule features:

1. Search Engine Popularity Management
2. Online Brand Managing
3. Organic Search Powerplant Optimization
4. Pay per Click Management
5. Link Building
6. Social Media Marketing
7. Website Evaluation
8. Banner Creation
9. Email Marketing

All these functions categorically ensure solutions are promoted well on-line and people get the hang of them.

There are a few more important facets associated with somekeyword and affiliate marketing services offered through the SEO Company, including manual directory submissions, article submissions, forum posting, social book noticing, Press Releases, one way along with reciprocal link creating etc. The features make online marketing a very interactive course of action, with more plus much more people getting to know about the services and products offered.

An SEO Firm like Unwired Offers never supports detrimental features like url farms and -spam-indexing'. The solutions are economical and according to the target audience the business enterprise aims to indulge, the solutions are generally packaged accordingly.

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Internet Marketing Company Announces an Increase in the Search for Keyword "no medical exam term insurance"

2011-10-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

Internet Marketing Company , an experienced leader in search engine optimization and purchasing life insurance online, announced today an increase in the search for the keyword "no medical exam term insurance." The internet marketing company keeps track of searchable keywords related to the site, and this term has had a 15% increase in searches in the last two consecutive quarters. This has, in turn, showed an increase in clients who are looking to purchase term life insurance without medical exam. The company is involved in search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and online marketing services. The search engine optimization specialists of Internet Marketing Company deliver measurable results and maximum return on investment (ROI).

"We are thrilled to see that customers are taking it upon themselves to research ways to purchase life insurance," said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of the Internet Marketing Company.

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Direct Marketing Drives Sales

2011-10-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Marketing has the power to influence millions with a single message. But just as incorrect postage on a letter prevents a note from reaching its destination, the wrong channel can limit a campaign's spread and sales effectiveness.

One of the most effective channels today continues to be direct marketing. According to "The Power of Direct Marketing" report, direct marketing-driven sales are growing at a quicker pace than overall U.S. economic growth. The report, conducted biennially by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), explores direct marketing's economic impact on the U.S. economy, highlighting historic trends, current-year estimates, and one- and five-year projections for direct marketing (DM) expenditures, sales, ROI, and employment. The 2011 research reports that digital media is showing the greatest impact on our country's rebounding economy. Total spend on digital marketing has grown by $14.5 billion since 2006, much of which can be attributed to online media. Digital channels are expected to continue to increase their share of the marketing budget, from 19 percent in 2011 to 21 percent in 2012.

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Top Five Tips for Mobile Email Marketing

2011-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

TIP #1: THINKING ABOUT MOBILE EMAIL? FIRST, HAVE A MOBILE SITE

Mobile readers will be frustrated if they touch through from an email to a website that hasn't been adapted for mobile browser access.

Even if the site functions properly and loads in a reasonable time, navigation will be difficult, and many visitors will not have the patience to complete a purchase or other desired action.

51% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from retailers with a mobile specific website, but despite this, 79% of the largest advertisers still do not have mobile sites. [Google Adweek Presentation]

Vendors who are not prepared with a mobile web strategy are quite literally leaving money on the table.

For more on building mobile-ready sites, read the Econsultancy Mobile Websites and Apps Best Practice Guide.

TIP #2: PREPARE FOR A QUICK GLANCE

There are no rules for what to do - but keep the small screen form-factor of emails in mind at all times.

The arts blog Hyperallergic attempts to address this problem by formatting its rich-format newsletter as a single vertical column with discretely blocked niches. There's a big eye-catching logo leader, a photo, some text, and an ad.

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Online Marketing Outstrips TV Advertising for the First Time

2011-10-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

A recent report has seemingly confirmed what online marketing experts have been predicting for some time – the overtaking of TV advertising with internet advertising and marketing initiatives.

The report, published at the weekend by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau, showed that the total spend for online marketing leapt by 14 per cent in the first six months of 2011, coming to a grand total of £2.3 billion and pushing internet advertising’s share of the market up to 27 per cent.

Advertisers spent a whopping £45 million on viral videos, noting that 2.3 billion of these vids are watched every month – which is twice as much as was spent last year. As a whole, display advertising online increased its spend by 18.5 per cent year-on-year to a total of £510 million and a 23 per cent market share.

Financial institutions were the biggest spenders when it came to making the switch to online marketing, followed by supermarket chains Tesco and M&S, car giant Ford and BSkyB.

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Single Throw Internet Marketing to Donate Dollars for Likes

2011-10-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Single Throw is going pink for October. In support of Susan G. Komen For The Cure, Single Throw will be donating $1 for every individual who “likes” their Facebook fanpage and subscribes to their email list.

Single Throw will be tallying donations for the month of October. In addition to donating $1 for every Facebook Like and new subscriber, the Internet marketing consultants at Single Throw will be giving their Facebook page a pink layout.

In further support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Single Throw is also sponsoring Ray Catena’s All in for a Cure. All proceeds of the event will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Catena’s Casino Night also celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Ray Catena Motor Car.

Larry Bailin, CEO of Single Throw and author of the best-selling marketing book, “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?”, says, “The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization is one of the top sources of funds for the fight against breast cancer. I’m really excited to contribute to the fight and hope we can help make a difference. So everybody, get on Facebook and Like the Single Throw page.”

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Apple Cedes Surging India Smartphone Market to Nokia-RIM

2011-10-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Apple Inc., the world's largest smartphone maker, is having trouble selling iPhones in India, a market with 602 million active subscribers.

Apple, which will introduce a new iPhone version tomorrow, ships fewer handsets to the world's second-largest mobile-phone market than it does to Norway. Nokia Oyj and Research In Motion Ltd. sell more devices in India, where smartphone shipments are forecast to grow almost 70 percent a year until 2015, helping mitigate their market-share losses in the U.S. and Europe.

Sales for the world's biggest company by market value are hindered because Indian wireless carriers, which started third- generation networks this year, have yet to offer nationwide services fast enough to take advantage of iPhone features, said Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst at Scotia Capital Inc. in Toronto.

“Networks in India are just not conducive for Apple -- 3G networks aren't quite where they are in Western Europe and North America,” he said. “RIM got the right product, the right timing, the right app.”

Apple shipped 62,043 iPhones to India in the quarter ending June 30, or fewer than to Norway, Belgium or Israel, according to estimates by Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC.

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Single Throw Internet Marketing to Donate Dollars for Likes

2011-10-05T22:14:00.000-07:00

Is Your Brand Showing On Social Media?

2011-10-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

7 Tips to Enhance Your Brand on Social Media

To build your brand encompassing the shorthand marketing messages that create emotional bonds with consumers built into your social media marketing, break it into its component parts and consider how to apply each to your social media execution and content.

1. What's your brand promise? What's the one thing your brand always delivers to your customers? It has to be easy to describe so prospects, customers, and fans remember it. Blendtec's Will It Blend videos consistently show its industrial strength blenders by humorously testing them with a variety of well-known products including iPhones and iPads in a lab setting complete with hard hats, protective eyewear, and white lab coats.
2. How is your brand positioned? Jack Trout and Al Ries taught that positioning is what you do in the mind of your prospects and consumers who own your brand. American Express Open created a social media forum for business owners to help them build their dreams. By providing premium quality, useful content their customers need, American Express helps businesses while positioning its brand.
3. What's your brand's personality? To extend this to social media, think about which social media platforms you plan to engage on. How will you engage with prospects, customers, and the public? Remember, you must be consistent in your social media approach. Cable provider Comcast created ComcastCares on Twitter to interact directly with its customers and give its customers another conduit to reach it. This has helped Comcast's brand image.

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Strategic Web Marketing

2011-10-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

The name of the game is always changing in the world of web marketing, as new competitors enter the ecommerce market and search engine algorithms become more advanced, personalized and localized. There are many consultants who offer their professional services to improve an organization’s online presence, but web marketing involves more than banner ads and keyword copywriting, and without a strategy it is usually ineffective. This is where a full service online marketing company such as OMguru can help. The first step to profitable web marketing is to outline the goals and budget for the marketing plan. “At OMguru, we then work backwards to see what mix of services align best to achieve the desired goal in a given frame of time, with the allotted budget,” says Rasna Bedi, OMguru’s certified Internet marketing consultant.

Retailers Can Invest in Better eCommerce

Some of the services available to B2B or B2C companies selling products online include:

1) Help in developing a state of the art ecommerce website that is user friendly and has one page checkout, as well as an easy-to-use admin or back end for data import or export (also includes mobile ecommerce).

2) Automated email marketing (e.g., If someone buys an engagement ring, then two weeks later they automatically receive an email to buy a wedding band).

3) Search engine optimization (SEO) of the keywords that are specific to the nature of the business.

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Hickory Internet Marketing Firm Introduces New Website

2011-09-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Charlotte - X-Factor Web Marketing is pleased to announce their new, re-designed website, http://www.X-FactorMarketing.com. X-Factor provides Internet marketing services including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click, public relations, website design, copywriting, and web maintenance services to clients from a variety of industries.

“We are huge proponents of keeping websites current, and that includes our own,” says Laurie Evans, X-Factor Web Marketing Account Manager. “Our new website, designed by our own award-winning graphic designers, features enhanced graphics, new services, special deals and even more user-friendly navigation. We also have an active blog that helps us keep an open communication line with clients.”

Evans continues, “We want to be accessible to clients and easy to find on the major search engines like Google and Bing, and our new website will definitely help us stay on target with that goal. We encourage any business that has not revamped their website in months or even years to contact us. We specialize in turning obsolete websites into a powerhouse marketing tool.”

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Online Marketing Without Advertising

2011-09-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, most people don't like online ads, are not interested in ads and do not click on ads.

Need some proof?

• According to the Pew Project for American Journalism annual report for 2010, the vast majority of Internet users, 79%, say they never or rarely had clicked on an online advertisement. They don't mind them. They simply ignore them.

• Click-through rates on Facebook ads only averaged 0.05% (5 clicks per 10,000 ads) in 2010.

• According to Comscore and Starcom research, 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks on display ads. So, when marketers use ads they miss most of their potential customers.

Do you know why? The reason is simple: Readers come for editorial content, not for the ads. I want you to try thinking of yourself. When you go online, do you go for advertisements or for editorial content? Do you click on ads or on editorial links?

Then why online marketers continue to use ads as the main way to reach their target audience, and why publishers continue to use ads as the main way to monetize their content? It's because online marketers and publishers copied the way offline newspapers monetize content - ads.

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Social media a threat to business security

2011-09-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

The impact of increasing use of social media among professionals and companies was singled out as one of the biggest threats faced by businesses in 2011 at an IT security briefing in Sydney yesterday.

John Reeman founder and chief technical officer of firm VMinformer said that social media sites offered all the ingredients for a security crisis.

"The world is changing and we're all adopting social media very, very quickly so we see this as one of the top (security) threats in 2011 and moving forward," Mr Reeman said.

"There are three main reasons for this. The first is that they're hugely popular. The second is that they foster a culture of trust. If you couple them with a third, that they have inherently insecure code behind those web sites, then you've really got the elements of the perfect storm," Mr Reeman said.

The increasingly sophisticated methods that social networking sites use to monitor their members' activities both while their logged into sites like Facebook and after they leave were among concerns raised by security specialists at the meeting.
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Tucson, Catalina Foothills, Arizona Online Marketing Expert Soo Kim Joins Local Guerrilla Marketing

2011-09-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

Soo Kim joins Local Guerrilla Marketing in the fight to bring customers back to local businesses.

Tuscon, Arizona (PRWEB) September 26, 2011

There is good news for Arizona -

Local Guerrilla Marketing's Certified Consultants Soo Kim of Tuscon, Arizona are gearing up to assist local business owners in slashing their marketing costs while doubling their profits.

About Local Guerrilla Marketing:
Local Guerrilla Marketing is the most trusted brand name providing online marketing solutions for local businesses. Offering stellar, result-oriented online marketing products such as Local Search Profiles, Social Media Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Video Email Marketing and Video SEO Campaigns, Local Guerrilla Marketing is a force to be reckoned with. The days of 'the big guys' dominating the market are numbered with help from Local Guerrilla Marketing.

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Marketing class available for growers

2011-09-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Selling loads of fresh fruit and vegetables isn’t just for wholesale farmers anymore. Small produce growers are marketing their goods, too, at farmers’ markets and beyond.

Whether they are veteran wholesalers or beginners who just fell off the turnip truck, they are the target audience for the Oklahoma Market Garden School, a series of marketing classes that will be taught in Muskogee for the next two months.

“This is really targeted to people who grow fresh fruits and vegetables and sell to direct markets off their farm,” said Lynn Brandenberger, an Oklahoma State University food crops extension and research specialist.

However, the classes are designed to appeal to a variety of growing enthusiasts.

They include Adele Healey of Tulsa, a self-described “beginner” who attended Thursday’s initial session, taught by Dr. Merritt Taylor, the director of OSU’s Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

“We’re considering gardening for our family’s needs and whether we can help other people in the process,” Healey said. “They said this class is both for beginners and those already established in business.”

The classes cover a range of topics, with a different instructor for each. The topics will include soil and fertilizer management, fruit and nut production, crop establishment and irrigation, vegetable crop production, pest management, season extension techniques, and food safety and marketing.

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New Facebook Analysis Shows 65 Million "Like" or Share Button Clicks to Top 1,000 Sites

2011-09-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

BrightEdge, the world's first enterprise class SEO platform that helps brands rise above the increasing clutter of the Web, released a new SocialShare report today that shows the power and influence of the Facebook "Like" button for viral discovery and distribution. Since the launch of the "Like" and "Share" buttons, links to the front pages of the top 1,000 sites on the Web have been liked and shared on Facebook more than 65 million times.

The analysis also looked at these top 1,000 sites to learn which Facebook share buttons have gained the most ubiquity. BrightEdge for the first time was able to rank Facebook's many share buttons in a top 10 rank based on usage on the Web's largest and most trafficked sites.

"Changes to Facebook social plugins may be imminent and this analysis shows how significant these features have become on the Web today," said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. "Very few features have achieved the massive scale of adoption that Facebook 'Like 'and 'Share' buttons now see across the Internet. And the usage of these buttons is unprecedented in the history of the Web."

The BrightEdge SocialShare Engine also was able to learn for the first time ever that 25 percent of the top 1,000 web sites have adopted Facebook plugins. The "Like" Button is the most utilized share feature that Facebook offers. It lets users share pages from a site directly on their Facebook profile with a single click of a button.

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Online Marketing Firm IdeaOverTen, LLC Expands Line of Services

2011-09-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

IdeaOverTen, LLC has launched its new website with an expanded suite of services that includes everything from video SEO to social media marketing. IdeaOverTen’s new service offerings are designed to equip businesses with everything they need to develop and maintain a successful online presence.

Allentown, PA – September 19, 2011 – Leading search engine optimization and internet marketing firm IdeaOverTen, LLC just launched its new company website at www.IdeaOver10.com and is now offering an expanded line of services to its clients. IdeaOverTen provides businesses with an optimal return on investment by taking a scientific approach to online marketing.

Unlike many online marketing firms, IdeaOverTen doesn’t jump from trend to trend or overreact to major industry changes. IdeaOverTen, whose owner comes from a scientific background, looks at things from an analytical point of view. The staff examines the underlying reasons why certain trends come about and then makes the necessary adjustments to their online marketing campaigns based on those findings.

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Big Data-Driven Online Marketing Analytics Top Business Impact

2011-09-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Analytics experts and data scientists say that big data from multi-structured data sources are having the greatest impact on business applications for digital marketing optimization, according to a webcast survey conducted by Teradata /quotes/zigman/480716/quotes/nls/tdc TDC -0.42% , the analytic data solutions company.

The survey of quantitative analysts and experts followed a live Teradata-Aster Data webcast with guest speaker IDC Vice President Dan Vesset: "Big Data Analytics Comes of Age: Unlock the Power of Multi-structured Data" which covered the market forces driving the need for next-generation analytic platforms. The program, available online, also covers best practices among leading organizations and example use cases on big data for digital marketing optimization, social network and relationship analysis, fraud prevention, and applications from machine-generated data.

"Businesses everywhere are feeling the impact of the big data revolution and specific types of multi-structured data are driving new business opportunities," said Randy Lea, vice president, Teradata's Aster Center of Innovation. "To get value from big data, 'quants' or data scientists are becoming analytic innovators who create tremendous business value within an organization, quickly exploring and uncovering game-changing insights from vast volumes of data, as opposed to merely accessing transactional data for operational reporting."

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The SEO Agency Delivers Cost Effective Internet Marketing

2011-09-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

Internet marketing and search engine optimization have become buzzwords for businesses looking to increase their online profiles and customer base. Effective internet marketing requires expertise and success can be difficult to measure, leading to a slew of individuals and companies promoting SEO services that are expensive and often subpar. The SEO Agency, a professional, Arizona-based firm that has been specializing in Internet marketing for over a decade, is combatting this trend by offering their cutting edge and proven-effective packages for as little as $399 per month.

Internet marketing and search engine optimization have become buzzwords for businesses looking to increase their online profiles and customer base. Effective internet marketing requires expertise and success can be difficult to measure, leading to a slew of individuals and companies promoting SEO services that are expensive and often subpar. The SEO Agency, a professional, Arizona-based firm that has been specializing in Internet marketing for over a decade, is combatting this trend by offering their cutting edge and proven-effective packages for as little as $399 per month.

August 31, 2011 -- Recognition that Internet marketing campaigns are no longer an afterthought but a major source of customers for many businesses has led to a proliferation of startup companies offering search engine optimization services. The demand for effective SEO and Internet marketing campaigns has led many businesses to pay excessive fees for campaigns that fizzled because the marketing company they worked with lacked expertise, tools or any real experience in SEO. In many cases, customers end up wondering what they actually paid for, since there is little information provided about the way of measuring the campaign’s success.

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SEO Company India Brings You Innovative Ways for Internet Marketing

2011-09-19T02:21:00.000-07:00

Seopackages.net bring you remarkable ways to market your business with proper planning and organization. We bring a professional team of dedicated Search engine optimizers that are sure to maximize your outsourcing benefits at most competitive prices and increase your marketing ROI.

Social media networks are the driving force of any business. More and more business owners are taking full advantage of the benefits of using social media to promote their business and engage with customers on the Internet. At seopackages.net, we understand that social media marketing is an important part of business growth and that is why we provide expert SMO services along with other equally important internet marketing tactics.

Some ways in which we can help you through social media marketing are:

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Facebook technology enhances online marketing

2011-09-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

FACEBOOK has tackled several problems with the News Feed page -- the very first page that is usually seen by anyone who logs on to the social networking site.

The News Feed is an all-important part of Facebook because of the essential content it brings to the viewing public.

The good news is that engineers and executives of the popular social networking site have come up with new algorithms of News Feed -- for the purpose of providing users with relevant content -- which are collectively known as EdgeRank.

You may not be aware of the fact that News Feed only brings the subset of the news produced by your friends, but think of this: if the whole content is shown up then this will only overwhelm the viewers.

Developers and other outsourcing sites such as my company, busylizzie.ie, are always trying to make sure that their respective sites and applications are ultimately publishing stories that will make a certain cut and make viewers want for more.

This has led to the conceptualisation of what is known today as News Feed Optimisation and the success of this endeavour is powered by EdgeRank.

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Businesses must have realistic SEO expectations

2011-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

According to some search engine optimization experts, many people using this form of online marketing set their sights too high and should settle for more attainable goals.

In an article for Search Engine Watch, Mark Jackson writes that simply having the No. 1 keyword ranking on Google searches isn't as important as people think. He says that even if a company gets the premium spot, it could change due to the search company adjusting its algorithm.

"Though everyone has one of those keywords that they salivate over, a solid, long-lasting presence in the search engines is one in which your presence is balanced across a number of keywords," Jackson wrote for the website. "A 'goal' should be increasing traffic and – at the end of the day – growing your business (more leads, more sales, and ROI)."

According to AOL's head of SEO, Simon Heseltine, it's important for firms to get to know how Google's algorithm works and adjust content to fit it more effectively. In an interview with Tech Journal South, Heseltine said even minor changes could have a major impact.

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Social Media Marketing 101

2011-09-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

Social media is here to stay, and just like the former regime has realized it, so should you. Business Today brings you a few ideas to market yourself via your favorite social networks. By Nadine El Sayed

If there is one thing the past seven months has taught us, it is just how powerful social media can be. Businesses were quick to notice too — in less than a month, almost every company worth its salt launched a Twitter or Facebook page. The advent of social media has pushed companies to become more creative as well. Instead of a traditional ‘invite the press and hope for a review of your new products’ PR stunt, Nokia held a press conference solely for the movers and shakers of the blogging world to publicize its new Nokia E7 smartphone a few months ago.
If you’re already a big shot in the business world, new to entrepreneurship or just interested in selling the occasional pie here and there, it’s time to tap into the world of online marketing, and more specifically, social media marketing to get your message across. Here are a few marketing ideas to reach out to your customers online without losing your mind — or potential new clients.

Identify your target market
Social networks are open to everyone — everyone who can afford internet access, that is. Consequently, it is only good for reaching a certain target market. To start with, you need to identify who you want to connect with and then find out if those same people are online.

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Less well known security firms stay competitive marketing online

2011-09-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

The web has opened up opportunities for security software brands to challenge the hegemony of Norton and McAfee, giving companies like AVG and Avast a way to gain consumer mind share, according to a new report from leading market research company, The NPD Group.

Unlike the two market leaders, the ability of smaller, less well-known companies to gain substantial market presence through PC distribution and via retail shelves is extremely limited and expensive, since this channel carries enormous setup and trade costs. Companies that can’t afford retail continue to be limited by their inability to access the vast majority of customers for security software.

“Norton and McAfee have done a great job leveraging their hard-won brand recognition into strong distribution relationships in the best places the customer can be acquired — at the store point of presence and at the point of PC purchase,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD. “When it comes to selling on the Internet, however, smaller less well-known companies are managing to stay competitive.”

According to NPD’s “Security Software Topical Report,” the leading providers of security software, Norton and McAfee, have almost universal consumer recognition (86 percent each), and they use that recognition to deliver their products over a wide range of channel choices.

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Internet Marketing Guru and Consultant Brian Horn Signs Publishing Deal With CelebrityPress

2011-09-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

Brian Horn, best selling author and internet marketing expert, along with a select group of leading marketing and business experts from around the world, have joined together to co-write the forthcoming book titled, The New Masters of Online Marketing. Nick Nanton, Esq. along with business partner, JW Dicks, Esq., recently signed a publishing deal with each of these authors to contribute their expertise to the book, which will be released under their CelebrityPress(TM) imprint.

Best-selling author, Brian Horn, is recognized by many as the "SEO Guru to the Stars" because of his role in helping many of the top celebrity entrepreneurs in the world with the search engine optimization and internet marketing. He consulted for Dan Kennedy & Bill Glazer, Ryan Deiss, Ed O'Keefe, Lloyd Irving, Rory Fatt, and several other industry leaders.

Brian has consulted with these marketing titans in secrecy for nearly 5 years before exploding onto the scene in 2009. Brian has been profiled and featured on ABC, CBS, Forbes, Advertising Age and dozens of other media outlets. Inc Magazine recently named Brian as "The Be On Page 1 of Google Guru" and an "emerging business leader to watch".

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Search marketing results boosted by images and coupons

2011-09-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

When investing in search marketing strategies for digital media it pays to offer images and coupons, according to new research.

A recent study by MarketingSherpa found that using tactics such as search engine optimisation, listing business phone numbers, images and coupons were all effective in increasing consumer conversion and site traffic numbers.

BrightLocal also suggested in a recent study that 37 per cent of US Google searchers looking for a local business would give a company more attention and consideration if its search results included business images or a brand logo.

Online coupons are becoming an especially popular direct marketing tool, as eMarketer recently estimated that nearly half of adult internet users in the US will redeem these web derived vouchers either online or offline this year.

Noah Elkin, principal analyst of the firm, claimed that by using online coupons, businesses can expand their web marketing, while enticing a greater consumer market.

"Even as the sputtering economy attempts its recovery, the popularity of couponing has continued, spurred in part by the burgeoning daily deals space," Mr Elkin argued.

He later went on to suggest that: "Mobile coupons will play a central role in broadening the appeal and acceptance of digital coupons among shoppers," as a growing number of web savvy consumers now use internet services on smartphones or tablet devices.

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USD to offer online marketing training

2011-09-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

A new certificate program, offered this fall by the University of San Diego’s Office of Corporate and Professional Education, is aimed at training people to boost business through the use of social media and other online marketing efforts.

“Our hands-on program uses the latest strategies and trends in online marketing to help entrepreneurs and business owners develop an online marketing strategy that can be implemented in their own companies,” said Jodi Waterhouse, director of corporate and professional programs, in a prepared statement.

A recent report by Forrester Research concluded that online retail sales in the United States will grow to $250 billion by 2014, an increase of nearly $100 billion from 2009 levels.

USD’s program will be taught by experts and pioneers in the industry.

Instructors will help business owners and others understand the most important Internet venues to promote products and services. Classes are designed to train individuals to measure and analyze how their online efforts impact their revenue streams.

The comprehensive program includes social media, search engine optimization, website analytics and tracking along with keyword searching, email marketing and podcasting.

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Twitter to Extend Business Marketing Capabilities

2011-09-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Micro blogging platform Twitter is planning to take its advertising model a step further by allowing businesses to send ads to users that do not normally follow them.

Many businesses use Twitter to communicate to announce new products and services. Users elect to get ‘Promoted Tweets’ or ads from these companies on a voluntary basis.

Now, according to All Things Digital, the company is launching a new method of online advertising that allows companies to display ads for users who don’t normally follow them - users will not have the ability opt out.

Businesses and marketers will now be able to send ads to users they deem ‘similar’ to the ones already following them on Twitter. Twitter is expected to roll out the new advertisement method sometime in September.

“We’re always talking to marketers about ways they can get more value out of Twitter. While we have nothing to share about the way that the business might develop this fall, I can say the last month of testing for Promoted Tweets in the timeline has gone extremely well,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

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Online marketing: Mobile and video advertising on the increase

2011-09-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ecommerce businesses attempting to develop new ways to promote their brand could try mobile and video advertising as part of their online marketing strategy.

New figures released by market research company comScore revealed that 63.1 per cent of video streaming viewers were exposed to internet campaigns during June.

In the same period, 25.4 per cent stated that they had witnessed an advert while browsing online content or using an application on their mobile device, with 95.3 per cent of fixed-line users recalled seeing the promotional tools.

Mike Shaw, director of comScore Marketing Solutions, asserted that both video and mobile had emerged as vital channels for advertisers in order to reach modern consumers.

"While the penetration for video and mobile advertising has not yet reached the level that it has for online display advertising, it is likely that the penetration for these will only grow," he added.

This news comes after internet giant Google announced the launch of a daily deal online advert, representing the first time the company has featured anything but the search engine on its homepage.

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Identifying target audience 'is vital for online marketing'

2011-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ecommerce firms looking to develop their online marketing strategy could benefit from recent advice from an industry expert.

According to Mike Seddon, founder of KKSmarts.com, it is vital for businesses to identify their target audience in order to reap the benefits provided by the internet.

By doing so, companies are able to establish a method of promotion by assessing the main reason members of the public visit their website, he argued.

In addition, Mr Seddon highlighted the need for firms to work out the reasons behind the development of a page in a bid to ensure they are successful in online marketing.

"Some businesses decide that the website is going to be the vehicle by which they sell their services, some businesses will decide that it's not where they're going to sell from," he explained.

Mr Seddon also encouraged companies to be specific when considering phrases for search engine optimisation, rather than concentrating on broader terms.

"If you're a well-known brand name you probably want to rank highest on the name of your brand," he remarked.

Earlier this month, the Las Vegas Review Journal highlighted the importance of high-quality online marketing techniques for small businesses to achieve success.

Regardless of limited IT staff, the newspaper claimed that firms could use technology to their advantage in a bid to keep computer-savvy consumers interested in their services.

4 first world marketing mistakes to avoid making

2011-08-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

There’s an old adage that goes, “you need to break a few eggs to make a cake”. This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to break every egg you have in order to get the cake just right. There is a bit of an advantage to being in an emerging economy. The fact that first world markets have gone through the pain of developing and learning online marketing techniques first means there is a wealth of knowledge which emerging economies can learn from in order to ensure that their online marketing strategy is optimally efficient and not always exploratory.

Why do emerging economies need to learn from first world mistakes?

In first world economies, and especially in big business, there is a lot of cash to go around and it takes a little while before the mistakes pile up enough to be a catastrophic failure to the point where the business may fall over. So, what are some of the mistakes that first world marketers have made (and continue to make)?

1. Huge, Big, Awesome Complicated Ideas
Just because an idea is clever, doesn’t mean that it is going to work. When planning your marketing campaign, always look through to the action that you need your users to take. Amazon is brilliant at doing this. They are constantly testing and evaluating their site to ensure that users who interact with it have an intuitive sense of where to go and what to do. Ensure that there are as few hurdles your users need to jump to do business with you as possible.

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Tips for finding customers online

2011-08-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

Jay Bean is CEO of OrangeSoda of American Fork, which helps small businesses market themselves online. He offers answers to common questions business owners have about online marketing.

What’s the first step to an online marketing strategy?

Everyone wants more customers but they don’t always think about how the customers will arrive. I’ve seen dozens of service companies that will drive traffic to a website that doesn’t have a phone number listed. Once you have a goal set, everything else will fall into place. Everything you do should be built around that goal.

What does search engine optimization mean and how does it affect my business?

It’s just a fancy way of saying "make [my] stuff show up on Google (or Bing)." When people look for a business, they don’t use the Yellow Pages anymore; instead, they search online. Search engine optimization, either through keywords or key phrases, helps businesses show up before their competitors.

What is the best strategy for combining and optimizing social, mobile and search online marketing tools to help consumers find a local business on the Internet?

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Google, Telekom Malaysia team up on online marketing services

2011-08-05T03:59:00.000-07:00

Malaysia's Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), one of Asia's top telecommunications company, has entered into a year-long strategic partnership with Internet search engine giant Google Inc to provide an online marketing tool for the small and medium enterprises using its services.

Under the collaboration, selected TM SME customers will be offered Google AdWords marketing coupons worth 150-500 RM (Malaysian ringgit) (about Rs 2,000 to Rs 7,000) to advertise on the Google advertising platform, Google AdWords.

The coupons will only be given out free during the initial stage of the collaboration.

TM Executive Vice-President overlooking SME Azizi A Hadi said currently, there are about 398,000 SMEs registered with the company.

"With SMEs contributing to 37 per cent of Malaysia's GDP, they are a force to be reckoned with in the nation's economic development. This year, TM is continuing the focus on collaborating with local industry players as part of our efforts to increase our outreach to SME communities," he said.

He added that for now there was no revenue-generation from this collaboration.

Best At Cruises appoints Absolute Internet Marketing

2011-08-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Online cruise retailer, Best At Cruises, has appointed Absolute Internet Marketing to work on search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) marketing.

The company is appointing the Leicestershire based internet marketing agency to make its website prominent when prospective customers use search engines to look for holiday or cruise companies.

Simon Colley, Absolute's managing director, said: “The opportunity to work with a well established UK tour operator who already operates a suite of successful travel websites is fantastic news.

“Each year more and more British holidaymakers are opting for a cruise holiday, and with many leading cruise operators growing the number of exciting itineraries tailored purely towards the UK market, there's never been a better time and choice for those wishing to try a cruise. So it's a great time for us to be involved in this sector.”

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Online Stores Have a New Social Media Marketing Tool

2011-08-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

Facebook Marketing Leverages Friends Network with Clever Ecommerce Tool

Vista, CA. – Do You Buddy, Inc. (BBB), a California-based marketing company, has launched its social media shopping companion "Buddy Buddy Buddy", viewable at http://www.doyoubuddy.com. After over 2 years of creation, program development, and planning, BBB is set to take social networking and marketing to a new level of compatibility, giving online merchants the ability to leverage the power of the internet's largest social media platform, while at the same time providing attractive incentives for online shoppers to participate in the program. In addition, BBB gives online retailers the ability to custom market their products on an individual basis.

"Social media is the hottest thing on the internet right now," Do You Buddy co-founder Dale Wozny says. "But so far no one has come up with a way to properly monetize these social connections. We believe we've addressed this problem by providing online shoppers with rewards when their Facebook friends make purchases. This incentivizes them to tell their friends about the items they are buying online."

For online merchants, Buddy Buddy Buddy seems to be a naturally progressive move. By becoming a participating BBB e-tailer, merchants can gain a steady stream of customers motivated to buy their products and let their friends know about their purchases.

"Finally, online sellers will have a way to leverage the viral power of social networking to bring in loads of new customers without all the costs associated with pay per click and other forms of online advertising," Wozny continues. "We believe this will truly revolutionize the way products are bought and sold online."

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Google Plus May Become An Online Marketer’s Heaven

2011-07-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Google Plus Growing Based On Real Identity

Google Plus recently required that user profiles be based on real names, which frustrated some online marketers. Though the new social media platform has only been open to field testing for a month, it has shown that it can generate healthy traffic to business websites. The new social media platform has over 20 million users, many of them entrepreneurs. Twitter and Facebook both took more than three years to hit the same number of users. Google Plus is starting to be a significant source of referral traffic to marketing user websites, and at the core of Google Plus’s mission is Google’s desire to connect real identity to real people – and their businesses, if they choose to bring them onboard to the new social media player.
All Google Plus Profiles Required To Be Public

In terms of using Google Plus as a marketer or business owner, there is new information that entrepreneurs should heed. According to Theregister.co.uk, Google Plus users who do not have public profiles by July 31st, 2011 will find their profiles deleted. They can choose to delete the profiles themselves. Additionally, all public profiles are required to be associated with a real name. For businesses, Google Plus is releasing its business offering before the end of 2011. A spokesperson who works for Google told Venturebeat.com that the business product is one in which, “…You can expect to see a level of analytics and measurement that you’d typically find in Google products as well as a nuanced approach to how things are shared.

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A Marketing Partner That Goes Beyond the Expected

2011-07-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Having grown up in Hollywood, I struggled with the pressures — such as weight, self-esteem, and identity — that many women are under to feel and look a certain way. This experience drives the philosophy behind my company, i am BEYOND, a clothing line that celebrates curves and all shapes and sizes. The line is as multipurpose as the lives of the modern woman it dresses: from her yoga mat to a business lunch, to the playground or an evening out.

When we started out in 2006, my partner Michelle and I worked out of my house. Today, we have 12 people at the office, plus a team of external consultants who cover everything from sales to warehousing. We’ve been growing since day one, but a few months ago, we decided to try online advertising to expand even further. And that’s where we found our unexpected partner.

We looked at our options and the resources available to us and decided to give Google AdWords a shot. Here are a few of my tips for partnering with your online marketing agency:

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SEO Company India- A Doorway to Success in Online Marketing !

2011-07-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

SEO Company India experts develop the ranking and traffic content of websites and if possible can work on the content management of the website. In other words, these SEO services do all those things that are required to bring a website in it's target customer's visibility and make it more acceptable, approachable and approachable to the surfers and get a good ranking in the course of getting introduced in popular search engines directories like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

Ever since the evolution of the internet in the late 80s, the web has been playing a significant role in promoting different types of business in different corners of the world. Researches and studies have revealed the fact that the businesses that have a proper online marketing infrastructure enjoy a much better business prospect compared to its competitors. It has been further found that the selling capabilities of companies that lay more focus on online marketing procedures are as much as 30-40 % higher compared to the rest. These numbers are a clear representation of what magic a SEO Sercive can do.

How is an SEO Company India Beneficial ?

The sales through SEO companies go up by about 30 percent if done well. What they have to monitor is the websites to which it gives it popular hits, say Google, Yahoo and MSN. An efficient SEO company India has a capability to bring in 42 to 86 percent of the web traffic in to your company’s web page. The customer has to search the important words on a search engine and your web page has to be tagged by these words by the SEO.

Difference between SEO companies and Ad Campaigns:

These companies may seem the same to some users. But fact is that they have huge differences. They are not a paid ad campaign and provide subtle ads. This makes them more cost effective and you can cut down upon the operational costs of your company. In case of pay per click ad campaigning websites, the ads are provided in a separate box or widget. This means that many people may as well ignore the ads. What SEO company India campaign does is link up ads to bought key words in an article, which they are sure that people would click, thus improving tour market chances.

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5 tips for driving a successful online marketing campaign

2011-07-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

Online marketing has become a necessary part of every businesses marketing plan. Given its importance, it is critical that planning and research goes into your online marketing campaign, and your business is represented in a way that is consistent with its offline identity. Here are five tips to help drive a successful campaign

1. Quality website

The importance of a good website is often not taken as seriously as it should. Think about it, when ever people search for information on anything these days, they first turn to the web. Therefore, a company website may be the potential customers’ first impression of your business – and we all understand how first impressions last! It is shocking how many websites you see that display out of date information. It seems in many cases a business will create a website, leave it alone and expect it to generate more sales without putting any work into it. A website needs to be updated regularly, with changes made to try and keep it as engaging and interesting to its viewers as possible. It needs to be easy to navigate, the last thing you want is for potential customers to be turned away from your business due to an impossible to navigate website.

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How E-Web Marketing Brings Happiness, Success and Fun to Business

2011-07-25T00:41:00.000-07:00

E-Web Marketing was recognised this year in two categories at the Australian Business Awards, with accolades for Service Excellence and Recommended Employer.

"It's deeply reflective of E-Web's culture that the two award categories we won were about outstanding customer service and being an ideal place to work," confides E-Web's founder and CEO, Gary Ng. "They're so aligned with our Company Vision: We exist to bring Happiness, Success and Fun to everyone we encounter."

We often receive comments that our Company Vision about spreading Happiness, Success and Fun - or HSF, as we refer to it for short - is an unusual one for an online marketing business. But when considering the reasoning behind it, HSF doesn't seem so strange at all. Gary explains, "Ultimately, our Vision comes back to the basic human desire to have a positive influence on the world."

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Google+ and the Next Evolution of Internet Marketing

2011-07-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Since the days of the early search engines, the science of Internet Marketing has always been a rapidly evolving field of specialization. Initially focusing on keyword selection and on-site search engine optimization (SEO) around those search terms, SEO has evolved to also now include a wide facet of off-site techniques for generating high quality back-links.

As the search engines matured and online competition increased, we saw the introduction of paid inclusion advertising programs such as Google Adwords and Yahoo SEM which gave paying customers the opportunity to achieve a front page positions through bidding on key terms in a complicated online auctioning system, however again, as competition increased for this service, many terms became quite costly and as such marketers began to search for more cost effective alternatives for traffic generation.

With Facebook and the advent of social media, Internet marketers entered a new era for targeting their prospective customers. Moving away from conventional keywords alone, social media enabled marketers to form their advertising strategies around the individuals' rich demographic information, likes and interests. Through the Facebook platform, marketers could even harvest much of this information through applications and games development (such as the infamous vampire bite).

Businesses could create platform specific pages which set aside the need for conventional email lists in place of a one-click user opt-in "Like" system that allowed the business to directly market to a prospective client via their Facebook news feed.

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Online SEO Course Launched to Help People Gain Foothold Online Marketing

2011-07-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

Ontario While everyone tries their luck with online marketing not everyone manages to succeed. Online Traffic Destination, a Toronto based company has designed an SEO course to help website owners understand the different concepts of viral marketing.

The course is ideal for people looking to understand online marketing strategies like Article Marketing, Press Release Marketing, and Video Marketing. The 10 part training program can be completed in less than 24 hours. Each of these videos is around 1 to 1.4 hours in length.

Website traffic generating tips, strategies for effective video marketing, podcast marketing, directory link building, and effective ways that dominate SEO tactics are also discussed through the course.

The course has been designed by Ms. Ana. M. Cruz. She has years of experience in the SEO industry and has guided hundreds of people with the right tactics to increase site traffic. Users looking to book the course will be provided with a free ebook ‘The A-Z Beginners’. The book is a complete guide to internet marketing and teaches newbies about internet marketing business. They also get a set of tools including Article Brain Storming, the Mega Affiliate System, PowerPoint source tools, an e-cover book 3D creator, motion backgrounds, tools that help to create and submit press release and a collection of royalty free music.

“Achieving success in internet marketing is all about implementing success strategies. I’ve divided the course into 10 logical modules. Each module elucidates different elements involved in website promotion. The first module for example discusses about the plan to get instant and continuous traffic. The second video discusses about search engine modification,” says Ana.

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Marketing to iPhone moms, the new online power shopper

2011-07-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

Companies looking to make money on the Web are trying to understand a fast-growing and big-spending demographic: moms.

From Procter & Gamble to AT&T and Pandora, firms are taking notice that mothers, newly armed with smartphones, are becoming a new kind of shopping force online. A decade ago, these women were single and childless 18- to 34-year-olds who captured the hearts of Madison Avenue marketing executives with their voracious consumer appetites. Now, they are older and often in charge of the household wallet.

Moms are the fastest-growing buyers of iPhones, and they are tuning in more frequently and for longer periods than any other group on media Web sites such as Pandora, a streaming music service. Nielsen Research says mothers are far more likely to share photos and news stories on Facebook via smartphones and computers than anyone else.

“We’ve known about the opportunity of online moms for a while now, but then mobile technology came along and blew everything up,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst at research firm NPD Group.

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Many small businesses unaware of the power of online marketing

2011-07-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

In a recent survey by Hennerberg Group, an internet marketing consultant, 28 percent of small businesses are unsure of the reach of their web site.

While more small businesses are beginning to use online marketing, more than 40 percent admit they need help improving SEO, and 37 percent need helping using social media platforms. Utilizing these newer forms of marketing gives small businesses cost efficient ways to increase visibility.

“The study reveals that small business owners realize they need small business marketing professional help to get better at marketing their business,” said Gary Hennerberg, president of Hennerberg Group.

However, sometimes professional marketing help isn’t in the budget for small business owners. SmallBizTrends.com provides small business owners some ways to learn about SEO without spending a dime.

SmallBizTrends.com suggests looking at SEO blogs such as the Google Webmaster Blog or Search Engine Land. Additional online resources include Google’s SEO Starter Guide, or forums such as WebMasterWorld or SEOBook.

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Social media still not central to B2B online marketing

2011-07-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that many companies leverage social media to listen to customer feedback, many still do not consider the medium central to their B2B online marketing campaigns.

According to a new report from Dell, as many as three-quarters of companies leverage social media to listen to online conversations and respond to them when necessary. Additionally, 64 percent of them incorporate this feedback into product and service revisions, while 76 percent discuss it internally.

However, social media is still not a focus of many of these businesses' marketing efforts. Only 20 percent place the channel at the core of their online promotional efforts, while 50 percent say their social campaigns are serious but not a core function.

"Listening and responding to customers is so basic and fundamental. The emergence of social media elevates how companies can act on the feedback they get from customers," Karen Quintos, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Dell, explains.

If B2B marketers want to succeed, they need to do a better job of incorporating social media into their broader campaigns. The medium is unique in that it offers brands a way to garner feedback from customers, but they need to ensure they have a strong presence in the social sphere if they want to maximize its potential.

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Social Media Is Morphing Into Social Business

2011-07-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

These days, if you're doing business, you've got to go social. As 'social media' morphs into 'social business,' the conversation is broadening within the enterprise. In addition to Marketing and Communications, we're now seeing Legal, HR, Customer Services, Sales, and other departments adopt social technologies both internally and externally. The adoption curve is maturing.

The world's leading companies are realizing that a solid grasp of social technologies and social platforms, along with the concepts of authenticity, transparency, and trust will become critical to building global brands, transforming product development, enabling real-time customer service, and fostering social collaboration with customers and key stakeholders.

From the beginning, way back in 2007, the term 'social media' rubbed some the wrong way. Just what is social media, anyway? Doesn't it mean Facebook, blogs, Twitter? Or is it more about the new communication platforms? Or about real-time? Or maybe it's just another term for 'digital media'?

When I was developing the curriculum for the Social Media Marketing class I teach with Karl Kasca for the UCLA Extension, we grappled with this as well. Back in 2007, we spent a lot of time in the first session defining 'social media,' and quite a lively discussion ensued. And today the market is still defining it.

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How To Plan A Business

2011-07-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

Navigating today’s business marketplace is challenging, especially for new businesses. Traditional marketing strategies are no longer effective, and many new businesses are left struggling to figure out what works – and doesn’t work – on their own. In today’s hyper-competitive marketplace, the future of a business rests upon the ability to properly market products or services, and proper brand promotion from day one.

Signs Now Mill Creek, a signage firm serving the greater Seattle area, takes the guesswork out of marketing with its free, online guide titled “How to Plan a Business: Marketing a New Business for Success.” The guide is available on the Signs Now Mill Creek website at http://www.signsnowmillcreek.com/home/signs-by-industry/starting-a-business.html. There are also 30 checklists targeted to specific industries, ranging from retail stores and real estate firms to restaurants and automotive dealerships.

“Business owners often find themselves asking, “What is the best way to market my business?” “Why is my current marketing strategy failing?” More often than not, the answer is that the business does not have an effective marketing plan,” says Signs Now Mill Creek owner Rani Bal.

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How Social Media Can Derail Your New-Business Efforts

2011-07-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Social media has had a dramatic impact on the life of the agency business development executive over the last several years, particularly when it comes to prospecting, doing market research and gaining industry intelligence.

Whether it's zeroing in on marketing decision makers at companies on LinkedIn, or learning what's on the mind of that individual through his Twitter feed, we use social media on a daily basis to bolster new business. What I've learned most over the last year is that, along with many benefits, social media can actually work against your agency.

Let me share a few risks you might not be aware of -- as well as how you can capitalize on them.

Linking to your client prospect
When you link to a marketer, whether a prospect or current client, you are letting your LinkedIn colleagues know who you're talking to or working with. That's not necessarily bad. By monitoring LinkedIn, you can give your agency team a sense of the landscape and agencies you might be up against in a review.

It also has some downsides. Our agency was recently participating in an agency review and within the first day of talking to the prospect, who we were already linked to, a number of agency business development folks connected to the same contact. While the prospect wasn't revealing agency names of the other participants, we pretty much knew who we were up against.

Recommendation: Don't link to your pitch prospect until after a review. This not only keeps the review quiet, but it also doesn't give your agency competitors an opportunity to find potential weak spots in your armor.

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Top tips for online marketing on a shoestring

2011-07-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Social media is a great tool to help increase awareness of your brand, participate in thoughtful industry discussions, and engage with potential customers. If used correctly, social media can do wonders for your reputation and credibility.

It is worthwhile to register a Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin account under your business name. But, know that not all of these outlets will be suitable for all businesses. Try different strategies and see what works. Businesses that involve customers’ personal life or hospitality (e.g. hair salons, restaurants) may find the most success on Facebook, while IT consultants may find the most success on Linkedin.

Whichever site(s) you choose as your focus, remember that the primary goals are responsiveness and engagement. Share your knowledge and insight; contribute to the discussion; interact with users. Be active on your page and work to garner likes and comments, so that potential customers will continue to see your updates. This type of engagement will help to build up a network of people who know who you are, recommend you to others, and link to your site.

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Usually smooth Giants make marketing error

2011-07-12T03:46:00.001-07:00

Marketing is a tricky thing, and though the Giants have mastered it in many ways, in one glaring instance, they've messed it up.

This is a team that is no hard sell, compelling enough to be the focus of a Showtime series ("The Franchise," premiering Wednesday), and tied tightly – sellout after sellout testifies – to its community and fans.

But a contest on the Comcast website involving the team seems to be an unnecessary step toward tastelessness.

The contest seeks a baby to be born of Giants-fan parents as close as possible to nine months after the team's Nov. 1 World Series victory. OK, fine.

But whenever the contest is promoted during game broadcasts, it goes from babies-are-fun cuteness to (in not so many words), "So, you had sex the night the Giants won the Series. Tell us about it."

The Comcast Sports on-air talent charged with pushing mom- and dad-to-be to dish about their night of championship and – possibly – contest-winning passion, the otherwise suitable Amy G, comes off as a microphone- toting peeping Tom.

Saturday night, she interviewed a very pregnant woman and her significant other and pressed for details. The woman giggled, the man stammered something about champagne and things getting fuzzy after that, and Amy G leaned in to get the scoop.

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Online marketing mistakes every business should avoid

2011-07-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is a continued series of marketing articles explaining all seven online marketing mistakes.

Last month the first mistake was explained: "Your website's call to action stinks." This column will cover the second and third mistakes.

Not gathering email addresses

I recently had a conversation with a business owner who we'll call John. John wasn't anything special, he had an average business with an average income. He worked about 60 hours a week and spent the weekend at home with his family.

His company was a service business and he provided a good service that helped his clients. He was good at what he did.

There was a sales problem. He wasn't getting enough clients. This is something most business owners can relate to. At times it's hard to bring customers or clients through the door.

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Top tips for online marketing on a shoestring

2011-07-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Online marketing is an invaluable tool for businesses looking to increase awareness of their product and engage with potential customers. With an understanding of the resources available and a little bit of creativity, an online marketing strategy can be one of the most cost-effective ways of maximizing your business’s potential.

During the Business Startup show at London’s ExCeL centre in May, Simply Business partnered with PR agency 3 Monkeys and SEO agency Distilled to discuss some of the top marketing tips for people staring out in business. We have taken some of the top tips from the day and added some of our own and will be publishing them as a blog series over the next week. You can read the second tip of our seven-part series below.
2. Learn the ins and outs of Google.

With users today relying on Google for everything from their smallest needs to their biggest purchases, performing well in search engines should be one of the primary concerns of your online marketing campaign. If your site is at the top of search engines, you will see more visitor traffic, which inevitably translates to more business for your company.

There are many sites and online resources which can help you to maximise your search engine ranking. SEOmoz is one site with great resources and information to get you started. Tools like “On-Page Keyword Optimization” and “Keyword Difficulty” conduct analyses to identify which queries maximise your ranking potential, and which keywords are best to target. Google Webmaster Tools can also tell you the keywords that are most relevant to your site, the number of hits your site is getting for specific queries, and a list of websites that most often link to yours.

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Video content increases consumers’ online activity: ACMA

2011-07-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

Video content is increasing the online activity of Australian consumers according to a new report that suggests start-ups need to ramp up multimedia efforts.

A report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed that Australian internet users downloaded an average of 18.8 gigabytes of data per user during the 2010 December quarter, which is equivalent to 120 hours streaming of video content online.

In the 2009 December quarter that figure was 14.6 gigabytes per user.

ACMA chairperson Chris Chapman said the surge was partly due to increased downloading of video content.

The report reveals that 5.5 million Australians accessed video streaming sites such as YouTube and Google Video from home during December 2010, compared to 5.1 million in March 2010.

According to research company Nielsen Online, YouTube ranks as the fourth most popular website in Australia, with Google number one.

Nielsen research revealed that almost three-quarters of Australian businesses are dedicating at least 10% of their budgets to social media marketing, with YouTube forming an increasingly important part of the mix.

Marketing consultant Farid Alhadi, who specializes in YouTube marketing, says no marketing strategy is complete without a multimedia presence.

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Marketing-Free Social Media

2011-07-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

What role does social media play at your bank?

We're in multiple areas: Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIn. We use it more for branding than for marketing. It's a way to share information with customers, content related to financial services. We also send holiday messages to people.
Is there anything that you avoid?

We stay away from the marketing aspect because of regulatory concerns [regarding online ad content] ... last week we sat down with two regulators from the FDIC for a cursory exam prior to our larger exam ... they liked that we were not doing any type of advertising on social media. And imagine trying to disclose information about a rate offer in 140 characters [Twitter's character limit]. It's not going to happen.
How can social media add value?

It's not a separate channel; we look at it as a way to get information out to customers who come to us with product questions, or integrate customer service issues with the branch or contact center. It's another way for people to interact with us if they choose to.
What are some of the major misconceptions about social media?

One is that everybody has to be in all of the different outlets. That's untrue, and the people who are saying that are those who make money selling banks on their own expertise. Social media is no different than any other interaction. You have to do it if it's right for your organization or right for your customer base. If you study the impact of a site and it can add value to your relationships, then you say 'yes.' If not, then say 'no.' People talk about the ROI of social media. I think that's a crock. It doesn't exist.

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Can Google+ Bring Online Marketing Strands Together?

2011-07-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Until now, there have been two very distinct strands to online marketing, informed by the two giants of their fields – Google and Facebook.

The search engine giant has always been the undisputed ruler of the SEO marketing world, with Yahoo and Bing coming a clear second, while Facebook – along with Twitter – have been instrumental in pushing social media to the forefront of all successful online marketing strategies.

Now everything is likely to change again as the two strands come together, thanks to the launch of Google’s very own social network, Google+.

Google+ has already been the victim of its own success, going over capacity within two days of its launch and necessitating a temporary halt until it could recalibrate its systems.

Experts are saying that Google+ could herald a new dawn for online marketing, bridging the gap between such business-orientated networks, such as LinkedIn, and the more casual friends networks like Facebook.

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More Tips For The Online Entrepreneur

2011-07-04T02:52:00.000-07:00

It’s the Fourth of July here in the U.S., and small business owners around the world are celebrating their independence with increased activity in the online space. Working online allows small businesses access to new global markets, opportunities for new low cost marketing options and an incredible new array of networking and other tools. Here’s our roundup of tips for the online entrepreneur. Have something you think we’ve missed? Share it in the comment section below:
Blogging

Does your business have a blog? Lots of businesses do and are finding the benefits offered by business blogging. Giving your small business an enhanced online presence could include experimenting with the many advanced features a blog offers. A simple Website may not cut it these days. What do you want to achieve with your business communications? A blog may help. Small Business Shift

Monetization basics. Yes, businesses can make money online and, yes, your blog could become more than simply a Website marketing another business. It could be your business. But before you get too excited or listen to a lot of get rich quick gurus, please understand. This is a lot of hard work. The Work At Home Woman
Social Media

Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter for traffic? Using social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter to refer traffic to your Website is one tactic often used by online entrepreneurs these days. But time is limited for anyone in small business, so, given the choice, which sites are the best for referring traffic? Facebook, of course, is number one, but you may be surprised at the second place contender. Seeking Alpha

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Microsoft's Monster Moat and Marketing Issues

2011-07-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

There seem to be thousands of articles written about Microsoft's (MSFT) valuation, poor leadership and stock price. I am surprised, quite frankly, that by now no one has coined, "Steve the Stink Ballmer." People are calling for his resignation even though the underlying business performance has been pretty great.

There is no doubt that Microsoft is cheap at these levels. A P/E of 10, throwing off loads of free cash flow, low debt, tons of cash, great returns on assets and equity and a solid projected earnings growth rate of 10% plus. The important questions to ask at this point are:

What will probably happen in Microsoft's future domestically and internationally?
Can Microsoft's business prospects generate enough investor optimism to move the needle on the stock price?
How much intrinsic value has Microsoft built for itself over the years?

The purpose of this article is to answer these questions and to build a case that Microsoft is undervalued relative to its intrinsic value and its moat is bigger than people think. I will do this by addressing the following areas from a QUALITATIVE perspective:

Microsoft's moat is bigger than people think.
Microsoft's poor marketing and branding in the consumer segment are fixable.

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Multinationals need custom online marketing approaches

2011-07-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Multinational companies should adapt their online marketing activities to suit their markets.

Adjusting social media campaigns and other online marketing activities will mean communications remain locally relevant.

Michael Edwards, director of digital and experiential marketing for health and beauty firm Amway, told Clickz his company uses Facebook to engage with distributors across the world.

Describing this method of communicating as "transformative", Mr Edwards said: "It is a technology that connects the global, regional and local dots."

But it needs to be used correctly. Amway wants to be locally relevant, which is why Mr Edwards explains the 30-odd members of staff tasked with social media customise Amway Facebook pages to support this strategy.

"We look at Facebook customisation in the same way that we look at the products we launch and support around the world," he added.

The launch of Google+ this week is likely to provide new challenges for those working in online marketing, regardless of its similarities to existing channels.

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Online Marketing Analyst

2011-06-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Online Marketing Analyst Responsibilities include:

Plan and organize major acquisition marketing programs and assist in the development by agencies and internal team.
Facilitate the review of current web site analytic capabilities and how data flows between top of funnel ad serving through back end financial metrics to provide accurately and timely reporting metrics and analysis to provide to Acquisition Team for full circle optimization and attribution modeling of display, email, mobile, and social media marketing.
Track campaign results and performance of online acquisition efforts including direct marketing metrics of cost per click (CPC), cost per lead (CPL), cost per account (CPA), and ROI
Own relationships with ad serving firm, web site analytics firm, working closely with regional marketing managers to actively monitor, analyze, and optimize global advertising campaigns’ performance and recommend adjusting messaging, promotional efforts and other elements to cater to local markets, while leveraging global or regional programs.
Leverage web site analytics, third party research and internal reporting to improve targeting and lower acquisition costs.
Partner with web and product teams to make recommendations for changes, enhancements to improve acquisition programs and overall customer experience.

Reasons for Online Marketing Failure, and Overcoming Them

2011-06-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Online marketing isn't something you can just through in. These campaigns, just like traditional marketing, require thought.

Online marketing demands that entrepreneurs continue to innovate and evolve. Be it creatively repackaging products, promotions of services etc, a bit of freshness is sure to create an interest in your business. However, entrepreneurs are often found to refrain or limit their creativity unknowingly.

TJ Philpott, blogger and Internet entrepreneur, believes that the opportunities for creative online marketing are unlimited, and that small or medium business owners need to explore and to come up with new ideas to get the strategy right.

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Successful online marketing requires letting go

2011-06-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that every piece of content and conversation that you publish online can help you build your business, brand and career? Content marketing is a powerful marketing tool, but it can reach its full potential only if you're brave enough to give up control of your content and the online conversation related to it. You need to make the commitment to allow the conversation and your content to flow in order to gain maximum exposure and growth from your efforts.

The following explanation of this concept comes from Content Marketing for Dummies (Wiley, 2011) which can help you learn how to use content marketing to build your business, brand and career.

One of the most common mistakes in content marketing is using a gateway that people must go through in order to access content. For example, many people keep their social networking and Twitter profiles private and many businesses require that people provide their e-mail addresses in order to access their newsletters, white papers, ebooks, and so on. For maximum exposure, sharing, and conversations, you need to remove those gateways. Collecting email addresses and hiding your best content behind such a requirement is an old-school concept. Today, the opportunities that you gain by eliminating these gateways and allowing your best content to spread far and wide are significantly greater than the opportunities that a list of e-mail addresses can deliver.

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E-Web Marketing Ranks #2 in BRW Best Places to Work 2011

2011-06-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

Every year, BRW joins forces with The Great Places to Work Institute to perform one of the most intensive employee surveys and culture audits in corporate Australia. As a first-time entry in 2010, E-Web Marketing was ranked as #7. This year, E-Web Marketing came in as the #2 place to work in Australia. This is an incredible accomplishment for a company of only 42 employees, coming up against international corporations.

“We are really honoured and proud to achieve the #2 ranking just behind Google,” says CEO Gary Ng. “When we first launched E-Web Marketing, we wanted to create an environment where people will look forward to coming to work on Monday morning. A work place where people can thrive on challenge, be inspired by a learning environment, enjoy the satisfaction of being able to help people and have fun in doing so.”

Our place among the top places to work in Australia is testament not only to the surface-level ‘perks’ such as our napping room, themed departments, ping pong table, video games and company events, but largely also to the structure of E-Web Marketing. Our company vision, “We exist to bring Happiness, Success & Fun to everyone we encounter. We are E-Web Marketing”, incorporates a supportive management team, programs to empower and build all members’ potentials, and the opportunity to make a difference not just to our peers but to our clients and the wider business community as well.

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Online marketing, e-commerce the focus of SEMA symposium

2011-06-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Proven strategies and best practices for online marketing, multimedia, sales and e-commerce will make up the agenda at SEMA’s Technology Symposium July 27 in Long Beach, Calif.

The event, scheduled to take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel, is meant to improve participants’ understanding of how to use technology to support different aspects of their business.

“Given today’s competitive marketplace, companies are relying more and more on emerging technologies for brand building, lead generation and in some cases, as a primary source of commerce,” said Tyler Tanaka, vice president of business development at Cie Digital Labs. “Technology is continuing to revolutionize the way business is conducted in the automotive aftermarket and our members’ businesses are ever changing as a result. We want to give them the necessary tools to be prepared, understand and take advantage of the potential opportunities that exist while doing business in today's digital world.”

The SEMA Street Performance Council (SPC) developed the symposium, which SEMA said has grown into a premier business development forum. In this year’s event, participants will be able to take part in five sessions covering the following topics:

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Gazzang Names Heidi Farris Director of Online Marketing

2011-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

Gazzang, Inc., the company securing data in the cloud, today announced the appointment of Heidi Farris as director of online marketing, where she will oversee web, email and social media programs, including demand and lead generation.

Farris brings more than ten years of experience in demand generation at high-growth software companies. Most recently she served as senior Internet marketing manager at SolarWinds SWI -0.31% , where she was responsible for high-volume lead generation for inside sales utilizing various online marketing channels. She led an award-winning email marketing team and was consistently recognized for producing data-driven marketing programs that directly impacted the bottom line. Prior to SolarWinds, Farris was marketing programs director at Cooper Marketing Solutions, where she drove the go-to-market strategy for product launches, conducted market research and developed competitive analysis. Earlier in her career she was a production manager at TV Guide Network.

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How To Make YouTube Part Of Your Social Media Marketing

2011-06-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Small businesses often don't appreciate all the benefits of online video--and especially YouTube--to their social media marketing. Here are some expert tips on how to use YouTube to your advantage.

Small businesses often don't appreciate all the benefits of online video--and especially YouTube--to their social media marketing. Here are some expert tips on how to use YouTube to your advantage.

Julie Perry is the social media director at BLASTmedia, a PR and social media firm that works with companies on their YouTube strategies. She recently shared some of her top tips on how you can get the most out of your YouTube channel.
1. Make sure that YouTube is part of your social media marketing.

"When I start talking to a potential client, the first words out of their mouth are always 'Twitter' and 'Facebook.' They'll say, 'We've heard we need to be there. We heard this is a place where we need to be.'

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Venture Bets on Chance Online Gambling Comes to U.S.

2011-06-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

U.S. Digital Gaming, a venture backed by prominent casino executives, on Monday is expected to name Jon Richmond, a former entertainment industry executive, as its new CEO—placing a bet that online gambling will become legal in the U.S.

U.S. Digital Gaming was founded in 2009 by former casino executive Richard Bronson, who once ran development operations for casino impresario Steve Wynn's former company, Mirage Resorts, and remains close to Mr. Wynn.

The company, which currently has no revenue stream, is trying to position itself as a provider of all the services other companies would need to run online gambling sites, including software and guidance on laws and licensing rules.

It also expects to run Web sites for clients and handle marketing and advertising operations for them.

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When it Comes to Marketing on Social Media, Consistency is Key

2011-06-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

The numbers behind the social networking surge are startling: Facebook has more than 600 million active monthly users that the Web site reports spend close to 22 billion minutes daily on the site. While those numbers sound mind-numbingly high, small businesses should see them as dollar signs.

Clara Shih, author of The Facebook Era and the founder of social media company Hearsay Social, said Facebook has given rise to a new consumer psychology and businesses need to embrace the new-found accessibility by making sure their social media practices work in their favor rather than an uncontrolled liability.

Shih offered the following tips for small businesses on how to embrace social media to generate business and boost their bottom lines:

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Cendyn Wins Five IMA Awards for Social Marketing and Web Development

2011-06-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Cendyn Earns Coveted Interactive Media Awards for Outstanding Achievement with The Breakers Palm Beach, Hotel Le St. James, Universal Hollywood, and Abbington Banquets

Cendyn, a full service hospitality sales and hotel internet marketing agency, won five coveted IMA Outstanding Achievement awards for the elegant, engaging, and-most importantly-effective online identities created by the company for four of its valued clients. The Breakers Palm Beach, Hotel Le St. James, Universal Hollywood Events, and Abbington Banquets earned the highly competitive Interactive Media Awards™(IMA) in the Social Networking and Website development. Click here to learn more about Cendyn marketing solutions.

The IMA Awards are conferred by the web professionals of the Interactive Media Council, Inc. to recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development. Cendyn is the leading single-source provider of turnkey online internet marketing solutions that increase profitability for hotel companies.

Cendyn distinguishes clients in a crowded online market
"In an era of anywhere/anytime web access and mobile devices, a hospitality company must engage customers with both practicality and imagination to distinguish itself in the crowded online world," says Robin Deyo, Executive Vice President of Cendyn. "We are honored to be recognized for striking this balance for four important clients-The Breakers Palm Beach, Abbington Banquets, Universal Hollywood Events and Hotel Le St. James. Cendyn is grateful for our partnership with them."

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Google Set To Acquire Online Marketing Firm

2011-06-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

Google has set its sights on buying online ad optimization firm Admeld, according to reports out this week.

If the sale goes through, Google could use Admeld in conjunction with their DoubleClick ad exchange to help publishers choose ads in real-time across ad networks and exchanges, with the option to go with the highest bidder.

Details are yet to be confirmed by either Google or Admeld, but, according to the New York Times Blog, the price could be in the area of $400 million.

Apparently this isn’t the first time Google has tried to buy the display ad company.

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Confidence in small business Internet marketing

2011-06-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurs and small businesses often struggle to work out the best way to begin an effective Internet marketing campaign for their business. The answer isn't immediately straightforward because as any good online marketer will tell you, the marketing you do depends on what you want to achieve.

In addition, many people shy away from aggressive marketing because it requires, to some extent, that you put yourself out there. Opening yourself up for criticism or disparaging comments is an especial concern for people who are not used to creating content online. Accordingly, many small businesses stick to less effective techniques because they are perceived to be "less likely to attract personal criticism".

While it can be hard to take the plunge and start getting your name out there, it is really important you do so as quickly as possible. The sooner you start writing content regularly, the sooner you will get better at it, and the sooner you will build up a good base of SEO enhanced, useful and relevant content that will generate organic search traffic and boost your PageRank.

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Announcing 2 Day Boot Camp: Social Media Marketing and Internet Marketing Training in Cincinnati

2011-06-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

Boot Camp Digital (www.bootcampdigital.com), a market leader of custom social media marketing training programs invites business professionals to its most popular and top rated 2 Day Boot Camp: Social Media Marketing and Internet Marketing Training on June 23rd and 24th, 2011 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM at Boot Camp Digital’s Cincinnati Training Facility located at 1600 Main Street, Cincinnati.

During this extremely popular 2-day training class business professionals learn exactly how to use internet marketing and social media to grow their business. The course is designed for both the new to social media as well as the avid user. With over 700 million users on Facebook and more people checking Facebook each day than listening to the radio or reading a newspaper, you can’t afford to ignore social media any longer.

The course includes Social Media 101, Internet Marketing 101 and Social Media Marketing Training. 2-Day Boot Camp is designed to ensure that the training has a lasting sustainable impact on its clients. In addition to the training, each participant receives a Social Media Workbook and Action Plan that is designed to enable easy implementation of the subject in everyday business. Participants also receive a copy of Krista Neher’s bestselling book – Social Media Field Guide, free lunch both days of training and the opportunity to network with other business professionals attending the course.

“In this day and age it's absolutely crucial to integrate social media tools into your marketing strategy. The key to success is not only to understand the principles of social media but have an action plan so that you can start growing your business immediately.” says Krista Neher, Boot Camp Digital CEO.

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An exceptional marketing year in review

2011-06-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

Commercial sales stood at 22.7 million metric tons (MMT), the lowest total in 29 years. With what appeared to be abundant supplies of lower priced Black Sea wheat, most analysts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had similar expectations for 2010/11.

USDA’s initial 2010/11 estimates showed only a slight increase in U.S. wheat exports to 24.5 MMT.

News about dry conditions in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan first appeared in June 2010 and grew more ominous through July. Then, just as importers were absorbing the potential impact of the deepening drought, Russia’s government shocked the markets by halting wheat and feed grain exports. Ukraine and Kazakhstan quickly implemented grain export quotas.

Because the importers that were counting on Black Sea supplies are kept informed through the 15 overseas offices for U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), they knew they could rely on the U.S. wheat supply to meet their needs immediately and throughout the marketing year. In just one month, USDA’s U.S. export projection jumped more than 40 percent to 32.7 MMT.

That number continued to grow as additional weather problems affected the Canadian, German and Australian wheat crops. Ultimately, U.S. commercial export sales reached 35.3 MMT in 2010/11, a 56 percent increase from 2009/10 and the highest level since 1992/93.

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Europe shows rapid online marketing growth

2011-06-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Display direct marketing has shown an average growth rate of 21.3 per cent in the past year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe.
The marketing channel has overtaken search advertising in Europe as the fastest growing online marketing method, enjoying growth rates of 20 per cent and above in many countries.

Online advertising spending totalled €17.7 billion (£15.7 billion) compared to €15.3 billion (£13.6 billion) in 2009, and included video, mobile and social media contributions.

The research compiled by IHS Screen Digest was conducted in 25 countries, showing that the UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain accounted for almost three-quarters of total online ad spending.

Alain Heureux, president and chief executive officer of IAB Europe, claimed that the effects of creative online advertising campaigns are finally being realised.

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