Internet for marketing? Does it work? And how do you make sure that your products and your website get the best customers who have the money to buy?

Marketing articles are the best way to sell your product on the internet. That means you may have a website or a blog of your own but unless you are totally familiar with SEO and link building; your maiden venture into internet for marketing is going to fail miserably. SEO means Search Engine Optimization and it is one of the core rules to draw customers and relevant traffic to your website. One of the simplest explanations of SEO is that if you want to sell handbags, you better make sure that your website content is filled with the correct number of words all talking about handbags! Search engines like Google and Yahoo trawl the internet daily searching for new content and then indexing the content in their archives according to the most number of words (keywords) in the content. If you have more than 10% of words in the content about handbags, then you would have a higher chance of getting indexed in the search for handbags. The higher amount of words and relevant links about handbags the higher you go on the search results pages of Google. Of course, it isn’t quite as simple as I’ve said it but you get the gist. A few more tips you can try out to optimize your content are-

• Put your keywords high up. That’s very important. The higher your keywords come in the content and the title, the more traffic and page rating on Google you get! Keep your title within 200 characters and with a description of about 20 words.
• Stick to a 10% density of keywords. Any more and the search engines automatically list your site as spam or worthless content.
• Place relevant links to authority sites and get them to link to your website for internet marketing. Ask other blogger friends to link to your site and post about your product and you can post about them in reverse.

Viral marketing isn’t about viruses which can give you a disease but the process is just as contagious. Smart companies now use marketing on the internet as the fist choice to tell the world about their products. Viral marketing is the premier method of marketing on the internet which is cheap and effective too.

Take for example, the launch of The Harry Potter Amusement park in Orlando. Normally, companies would promote the well-recognized brand name Harry Potter to fans all over the world in the form of advertising, billboards, flyers, prime time ads etc, etc, etc to coax fans to visit the amusement park. But Cindy Gordon, vice president of new media and marketing partnerships at Universal Orlando Resorts didn’t do anything like that! She just told seven prominent Harry Potter fans who then proceeded to tell seven more via the internet. The whole process spread exponentially all over the globe with bloggers and fans of the teen wizard picking up tid-bits of information and passing them on to more friends and fans! Gordon got a whole lot of free marketing on the internet simply because she realized that a popular object of desire will market itself, so long as you present it attractively!

Marketing on the internet can get you the same interest for your brand and your product. As long as you have something that people want and use, you will acquire a customer base with a word-of-mouth publicity or viral marketing. Like a disease, viral marketing spreads rapidly from person to person. It also helps if you offer significant discounts and free stuff with your products.

Viral marketing through books?
One of the most powerful forms of marketing is free e-books. E-books are basically reworked forms of the more well-known white papers. E-books are really a great option for anyone who wants free marketing on the internet. Browsers realize that valuable content which is ordinarily sold for a fee is no going for free in the form of an e-book. If you have the time and patience, write an e-book yourself or get a writer to connect your product to something which is a hot area of interest in the media at present. Of course, it also helps if you promote your e-book like crazy on blogs, free article resource bases, and as links on author resource boxes.

Viral marketing works: just make your offer interesting and attach something free to it!

Well, isn’t that the truth! It’s a fact that its not what you know but who you know that can get you a job. That old adage works in the real world and very soon going to be applicable on the internet too. Think big with sites like LINKEDIN and FACEBOOK being the new ways that employers become familiar with you and possibly hire you instantly.

But do these social networking sites actually work as self-marketing on the internet?
The internet is the only medium where you do not actually immediately meet and greet a potential employer for your job. No more toting around of large resumes, references, and other documents to impress potential employees. Sites like TWITTER, FRIENDFEED, and ORKUT have made marketing on internet as easy as pie!

Let’s find out how it works…
Take my own personal experience. Without even getting up from my warm leather computer chair, I’ve gotten several clients for my online services. I’ve also got a few good references for future jobs all through my online social networking by using internet marketing my niche services. I’ve made a few good friends and several good contacts all by social networking. The process is very simple. Just log on to the social networking sites like TWITTER to upload your resumes and private contact details. You’ll find one of the best networks on LINKEDIN. That site is best for finding potential employers and personal marketing on internet. You can use the site to promote your own services for free while connecting to several social groups and potential employees. Internet and marketing is also the best way to be eco-conscious and green; just imagine the paper and trees you are saving for the planet to breathe by skipping the use of paper!

Another way to make your impression on the internet is by online marketing on the internet and by building your own website. Once your website is up, you can then link up and use the social media sites to link up, promote your site and drive traffic there. More and more customers also use the LINKEDIN network to find reliable sites that offer professional and reliable services. That was just the reason that my website and profile became so successful.

No matter what industry pundits say; I say that social networking marketing on the internet is here to stay!

Marketing on the internet is the new buzz word. But not everyone knows exactly how it works, do they? Think about it! Did you ever wonder why results for a search on Google come out like that? Who decided which sites came first and how? Do you have to pay anyone for your site to be the first choice on any topic? If you are selling handbags, how do you ensure that your site is the best and the first in all Google rankings whenever searches for handbags?

Marketing on the internet is simple but understanding the basics can take a lot of time. A few simple tricks commonly used in internet and marketing are:

1. Advertise, advertise and advertise– advertising copy can get you the best sales possible. The internet is a blind medium where you have to encourage customers to come to your site without actually seeing your products! Your advertising copy and content should speak to each customer as much as possible. Content at your site should fool the customer into reading more and buying. It’s as simple as that!
2. Free stuff counts– It really doesn’t matter what you’re selling. As long as your offer something free with the product you will get customers. It can be a free e-book, free templates, free graphics etc…You get the idea! No matter what you are offering if the “FREE” tag is associated with the sale; you get customers.
3. Target your sales– It happens that customers who come to your site may not have the money or actually need your product; they’ve just come there by accident. And that does mean traffic but doesn’t translate to sales. Target your audience by streamlining your product and the sales copy on your site for internet marketing. That means if you are selling brown handbags; the copy at your website should repeat that mantra again and again. You will attract the customers who want to buy brown handbags.
4. Offer discounts– Simply put, discounts count. You might be offering a great product, but unless you offer the magic word “DISCOUNT,” customers are not going to be lured. Combine products with sales discounts, and you should get a lot of sales.
5. And lastly- Don’t exaggerate! Sales copy is sometimes really exaggerated, customers notice that. Try to keep your sales copy to the point; exaggerated and screaming content makes customers feel that the site is a scam or a virus hive.

Does Internet marketing for business really work?  And how do you make sure that your products and your website get the best customers who have the money to buy?

Marketing articles are the best way to sell your product on the internet. That means you may have a website or a blog of your own but unless you are totally familiar with SEO and link building; your maiden venture into internet marketing for business is going to fail miserably. SEO means Search Engine Optimization and it is one of the core rules to draw customers and relevant traffic to your website. One of the simplest explanations of SEO is that if you want to sell handbags, you better make sure that your website content is filled with the correct number of words all talking about handbags! Search engines like Google and Yahoo trawl the internet daily searching for new content and then indexing the content in their archives according to the most number of words (keywords) in the content. If you have more than 10% of words in the content about handbags, then you get indexed in the search for handbags. The more the amount of words and relevant links about handbags the higher you go on the search results pages of Google. Of course, it isn’t as simple as I’ve said it but the gist is the same. A few more tips you can try out to optimize your content are-

1. Put your keywords high up. That’s very important. The higher your keywords come in the content and the title, the more traffic and page rating on Google you get! Keep your title within 200 characters and with a description of about 20 words.

2. Stick to a 10% density of keywords. Any more and the search engines automatically list your site as spam or worthless content.

3. Place relevant links to authority sites and get them to link to your website for internet marketing. Ask other blogger friends to link to your site and post about your product and you can post about them in reverse.

4. Try using simple paid post networks like PAYPERPOST and SOCIALSPARKS that take up paid and free posting for a nominal fee. You have to pay the sites a minimal amount to put up your product for bidding. Bloggers pick up the product and write about them on the blogs for a small fee.

I am still writing an E-Book on Social Networking and Internet Marketing basics for Business so be on the look out!

cheers- twitterholic justinrfrench

All of the followers of Social Networking San Diego know we support the awareness, education and assistance to the business community on the power of social networking for business purposed by building your product or personal brand on-line. Successful hip hop icon P-Diddy (Sean Combs) who is a VERY SUCCESSFUL business person I have admired for quite some time on his accomplishments explains it best for those non-savvy and non-teccy business people.

Check out the video of P-Diddy on the Ellen Show here:

If your business is ready to jump on board and formulate an internet marketing strategy around your business model- then click above on the FREE website evaluation so we can see where you at in the whole “internet” puzzle. I look forward to hearing from other business professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners! Basically put- Social Networking San Diego functions as your virtual marketing department

twitterholic justinrfrench (follow me)

Need more help? Contact me on linked in-

By now, if you are a business professional, have a linked-in account, and know what “twitter” is, then I applaud you. I would even be willing to give you a gold star for excellence if you have an actual internet marketing “plan” of some sort. Or maybe you’re marketing budget (though limited right now, just like trying to get a small business loan) which may or may not include some internet or social media sites, you are still ahead of the majority of your competitors.

Most small to mid-sized businesses (even some fortune 500’s) actually don’t even know what “social networking” means let alone have some type of on-line marketing budget. Those baby-boomers however are just starting to see an actual business value in conducting business on the internet, or at least they see how popular social networking sites like myspace, facebook, or twitter have become part of the local evening news topics. You may want to even scroll down and read some of my previous posts on the importance of why your business should start doing some form of internet marketing. Some companies try to provide ad words or you tube videos, but have they proposed an over-all strategy that over-time becomes an “organic viral marketing campaign?” (Don’t know what that means- Google it)

Let me talk directly (no B.S.) to those firms who are still baffled with this new on-line business phenomenon- “strap on your seat belts because if you thought forming an OFF-line marketing strategy was tough, then you aint seen nothin yet!” Wait till you find out what REALLY goes on behind the scenes. And if you think for a SECOND there is an easy way or get rich quick scheme out there to marketing your business online that will work for $199, then just give ME the $199 and I’ll at least draw up a plan for you to execute and I’ll even email it to you!”

Allow me to give you 1 simple tip to add to your internet marketing strategy, or at least pointers on getting started because you will quickly learn just how overwhelming, tedious, complex, and time consuming this whole internet marketing thing really is. And the local “teen” might not be the right person fit to build your on-line brand. I have spent 8 years of training, business schooling, Microsoft & Cisco certifications, countless nights of research, and testing software to form this proven proprietary system. (those close to me can attest for those long nights of me researching) But time is money and If you think I am just going to give you a magic wand to wave over your business that will make your website appear #1 on Google the next day then we may not be a good fit in doing business together.

I would at LEAST suggest you sign up for a $99 1 hr. internet consulting strategy session with me to identify some foundations to get you going at the least. This might well be the BEST under $100 business and internet marketing consulting session you spend all year. But if you really appreciate value & TRUST in someone’s expertise, understand your business is lost and needs help, has a marketing budget, then I suggest we speak.

Business Owners- Remember, “He/ She who fails to plan, plans to fail.
If you don’t have an on-line marketing plan yet, then you are failing.”

Twitterholic- justinrfrench

First – A BIG thank you to those leaving comments on my blog.  Some of the comments are very moving and I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to leave your insightful opinions. Sometimes you all just make me want to climb on top of a mountain for a fresh breadth of clean mountain air and enjoy a beautiful sky view as blue as the ocean and say thank you twitter followers! 🙂

Tonight’s post will be short and sweet- but as usual, motivating and educational on the importance of understanding how small businesses NEED desperately to form some type of internet marketing strategy to stay in business. But first and foremost, they MUST understand- what rewards will come if they put in the time to get educated on this growing trend in online marketing or inbound marketing. This is still such a new shift for business professionals to comprehend, but is slowly starting to catch on and gain the public’s’ attention.

Social Networking San Diego is a some-what of a pioneer or first-mover for training businesses how to use social networking to generate NEW business and handling this out-sourced service for them.

1. Global Reach- Twitter has allowed Social Networking San Diego to form alliances in countries such as Canada, Spain, UK, India, etc. All from Twitter. If you need clarification on how to use twitter for business purposes contact us for a complimentary 20 minute training session from me- twitterholic justinrfrench.
2. Put in the Time- I have heard some business people tell me “I don’t have time to network or “tweet.” Well this is why your business is not bringing in any new business because networking and building relationships is required all the time especially during these tough times. Only the strong will survive, and maybe you can identify other professionals struggling with similar issues in their businesses and possibly brainstorm on solutions together.
3. Actual Results- our clients that signed up on packages with us last month are signing up again (video testimonials will be out soon I promise) because they recognize the VALUE, have been educated on what an OVER-ALL internet marketing strategy looks like, how complicated it is, and they have gotten a peek behind the scenes from our consultants.
4. Staying the course- We let the clients know that this is an 8-12 month commitment we make to them, but once those months have been reached, they will be able to see sustained results much better than they used to see with direct mail (remember you must be in front of someone 7 or 8 times to finally get their attention.)
5. Education- Constantly be reading, researching, and refining your message you want to portray about your company brand or personal brand. Sometimes this can be difficult for companies on-line, so maybe having a Chief Internet Marketing Strategist like justinrfrench come into your firm may be just what the doctor ordered. This is very important to stay in front of people, but make sure your message is clear on how you or your product or service will help solve that clients problem/ or pain.

i look forward to your comments on this posting, and would hope you could spend just 30 more seconds on sharing this to your DIGG account or Re-tweet.  All The Best- justinrfrench

This past month has been one of the busiest months I’ve experienced in years.  A little overwhelming and draining but in a good way. It all started from me paying it forward on twitter or (sharing my knowledge and expertise about business, technology, entrepreneurship, etc. with the fellow twitter professional community.)  It was as if twitter had finally enabled me to get my voice/ message heard around the country (even the world) that I had been preaching for the last seven years- “to help small businesses bridge the gap between business and technology.”

This online twitter community is as passionate about business as I am which makes me feel right at home in a virtual networking environment.   Instead of going to the local chamber, twitter is on demand and real-time.  I would suggest we still need both in today’s society.

It seems as if all my ten years of business experience and technical skills have been developed to test me for this moment.  Those close to me say I’m relentless which may be so, but I couldn’t be more passionate about helping businesses make sense of the power of the internet, technology, and how to properly apply these tools for best business practices.  Also who could forget the help of the Social Networking San Diego team and my close twitter followers.

By sharing my knowledge and expertise with the small business community locally in Southern California and globally on Linked-In and Twitter, things seemed to have come back to me ten fold; even to the point where I have had over 400 emails to catch up on, 50 linked-In invitations, and hundreds of twitter messages!  We have even managed to gain the eye of some larger corporations which excites me even more because they need help too just as small businesses.

Businesses large and small struggle to develop a proper internet marketing strategy because of the many puzzle pieces and complexities that exist with the world wide web.  That is where our team of professional internet consultants assist with a so-called
“corporate restructuring”  to help implement the proper solution  based on specific needs, industry, budgets, and department structure.

My question for my audience this evening is when you fall behind (in a good way) does your brain feel cluttered and if so could you offer some advice on how you re-focus and catch up? That’s how I have felt after this last month and now I’m trying to get back on track.  As professionals, we must sometimes fall behind and no matter how much project management, time management experience, or standard operating procedures we have in place, those feelings of being overwhelmed always come up.  It has been for good reason though because we were able to accomplish a lot though TEAM (together everyone achieves more) work and long hours at Social Networking San Diego.

Please give your thoughts/ advice it would be much appreciated.  Also, the next posting will be on the “Top 5 accomplishments businesses can achieve through twitter, social networking, and internet marketing”

– justinrfrench  Chief Internet Marketing Strategist of Social Networking San Diego

Does your business need help in forming an internet marketing strategy?  Here are some packages to look over

p.s. would you mind sharing this post? (see below) thanks

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a strategist. I like to think about things, come up with a plan, work within my clients’ budgets and create marketing strategies that not only make sense, but which will … um, well … actually work for them. Go figure. Ready, aim, fire. Don’t spend money, time, effort or energy until it makes sense as part of an integrated marketing plan. Totally makes sense, doesn’t it? You’d be amazed at how many people forge ahead without a plan, looking for the least expensive “solution,” without any first-hand knowledge about what they’re attempting to undertake and without any understanding at how much potential damage they could do to their brand and brand image as a result of poor execution.

Well, after sitting in one too many meetings, listening to small business owners talk about social media – trying to get their heads around email marketing, mobile marketing and, heaven forbid, something like Facebook or Twitter, it’s my head that’s beginning to spin. And these same business owners just don’t seem to get it. Their eyes glaze over and they shake their heads and say “I know I need to do an e-newsletter, or write a blog, or investigate Facebook, but I just don’t have time. But I have a website!” Well I say “Woo Hoo for you!” Having a website does not mean that you’re on top of your game when it comes to promoting your business. In fact, having a website without doing anything to advertise, promote or draw traffic to it is about as useless as having a billboard in the middle of a corn field. Social media, email marketing, mobile marketing …. all of those things are tools that marketers use to promote brands, products and actually drive sales. Imagine that – doing something that would actually sell your product.

Well, in tough economic times, the gloves come off and it’s time to talk tough love. Don’t cry hard times because your sales are down. Of course they’re down. And the time to do something about it, to allocate some marketing dollars and some savvy tactics and stop the bleeding is now.

Social marketing is and should be a part of any serious business’s marketing and communications plan – especially today. But, the interesting thing is, that so often people (read that “business owners”) think that it’s just the perfect project to sink little Jenni on – you know, the one who just graduated from Community College last year and who just loooooves surfing the ‘net. Or, maybe Johnnie, who’s in college and has a Facebook page – that’d be something he could do for us and we could pay him $200 and save a bunch of money.

People – you don’t get it!

Social marketing is serious stuff and is well on it’s way to replacing the traditional kinds of media that we’ve known and loved. Display ads are going the way of the dinosaur. Who reads magazines and newspapers when you can get instant news and any kind of content you would ever want online – through more sources than I can possibly articulate.

Traditional media, while still an important part of brand management and strategy, is no longer the only game in town.

People are online. They are talking, sharing, opining, recommending, blasting, learning, blogging, ReTweeting and moving at the speed of sound.

The question isn’t “should I embrace this social media stuff and use it as part of my marketing strategy” … the question should be “how quickly can I find the right people to help me integrate this so that I can start taking advantage of the brand awareness – (and sales) that I can generate as a result.”

And the answer is that they are out there. People like my friends, Justin French at Social Networking San Diego (all things social media) www.socialnetworkingsandiego.com and Jason Werner at Opus Media (all things email marketing) www.opusbywire.com are knee deep in what’s going in their respective worlds. And there are a myriad of others – those guys just happen to be great friends of mine, and people that I would trust with my own brand.

Bottom line – DO get involved in social media. DON’T try to do it yourself (especially if you don’t know what you’re doing – and most people don’t). DO hire someone to help you not only do it correctly so that it produces real results, but make sure that it’s integrated with and compliments the other elements of your marketing efforts. And, most importantly, DO it now! And, if you don’t have the resources or know where to look ask me – I’ll be glad to help and/or refer you.

Shelly DeMotte Kramer is a marketing strategist specializing in planning, branding, product launches, creating buzz and awareness through non-traditional methods and is, clearly, a social media enthusiast. shelly@kramerandcompany.com

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