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YouTube Viral Marketing Strategies
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Until YouTube came along, there was no social networking site that promoted user content in the form of video. This niche has catapulted YouTube to the forefront as a leading social networking site. Because of its ease of use and popularity, YouTube has become a launch pad for many business viral marketing campaigns as well.
Do you have a digital camcorder or webcam? If so, you can make a video that can be shared online. People like to see what others are doing. There is no better way to allow others to do just that, than through video media. YouTube is the largest generator of user video content on the web.
Businesses have found a way to use YouTube to increase their bottom line as well. Videos are a great to head up a viral marketing campaign. What is viral marketing you might be asking? We do it all the time and many don’t even realize it.
When someone shares a good review of a product with us and we go out and buy it, that’s viral marketing. Essentially, it is word of mouth advertising. It also works on the negative. Poor reviews lead to lower sales of certain products. On the Internet, negative statements spread like wildfire.
Here are three strategies that we use to promote our sites via Youtube:
1. Have keywords for your particular business in your video titles for people to find your videos. This video is called Myspace Marketing: Truths Revealed! This video is placed on a website right next to the link for the ebook.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aaK-Nq_Wrg&hl=en&fs=1]
2. Have your website viewable on the screen several times throughout the video.
Here is a Youtube video of one of my fitness friends, Holly Rigsby, that is doing a phenomenal job of promoting her product via video. She has a great niche, Busy Moms Fitness Workouts, and what a better way to distribute your videos virally than via Youtube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_hgzvBxijg&hl=en&fs=1]
3. Post your video on Facebook and Myspace. The great thing about Facebook is that all of your friends see every move that you make in the status section. Myspace bulletins are great areas to post your videos as well.
YouTube provides opportunities for businesses to market their business in a viral fashion. With high quality video and a bit of social networking around the site, traffic and sales will benefit.
If you haven’t begun advertising your business via video, YouTube is the perfect place to start. It doesn’t cost a dime to put your business in front of millions, but can produce a return that maybe even you could never have imagined.
Naomi Trower
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Internet Entrepreneur
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You Might Be Addicted To Social Networking If…
This is hilarious! Let me know which one that you are most guilty of..Haa! Haa!
- Your significant other asks you to get off the computer and you tell them two more minutes, but they know that means two more hours.
- You think a night out on the town is drinking a beer while hanging out on Twitter.
- You take your laptop to the bathroom instead of a newspaper or magazine.
- You eat in front of your computer so much you keep a salt and pepper shaker on your desk.
- You feel you need to lose a few pounds and you start exercising in front of your computer…while sitting down.
- You are usually working when everyone else is asleep…and working when they are awake.
- You check your e-mail every five minutes hoping to see the message, “You have another sale…”
- You think fast food drive-throughs aren’t fast enough because you will have to leave the computer, so you call the local pizza delivery place instead.
- Your significant other has ever asked you what’s on TV and you say, “I’ll look it up online!” but really you just wanted a reason to get back on the computer.
- You have forgotten to take a shower because you got up and went straight to the computer.
- You have considered publishing your web site or information product in a different language to increase sales.
- You have crumbs somewhere near or on your computer right now.
- You always find some way to lure your friends or company over to your computer while they are visiting so you can show off.
- Your significant other sends you an e-mail instead of telling you dinner is done.
- You have ever fed your newborn while you were working on your business.
OMG! I’m cracking up over here. I got this email and there are 200 total. Of course I’ll just share 15 for today but man, I’m in tears over here!
Naomi Trower
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Internet Entrepreneur
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Craigslist Strategies to Promote Your Business
Due to the overwhelming response that I received from my previous Craigslist post, I decided to bring out more from my Craigslist arsenal. I have 11 videos that go into more details on how to successfully market your product or business on Craigslist. I will showcase one of the videos here and allow you to decide if you’d like to see more.
[wpvideo PRsA1kLk]
Here are the topics for the videos:
1. Introduction to Craigslist
2. Writing Ad Copy That Sells (Featured Video)
3. Using Blogspot For Profit
4. Creating Hidden Text Ads
5. Generating Post Links
6. Creating & Using Image Ads
7. Automating Your Craigslist Business
8. Using Craygo to Submit Your Ads
9. Driving Traffic From Backpage
10. Tips for Getting the Most Traffic
11. Setting Up Gmail Autoresponder
Click The Image Above To View More Videos
Naomi Trower
Check Out My Store
Internet Entrepreneur
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Why Business Blogs are a Necessity for a Website’s Success
Blogs have been around for many years. They started out, in the beginning, as great personal journals for Internet users who wanted to share their daily lives with their family and friends. Now, fast forward through the years to today; where they are now commonly used as business tools as well as private diaries of sorts.
Blogs are basically mini-websites authors use to post information about a specific topic. Some blogs share experiences of an author’s career path, while others provide up to date news concerning the topic their blog presents.
What Makes Blogs Such a Great Tool to a Business Owner?
Blogs can provide so many opportunities for business to reap rewards that no business website should be without one. Here are some of the benefits a blog can provide any business owner:
A blog can drive more targeted traffic to their main site.
Blogs are favorites of search engines. They provide up to date content on a regular basis, so search engines will find them easier. Blogs can also be linked with other like-minded blogs to allow for more click-through visitors. Social bookmarking sites, social media sites and even message board forums love them as well. People will refer their friends to them when they see something they like.
Blogs make it easier to gain return visitors.
If a visitor likes your blog, they’ll keep coming back to see what else you have to say on a specific topic. Business blogs can be linked to the main company site as well. The more times people stop by, the more chances an owner has of getting those visitors to your business site.
Blogs allow one to easily gain expert status amongst a target audience.
The more you blog about your site’s topic, the more you come across as an expert in that field. A visitor can be awed by the information you’re offering them and could look up to you as an expert on a particular subject. Now, the next time they need to buy a certain product or need help with something in that area, they will think of you first.
Blogs are user friendly and inexpensive to boot.
There are blog programs that you can sign up for free or for a very nominal fee. Most blogs are easy to set up as they generally walk you through the process step-by-step. There aren’t too many marketing tools that are as easy to use and inexpensive to obtain. This alone makes a blog painless to your business budget.
Business blogs are easier when it comes to maintenance.
Blogs are fun to use, which makes them much easier to maintain. Posting regular tidbits of your chosen topic keeps a blog updated without a lot of hassle. Updating websites is essential, but can be time consuming and confusing as well.
The biggest benefit business blogs provide is…
Building Rapport with Your Target Audience
This is, by far, the best benefit you can obtain from a blog. Blogs have comment sections where readers can leave messages for you to let you know they liked what you said in a post or to add their own thoughts on the topic at hand.
You’re building a relationship with your target audience that can help gain trust from them as well as find out what they’re looking for in a product. This is your way to get an inside look at what your customer’s wants and needs are without spending lots of money on marketing surveys and advertisements that don’t work.
Blogs can give your business everything mentioned above and more. Adding a blog to your arsenal of marketing tools is a must do for any online business owner.
Naomi Trower
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Internet Entrepreneur
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Where Will Your Website Fall On the Internet Wheel of Fortune?
Will you win or will you lose? You’ve probably seen the show Wheel of Fortune where people spin the wheel to determine what prizes they could they win. If you were to spin the Internet Fortune Wheel, where would your website land? Would it be on the winning side or are you closer to going bankrupt?
Most people think they just need to zip out any old site and it will work for them. That, my friend, is an attitude you can’t afford to have when it comes to working online. Your website is the calling card for your online business. Without it, you would have difficulty getting people to find you, let alone buy your products.
Publishing a site to the internet that isn’t appealing or doesn’t cut it will cause the Internet wheel to land on the losing side for you. If you want your business to be a success, don’t risk your hard earned money and time by having an ineffective site.
Why is it so Important to Have a Well Created Site?
You have an online business and your site will be your “store” from which all your sales and transactions will take place. If you walk into a local store, you will see a specifically designed layout within that store. Everything is placed where it is, for a reason.
Why? Brick and mortar store owners do this to increase interest in products or to gain more sales. Most stores are kept pretty clean and fairly easy to navigate to help you find what you need. The reason for that is to build a rapport with you, so you can develop trust with that store and their workers. How many people do you think would buy items from a dirty, grungy, poorly laid out store? Not too many.
People don’t trust business owners that don’t take care of their stores. When selling online, your “store” is your website, so you must take care of it and make sure it’s pleasing and easy to navigate for your online visitors. Those visitors are no different than the customers who walk into the local stores. Will your site measure up?
Your business site should come across to your visitor as a professional site with which to do business from. It should welcome them, help them around and make the sale as easy as possible for them. Since your website says a lot about your business, you will need to make sure it speaking positive things.
Plan to create the best possible professional website to sell your products from. Your customers are important to the success of your business. No customers = No sales. A site that grabs a visitor and keeps them there while you layout what you have to offer and your sales pitch will land on the winning side of that Internet wheel.
The losing side is only for those who don’t care about their business and whether or not it succeeds. Since you’re not one of them, keep your site up to par and make your customers happy.
Naomi Trower
Check Out My Store
Entrepreneur
Niche Marketing: What Thinking Small Brings
So many online business owners fail or give up the fight because they think too big when trying to market to consumers. There are thousands if not millions of different online businesses on the Internet today. No matter how many there are, you can still get your ‘piece’ of the Internet pie. But, in order to do that, you will need think smaller and find a niche to build your business around.
A niche is what will help you stand out from the crowd. With so many online businesses out there, who is a potential customer going to choose, when they want to buy a product that these companies offer? Those who have a niche have a much higher chance of winning the sale.
What Does Having A Niche Mean?
It’s time to put your thinking cap on. Now, imagine yourself standing in line with nine other business owners selling the same product. A customer walks up, anxious to buy that product, but is overwhelmed by the choices of who to buy from.
You’re determined to be the one they choose, so you have to show the customer why you should be their number one choice. This will be something that will make you stick out from all the other business choices. It could be the guarantee you present to back up your product or the knowledge you have about the product. A niche will show consumers what you have that the rest of the businesses don’t. This is what makes you appealing and gets you that sale from the customer.
Advantages of a Niche
The main advantage of a niche is to make you stand out in the online community, but there are some more advantages of finding your niche:
It gives you the opportunity to refine your online marketing to a certain group of people.
Those who try to market to just about everyone are only wasting their time and money. If you spend a lot of time and money marketing to 100 people and only 10 actually buy, you lose out on potential profits. The reason is because you spent all that money marketing to those who don’t buy; in this example, it would be 90 people. If you market to 10 that are most likely to buy, and they buy or most of them buy, you will see more of a profit.
It gives you the chance to give your target audience exactly what they want.
Your target audience will come from your niche. With researching techniques, you can determine exactly what products your target market is looking for or what they don’t want. You increase your sales by providing them with what they do want instead of wasting your time and effort pushing things they don’t.
It gives you the opportunity to start building credibility as an expert in your field.
By choosing a more refined group of people to market to, it becomes much easier to establish credibility with your target audience. The more of an expert you become to those potential customers, the more likely they will buy from you for a long time to come.
If you don’t currently have a niche for your business, consider getting one. If you want your business to become a success, you will need to find a niche. Without it, you’re a small business owner lost in a sea of thousands of other business owners. Think small when deciding who to market to. Small = Big where profits are considered.
Naomi Trower
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Internet Entrepreneur
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>
What is Facebook All About?
We hear about people creating Facebook pages and that someone found someone else on Facebook. But what exactly is Facebook all about and does it have any benefits for us? Read on to find out about Facebook and if it indeed does something more than enhance your social life.
Facebook is one of the top ten Web 2.0 applications and social networking sites in the world with 200 million users. Started as a social experiment, Facebook was originally designed as a way for friends to keep in touch and create interesting profiles and pages for others to look at.
Facebook is not just for young teenagers and college students however. It is also a networking tool for business owners. It’s a great way to connect with other business owners and target potential customers.
I have a friend, Mari Smith, who is known as the Pied Piper of Facebook. I’m constantly learning from her the most effective ways to be successful in my business using Facebook. The core is about relationship marketing because people are more inclined to buy from those they know. Check out her site for more specific direction.
Entrepreneurs can use their Facebook profile to tell others all about themselves. Many times, businesses never really have a chance for potential clients to learn more about the person or people who run the business.
More focus is put on advertising, growing the business and promoting its products or services. With a social networking page on social sites like Facebook, customers and other business associates get a chance to find out about the person behind the business.
Businesses use Facebook pages to showcase products or give customers a place to ask questions and record comments about the products they have used. They can talk to each other and compare notes. Big businesses with famous brand names use Facebook to gain insights into consumer trends.
Facebook can be useful for communities trying to create a closer knit group of families. Homeschooling parents can create a network of support for each other and their kids. Facebook has a variety of uses both for business and personal reasons.
So, now that you know more concerning Facebook, what will your page be about? I know that I have to work on constructing a few pages for my separate businesses. There is always something to continuously improve upon in our business. Feel free to add me as a friend on my Facebook profile.
Here are a few Facebook Tips that I implement on a daily basis that bring me new customers:
1. Update my status on a daily basis (sometimes 2x’s / day)
2. Give a birthday shout out for all of my friends
3. Comment on other statuses / Click on Like for activities or links that interest you
4. Become fans of a number of Facebook Pages
All of these strategies provide visibility for your business which in turn can create customers.
Naomi Trower
Internet Entrepreneur
“Teaching Others Social Media”
@NaomiTrower
Twitter is All the Rage on Cell Phones
Imagine you are in a conference where you just heard one of the most profound quotes and you want to tweet about it. Maybe you’re riding down the road and see the funniest billboards that you know will make your Twitter friends roll with laughter.
Oh wait; you don’t have your laptop. You do, however, have your cell phone. If only there was a way to tweet these and other things when you’re computer wasn’t available. Guess what, there is.
Your cell phone can be a powerful Twitter tool. There are many ways you can use it to benefit not only you, but your followers as well. With your cell phone you can continue to contact your friends and followers and they can tweet you as well. Your cell phone is a communication highway and with Twitter added to it, it becomes a networking wonder.
There are many tools you can use to tweet from your cell phone. Depending on the type of phone you have, you can go mobile in a number of ways. Tools like Jott, Hahlo, Mobile Twitter, Thin Cloud Twitter, Twitter to Go, Twitter SMS, Twitter IM, and Twoble are all available for various cell phones and plans to help you tweet tweet away.
I personally love my Blackberry and I’ve been testing two Twitter applications, Twitterberry and TinyTwitter. I really love Twitterberry and I’m having a hard time finding things that I want to do using TinyTwitter. I give 2 thumbs up for Twitterberry! Now I’m never bored waiting for my doctor appointment or waiting for my kids to finish their music lesson, dance class or basketball practice.
Here are just two of the many cool ways to use any cell phone to harness the power or networking through Twitter:
If your phone has a mobile browser, you can go to www.m.twitter.com and you are good to go. While this is not the best option, it is an option and it works. This is a simple tool that allows you to view Twitter from your cell phone and allows you to tweet back and let people know what you are doing as well.
Flurry is a mobile mail client/service. You can download the Flurry client on your phone seconds after you sign-up. Flurry, which started out as a service that would let you check e-mail on your cell phone has recently added a feature that allows you to add RSS feeds and read them on your mobile phone.
In case you did not know, you can set up RSS for all your favorite Twitter users. All you need to do is add RSS feeds generated by the Twitter accounts of your friends. The best part about it is that you don’t have to pay for anything – it’s free. If you want to send messages of your own from your cell phone letting people know what you’re doing, just use the SMS (texting) feature on your phone.
Your cell phone has so many capabilities and so does Twitter. By using the two together you have yet another way to utilize the power of social media. Of course you don’t want to drive and tweet at the same time but you can always pull over to the side of the road and tweet your ideas, thoughts, or updates away.
Naomi Trower
Internet Entrepreneur
“Teaching Others Social Media”
Popular Twitter Plug-ins for WordPress Blogs
WordPress is one of the main choices for a blogging platform on the Internet today. Twitter has quickly become the hottest micro-blogging application. So can you imagine what occurs when the two meet and marry? A partnership that creates a most wonderful thing – that’s what!
Well, maybe not wonderful but then again it all depends on how you look at it. With the proper plug-ins you can create an awesome social networking tool since both Twitter and WordPress are both strong contenders in the social media arena. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular Twitter plug-ins that you can use on your WordPress blog to create a social power house match made in heaven.
TwitThis is a simple way for people to send Twitter messages about your blog post. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the webpage and creates a shorter URL using the TinyURL tool. Then visitors can send the shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their friends on Twitter. Talk about word-of-mouth! The TwitThis button is a cute little button that you can add to the end of your blog posts making it readily available to your readers once they’ve finished browsing your post.
TweetMyBlog is a plug-in that will automatically announce your blog posts to your Twitter followers and include a link directly to the post. This plug-in will also include a sidebar widget that will pull in your latest tweets and link them back to your Twitter profile page. Finally the creators of this plug-in have an affiliate program that is available to every “TweetMyBlog” user.
TwitterFeed is a plug-in that allows you to simply promote your blog to your twitter followers. Much like TweetMyBlog, but not as extensive. You can customize the message that will announce your blog post to all your twitter pals. Again, a direct URL is provided in the tweet.
TwitterTools is a plug-in that creates an integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. With TwitterTools you can pull your tweets into your blog and create new tweets on blog posts and also from within WordPress.
TwitterBadge is not so much a plug-in as it is a way for you to let others know that you are a user, maybe even addict – it’s ok we won’t tell, of Twitter. There are many badges from the cute little Twitter bird to the simple badge that basically says, “Hey, look at me. I Twitter too!” When people see your badge and click it, they’ll be taken to your twitter profile.
The bottom line – Twitter is the place to be online, but you may not always be able to be there as much as you would like. By using the above plug-ins you can automate your own WordPress blog and Twitter to create a beautiful traffic generator and a great way to connect with your tweeps.
Naomi Trower
Internet Entrepreneur
“Teaching Others Social Media”
Generate Targeted Traffic Using Entrecard
I’ve been having a lot of fun with Entrecard lately. Entrecard is a blogging network that allows you to advertise your blog on different high traffic blogs. The great thing is that you “drop” or visit other blogs and earn credits to advertise your blog. You also earn credits when others drop on your blog and when you advertise others on your blog.
This can be extremely beneficial if you target your drops to your specified niche. You can view the most popular blogs, click on the drop button to show them that you visited their site and so far all of them have returned back to my blog. This can increase your chances of your blog being showcased on an already high traffic site.
You want to build up credit in order to advertise on the blogs that have the most traffic. I enjoy dropping on other blogs because it gives me ideas for my blog. I’ve seen some incredible blogs from great design to great content. Here is my other blog that shows the Entrecard widget Fat Loss Blog
The only downside is that you can’t use Entrecard with your free WordPress.com blog. These blogs don’t support javascript which Entrecard requires to add the widget. I’ve actually worked around this problem with my self-hosted wordpress blog by linking this blog to that site. I have had a TON of people visit this site from my other blog.
Graham Langdon is the founder and CEO of Entrecard. He launched Entrecard in November, 2007. Since its launch, Entrecard has grown to serve millions of free clicks to its members every month. There is an easy to follow Entrecard ebook on their site to get you started right away with some great beginner to advanced traffic generation strategies. Have fun blog hopping!
