Internet Marketing

Optimizing Your Twitter Background

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In business, the name of the game is recognition. Business cards carry a logo or image that piques interest and makes you the one people remember. Today, instead of merely exchanging cards and numbers with peers, people are turning to the mega success of social media to make business connections and gain an audience.

At this point, there is no need to tout the benefits of Twitter. If you’re not using it yet, get on board now and start tweeting your thoughts, your ideas, your favorite quotes, and maybe a coupon or two for your business. But don’t just do it; do it with style.

Think of your twitter background as your business card design. Under Twitter Settings, there are template designs that can be used to spruce up your profile. But why stick with status quo when you can outdo the competition. On Twitter, you are building a following. Those who follow your tweets may visit your page a time or two. And when they do, why not give them a glimpse into what your business is all about? Using photographs, patterns or a business card style background, your profile can stand out when others will be forgotten.

There are a few ways you can add photos to your Twitter background. One, you can use a background generator like Twilk. This online generator takes your friends’ profile photos and turns them into a collage background for your profile. While this can be fun, it doesn’t do much for branding your own business.

To really do up a profile that you can customize to your business, all you need is a little help from Photoshop and a bit of imagination. Using a Photoshop image, the left hand side of your Twitter profile can be set up with your logo, business card image, or custom graphic that changes right along with any special deal you may be running at the moment.

Filling the entire background with one large image is a possibility if you have Photoshop. Filling the background is best done with an image sized at least 1280×1024 pixels in size, preferably larger. Depending on the background and whether or not it can be nicely blended into a solid background color or not, sizes from 1600×1200 and even up to 2048×1600 for some backgrounds is recommended.

Not up to speed with Photoshop? That’s ok. You can still create an eye-catching Twitter background by uploading any image that you have taken, it just might take some resizing to get it to show up just the right way. Another option using photos is to Google search “tile background”; doing this will result in thousands of downloadable background options. You can show off the nature lover lurking inside of you, or display an image that compliments your business.
Your Twitter background has the ability to work for you just like a business card or brochure does. Utilize the space on the left side, and even a bit of the top of the page, to promote something, anything pertaining to your business or service. Creating a professional-looking Twitter background makes a stellar first impression and will help you pick up followers simply because you have caught their attention when so many other profiles failed to create interest.
Your profile may only be seen by one person one time, but the result could very well be worth any time and effort you have put into your profile creation. Now multiply that by all of the “one persons” who may view your profile only one time and consider the possibilities! Get creative, have fun, and start tweeting!

Utilizing Social Media is Beneficial for Your Small Business

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As if you needed reminding, social media is the way to go when you are building a business of any sort. There are even authors using Twitter to build up their following! Seeing that, there should be no reason whatsoever for any small business owner to pass up the opportunity to work on branding and using social media to do just that.

A funny thing has begun to happen in the world society over the past several years; a reverting back to the days of our forefathers so to speak. When grandma and grandpa went to the country store in their small town or village, they knew the store owner. They knew who was selling them flour and sugar and coffee. While for some years, society as a whole became seduced by the “get it quick, get it cheap” lure, people all over the globe are now seeing that cheaper isn’t always better, and that fast doesn’t compare to trust when it comes to getting a product or service you need.

With the birth of the internet came a huge opportunity to expand your reach as a business owner, or start that business you never would have in the first place. But online business comes with its own set of obstacles; the biggest one being the desire of consumers to have a familiarity with the companies from whom they make their purchases. When people enter in that precious credit card information upon ordering your product or service, they want to feel as though they are handing cash over to the local store owner, just like grandma and grandpa did.

How do you do this when your business is online? It’s all about social networking, my friend, so hop on board and start learning how to make the most of sites like Twitter and Facebook while the getting is hot! Let’s take a look at just a few specific ways that social media can help you grow your small business:

The world is aflutter with tweets from the bustling site, Twitter. It seems that everyone from Al Gore to Miley Cyrus has something to say! Using Twitter allows you access to your core customers in real time, that’s the draw. To be truly successful, don’t focus solely on business topics. Be real, be you, be known.

Facebook is a great social site for businesses because it gives the ability to create not only a profile but also a fan page. This customizable page allows you to place coupons for your customers and post business updates that they may find interesting. Keeping your Facebook fan page up to date is as important is tweeting several times each day.

With all of the sites one can use – Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, etc – it’s easy to get caught up in “out there”. To really make a connection, it is highly recommended that any business also have their own blog or social hub that is updated regularly. Really, this is the whole purpose of making noise on other sites, to get people to visit YOUR site! This is where you can speak in your own voice in your own area of expertise. A blog or social hub is where you can offer great tips and tricks of your trade and create a reputation that will draw customers back to your site time and time again.

Each of the areas of social media marketing takes time. But as a business owner, your main focus is to bring more business through your doors – real or virtual. By spending necessary time getting to know your customers through social media, you will win trust and grow your business big.

Strategic Internet Marketing

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marketing-strategyEven during times of recession when it seems like many major companies are focused on downsizing, you can grow your business in such a way that it will thrive once the good times begin rolling again. The internet marketing strategies that you engage in over the next several months will lead you right down the path you want.

Consider this: more than two thirds of all consumers visit the Web for when seeking information on their desired type of product or service. It is due to this reason that the majority of companies have switched their marketing gears over recent years. However, that does not mean that one should focus solely on internet marketing techniques to build their business. Press releases in your local paper and of course stellar customer service are still good ways to grow your clientele.

Email marketing is a strong strategy, especially when the target audience is prior customers or those you may have met at market fairs of some sort. People who have willingly given you their email will be more likely to peruse a usable newsletter full of tips and information that will help make their lives easier. Remember, when you have something of value to offer, your word will be read.

At a time when people are seeing less revenue generated, it may seem like the time to abandon costly pay per click campaigns. I wouldn’t necessarily say stop this practice altogether, because you want to maintain high visibility. However, slower times can be the best times to review and analyze the pay per click campaigns and Adword campaigns you are running. Minimizing to very focused terms may help you gain more relevant and qualified traffic.chart

In fact, investing some time in really taking a good look at all of your internet marketing strategies can give you a good picture of what is really working for you and what is not. Change is inevitable and making changes will definitely be a necessity for you at some point in time. Looking at results from your current efforts should show you the direction you want to focus on in the coming months, and will also show you mistakes you have been making. Mistakes are wonderful learning experiences if you grow from them.

For instance, if you have been submitting articles to directories for the past year and you’re not seeing much traffic come from them, consider changing the location of these articles. Perhaps the same articles would receive more attention if placed in a blog relevant to your niche product or service. Perhaps you need to look at outsourcing blog writing to someone who has the time and expertise to read and respond to blog posts on your behalf. Perhaps creating articles for Squidoo and Hub pages is the way to get more exposure in a social networking manner. The real point is that if you try looking in different directions for your internet marketing, you just may be surprised by some astounding results.

The Way To a Truly Powerful Press Release

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pressUsing press releases to build up your company’s reputation is a smart idea. First of all, press releases are an economical way to advertise. Second, a good press release tells the public about you or your company in third person form, which can – if written well – come across as a recommendation. But jumping right into writing a press release isn’t something for everyone. If you are really in a hurry to get started with putting good information out on the web, then I would highly recommend hiring a professional to write up your press release for you.

Why hire a professional when you are the one who knows all about your company? Simple: because the general public does not want to read a long information sheet detailing the history of ABC, Inc. Writing a release that contains general company information or what your company has done this week (unless it leans to the philanthropic side) will simply not get anyone’s attention.

The key to press releases is that you want to grab the reader’s attention in a short amount of time. Think about it like this: you wouldn’t strike up a conversation with someone in line at Starbucks and tell them the entire history of your company. If anything, you may make a few statements that will entice your target audience to want to know more. This is what you want your press release to do – just grab someone’s attention and get them to link back to your company page.

Step one is a great headline. You’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of the person you want to attract and think of a catchy headline that will make them read the entire press release. Say your company donates to a charity such as the local blood bank; your press release could say “ABC, Inc. Is Saving Lives Again”. This is marketing folks. If you’re boring, you won’t get read.

Next, your press release will need to be short, sweet and to the point. Avoid placing anything mundane into a press release. press-releaseAlso avoid putting in more information than absolutely necessary. Press releases need not be any longer than 200-400 words to grab attention. Remember, you can always link back to a full document with further information on what you are advertising. The point of your press release is to tease the reader to want to read more.

Press releases can also be a part of your SEO campaigns. Just as your web pages contain certain keywords with the right density so should anything you release out onto the web. Optimized releases have worked to increase rankings as well as traffic to a site, so go for it! Not everyone is set up for writing, so if you haven’t begun making the most of this marketing effort because writing your own press release is a daunting task, then find the help of a professional. The rewards are well worth the investment.

Work More Efficiently With Basecamp

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Those who work on multiplebasecamp projects with several clients and team members know how difficult it can be to keep communication streamlined and stay on track throughout the duration of the project. In the past, there would be phone calls flying back and forth with notes scribbled on a notepad or transcribed into a word document. Then came email, and files upon files would be filled with emails that had been printed out or those emails sat in files on computers that were quickly overloaded.

Now you can ease the stress of project management by implementing the tool that is Basecamp. Using this collaboration tool, you will be amazed at how easy it is to facilitate smooth transitions between several projects at one time, even when there are several team members involved in each project!

Key benefits to Basecamp are file management, features and flexibility. Files can be easily uploaded to the specific project in which they belong with notices being sent to those who need to receive the file. Basecamp offers all the features busy managers need and doesn’t overwhelm you with features you don’t need. Your Basecamp profile can also be customized to your project and company! Using the message boards, communication between team members is facilitated and encouraged through ease of use. These benefits combine to give project management a whole new direction.

Using Basecamp’s Dashboard, you can get an overview of each project you’ve got stewing. On this page, you will be able to track milestones and deadlines as well as see new messages and files.

What busy managers may appreciate the most is their ability to create To-Do lists and milestones that will keep team members on track. Placing such items in Basecamp instead of simply sending a memo or email to team members is a better way to ensure work is monitored daily by all involved in the project.

You can also track time on Basecamp based on the To-Do lists you have created. Tracking time is as easy as clicking on the Time icon in Basecamp and then choosing a date when work was completed, the person who completed the task, and the task that was completed. This information is then saved in Basecamp but can also be exported in comma separated format into excel. Time tracking can be built right into the To-Do list by clicking Edit on the To-Do list and enabling the time trackindashboardg function. When you do this, a clock will be displayed next to each task on the To-Do list and time can be entered by clicking on the clock.

In addition to having the ability to send messages and create easy to follow threads in the message board, Basecamp also provides a chat feature. This feature is in real time and is widely used for Q&A with team members and clients at the beginning and end of a project. Even if you do not utilize the Chat feature, the Message board with threads can contain all pertinent information and allow communication to remain consistent throughout the duration of your project.

“Basecamp takes a fresh, novel approach to project collaboration. Projects don’t fail from a lack of charts, graphs, stats, or reports, they fail from a clear lack of communication. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project.”

SEO Scores BIG for You

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Over the past few years, research has shown that more than 70% of online consumers set out to find a product or service by hitting the search engines.  With numbers like that, any business owner can see the immense benefit of optimizing their web pages to rank high in those search engines.

Just in case you are just getting started, I’ll quickly recap the basics of this valuable business building tool.  Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a method of getting a website to place higher in search engine listings.  Typically, the higher a site ranks in search engine listings, the more traffic it will receive.  Wikipedia states that “optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords..”

So, that pretty much spells out the What and the Why of SEO.  Optimizing your web pages to contain the most relevant keywords and content helps your site to show up sooner when a consumer enters in what they are searching for.  And showing up within the first page of results increases your chances of site visitors.  Research has shown that consumers rarely search past the first three pages of search results, with most site visitors coming from the first page.

With all the other methods of marketing to choose from, years have gone by with business owners missing out on the FREE advertising they could be getting by just using quality optimized content on their web pages.  Maybe this is because the task of optimizing web pages can be time consuming for those who don’t do it regularly.  If this is the case, such business owners can benefit from working side by side with a professional SEO writing service to get their site noticed.

So why should you invest in content and organic rankings (ranking that isn’t bought through costly pay per click campaigns)?  Here’s one reason that should top all others.  Studies have shown that consumers are much more likely to click on organic listings over sponsored ads.  Even though a sponsored site may have the exact product or service the consumer needs, the subconscious mindset is that they don’t want to be sold on what they need.  Organic rankings come across as more of a recommendation versus a traditional ad.   Not only are these listings more likely to generate traffic, but they also carry a higher likelihood for conversion.

When done correctly, search engine optimization can increase the web traffic your site sees, bringing in people that are actually looking for what you are offering.  Clearly they want what you have to offer because they typed in the keyword or phrase that directly relates to your site.  Because understanding the ins and outs of SEO can take some time, it may be most helpful to have a professional SEO help you target the right keywords and make sure users actually see you.  This can ensure not only that you are visible, but also that those who see you really are looking for what you have to offer.

Start Ranking Now – Benefits of Outsourcing Work

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I can remember even back in the 90’s companies were turning some of their tasks over to an outside business.  Most of my first paychecks came from a company outside of the one I actually worked for.  Back then, it seemed like outsourcing was limited to payroll, human resources and possibly IT services.  That is not the case anymore.

More and more, companies throughout the world are realizing the true benefits of outsourcing work to professionals outside of their own organization; and they span much farther than just cutting operational costs.  Even with many coming to this realization, there are still plenty of companies out there who have yet to learn that the lowest price doesn’t necessarily equal the best proposal.  While some get lucky in their overseas outsourcing efforts, many more find that their attempt to save a few dollars wound up costing more in the long run after work had to be fixed.  When you take into consideration the fact that you are saving thousands of dollars by outsourcing instead of hiring a full time employee, you can find it in the budget to make sure you hire a professional that is an expert in their field.

So it’s clear that money can be saved through outsourcing work of all sorts.  What other benefits can be gained by hiring someone outside of your company to handle tasks?  The most frequently cited improvements shown from surveys included better ability to plan, higher levels of operational reliability, and more rapid implementation of new strategies and initiatives.  Now, when you are in the process of trying to grow your business (as so many of us are right now), all of these benefits are quite worthwhile.

Through outsourcing, a busy CEO can plan for the future of videos used on his site instead of spending days on end trying to write a video script and set up video equipment.  Through outsourcing to U.S. writers, a business owner can focus on fulfilling orders instead of increasing web traffic through proper SEO practices.  Just these two tasks alone save months of work and thousands of dollars when they are outsourced to a startrankingnow company that specializes in this type of work.

Another way that outsourcing work such as writing and internet marketing benefits a company is in the time it saves a business owner from either both learning all the latest and greatest techniques and requirements and from having to find and train an employee in them.  Even if you were to learn SEO and video marketing, for instance; anytime there is a change, you would have to be on top of it in order for your marketing efforts to pay off the way they can and should.  Better to hire a professional marketing service to handle those tasks because it is their job to stay abreast of all the latest tools of the trade and all avenues they can utilize to help you grow your business.

Think there is risk in outsourcing because an outside company does not have a vested interest in your business?  This is an understandable concern.  However, when you take the time to ensure you are working with a reputable company like Start Ranking Now, you can rest easy that they understand taking care of your business IS their business.

Social Media Marketing – Social Media Marketing for Growth

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Here’s what I see as the big dilemma of online business:  people don’t like to be sold.  This mindset held by millions of consumers worldwide produces highly fickle shoppers that will bounce from a website quickly if they feel the old “car salesman” push.

Where does that leave growing businesses when trying to get the word out about new products features and benefits?  Pay per click campaigns can quickly add up to large amounts of investment for customers who click on your page and then leave.  They also can sit idle because consumers who see those links on the search engine as advertisements will simply skip over them and move on to search results that show up organically.

What does this one behavior tell you about online shoppers?  I think it says that consumers like recommendations from other consumers over sales pitches from the store that has exactly what they are looking for.  This behavior also accounts for the widespread popularity of Social Media and Social Media Marketing.  First let’s look at Social Media.

Typically, media refers to news and print.  In regards to marketing, using traditional media techniques, called industrial media”, can be so costly that a small business could never hope to invest in marketing of this kind.  Social Media is generated by users, not manufacturers.  Take YouTube for instance:  this highly popular site is filled to the brim with videos ranging from funny animals to business techniques.  What is special about YouTube is that the videos posted there are done so by users, not employees of the company.

Social media can take many different forms.  These include weblogs or social blogs, podcasts, internet forums, pictures and video.  Just about everyone with a MySpace profile has favorite pictures and videos plastered through their site pages, as well as their favorite playlist.  What happens in Social Media is that users are now active participants in the whole online experience.

Now, how does this apply to your business?  Easy.  Keep in mind that people do business with people they know.  Up until now, it has been a bit of a difficult task to earn the trust of the average fickle pickle consumer.  But for the business owner who utilizes powerful Social Media Marketing techniques, business has never been better.  Becoming active on Social Media sites such as Twitter, YouTube or even Facebook and Myspace allows a company to reach out to the public in a way that is non-threatening. Startrankingnow is a good example to this.

Creating a blog is another way to interact with consumers.  Setting up and posting regularly about general issues relating to your business without pushing a product or service shows them that you are a good source of information, not a salesperson.  When first getting into the blogosphere, it is wise not to talk much about yourself.  Here’s another wise tip:  people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Show that you care about the thoughts and opinions of others when posting blogs and you will gain a reputation that will eventually lead to increased site traffic and sales.

Importance of Pinging Your Blog

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Up until recently, most people wouldn’t be able to discern the meaning of the word Ping if not related to Ping Pong.  But now, with the ever advancing technology of the internet, Pinging is an everyday occurrence.

Remember that old movie with Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams?  Probably the most famous line of the movie was “If you build it, he will come”.  So famous is that line, in fact, that it has been used all over the world in all sorts of situations.  While many mistakenly thought that they could build a website with a great product or service and “they would come”, they quickly found out that ecommerce just doesn’t work that way.  Pinging can help change all that.

Here’s how it usually happens:  Mr. Entrepreneur delves eagerly into the fascinating ecommerce world after searching high and low for the right product to sell or service to offer; After the product is in place, Mr. Entrepreneur builds a pimped out website with graphics and images that will attract the customer, maybe he even writes a few articles and places them on distribution sites or creates a blog that he posts to every week.  He then sits back and waits for them to come.  In doing all of the work to increase web traffic, what Mr. Entrepreneur misses is the key factor of HOW.  How do they know to come if they aren’t told where to go?  They will only come if you tell them to!  Pinging takes care of that.

According to Wikipedia, Pinging is described as “In blogging, ping is an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated.”  You’ve got to love layman’s terms for describing a high tech process!  The inner workings of pinging are not what is really important to an ecommerce business; what IS important is that it works; and by that, Mr. Entrepreneur earns business.

As a website owner, you are the CEO of your own business – the driver of your own destiny.  Your most valuable asset in building your business is your time.   You have spent that time choosing a product or perfecting your service.  You have spent it in learning the basics of web development and in hiring a team of professionals to handle tasks you are not skilled at.  Because you have spent your most valuable commodity getting your business going, it is pretty clear that you desire success as the end result.  Without employing the power of the Ping, you may be missing the big boat.  What pinging does is gets the word out that your marketing avenue, typically a blog, has updated.

There are multiple services that can ping a blog.  Instead of spending your time, your greatest asset, to find out how and what and where to ping, contact the professionals at StartRankingNow and have them take care of the service for you.  Not only can they ping your blogs to the most used sites; they can even write the blogs for you!  Those who are serious about increasing web traffic will be pinging.  Otherwise, they simply are not making the most of the marketing opportunities available.

Smart Realtors Use Search Engines for Marketing

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In decades past, a Realtor would spend a sunny afternoon baking cookies and welcoming guests at an open house, and they would actually drum up a fair amount of business this way.  Who would have thought that a time would come when a Realtor would benefit from SEO?

Well, the time is here and the Realtor who can grasp the concept of SEO will gain a leg up on the competition.  In order to do that, the basics of SEO for Real Estate will need to be understood.  Just what is SEO anyway and what does it have to do with selling houses?  According to realtor.com, over 80% of all home purchases start on the Internet.  This creates a unique problem for Realtors to create a web presence that will show clients who you are.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  According to Wikipedia, it is “the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”  It is important because it determines a site’s ranking in search engines such as Google.  The higher a site ranks then determines the amount of traffic it will see.  Ranking organically is more effective and far less expensive than attempting to drive traffic with costly pay per click campaigns.

The importance of optimizing your Real Estate web page is so that you get the visitor you want on your site.  What good does it do you if the visitors you are attracting are other professionals like yourself?  None at all.  You are trying to attract home buyers and home sellers, not realtors.  With that in mind, you can set out to optimize your site with basic words that a home buyer or home seller may use in a search; words such as “San Diego Realtor” or “4 bedroom home in Chicago”.

Here’s the thing; it is ultimately a Realtor’s job to sell homes and take care of the needs of their clients, not write web pages and optimize them for keywords and phrases.  This is why the wisest decision a professional can make is to work with the writing team at Start Ranking Now.  Not only can you optimize your website to attract the targeted traffic you want and need to succeed; you can also establish yourself as an expert in your local area through the use of optimized articles that point back to your website.  Doing this develops your reputation and allows potential clients to feel as though they know you before they have ever met with you in person.

Because people do business with people they know, using SEO in your web content is smart.  It gets you more visibility (which is key for any Realtor) and a familiarity within the community.   So while you are busy putting up signs and baking cookies at your next open house, your website will be working to give you a face on the web.  Use Start Ranking Now to optimize your web page and get ready for business to boom!