Given the state of the online market in the current recession, wasting money on website marketing might not seem like a very bright idea. In fact it might seem foolish to spend money when you have little hope of recovering it. Yet even now there is enough money in the market to make a decent living. I am not kidding when I say this.
* Get A Plan
All you need to know is the way to go about making money. Website marketing is very important to this plan. If your website is invisible you are not going to make any money. So you need to spend money to make money. You might now say that you have no money. You don’t need to spend millions, just a few dollars in the right places can Read more…
These last few days I’ve been out of town on vacation, and have been using Google Maps to help me find my way around. Searching for grocery stores, coffee shops, and free wi-fi reminded me how important it is to list your business with Google Maps and Yahoo Local. In case you’re Read more…
Gone are the days of having your website be a static brochure for your company. You need to be adding and changing content on a daily (or at least weekly) basis to really start to enhance your website.
By building you website on a content management system (CMS) – like Drupal or Joomla – you’ll find it’s very easy to add/change content, additional features and plug-ins that used to take serious development time are now available in easy-to-install packages, and built-in blogging software (which you should be using to regularly add content to your site for SEO) is easy to use and search engine friendly.
In this Web 2.0 world, a CMS is the ultimate tool for Read more…
I keep coming across web designers who say they provide ‘Search Engine Optimization’ by using heading tags, text links, and non-dynamic links, and decided it was time to make some clarifications.
Search Engine ‘Friendly’ involves building the foundation and features of the site in a way that the search engine spiders can comprehend. Having a ‘search engine friendly’ site does not necessarily help you climb the organic rankings, but there’s no reason to intentionally build your website without integrating these concepts.
Search Engine ‘Optimization’ as a service is more related to keywords and organic rankings, and involves both on-site and off-site work to achieve these goals.
Ways to make your website ‘Search Engine Friendly’ (easily read by a Search Engine):
- Use HTML and text to display your content Read more…
Just about every popular blog these days is set up with social bookmarking links to make it easy for the reader to share the article with friends and contacts. After reading a bit on President Obama’s blog (www.barackobama.com – after they ask you to buy the t-shirt 
), I noticed that those buttons are missing from the page.
I think it would be an excellent idea to incorporate a ’share this’ bar or a digg box plug in to make it easy for their visitors to share articles. Read more…
As a relatively new blog, I’m always looking for ways to bring in legitimate traffic and reward contributors for thought-out comments. Now, the opportunity is built in to this blog. I’ll describe how the nofollow process works in my next post…
I had been tossing around the idea for a while, considering the downside of losing my stellar pagerank – this blog is currently not ranked . I read up on the topic and decided to join the growing community of ‘dofollowers.’ There are quite a few reasons, many of which are Read more…
There’s just so much good stuff in this book, I might have to turn this into a multi-part series. Chapter 4, “Direct Response Marketing” (from Guerrilla Marketing on the Internet by Jay Conrad Levinson) really got me thinking about how many sites I’ve come across that don’t do anything for the business. In very few cases, having the simplest of ‘brochure websites’ (strictly informational and usually for credibility purposes) may be appropriate, but there are so many opportunities to get your web site to do more for your business.
The easiest thing any website can do is collect your visitor’s contact information. This can be used as a targeted list for your marketing offers (as long as you have their permission of course). There are many things you can offer your visitors in exchange for their contact info (specifically, e-mail address):
I’ve recently been browsing Jay Conrad Levinson’s latest book: Guerrilla Marketing on the Internet, and have come across quite a few gems that got me thinking. This article is a brain dump for a few of my thoughts while reading the book.
For those unfamiliar with the term ‘Guerrilla Marketing,’ Wikipedia explains, “is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget.” These aren’t just strategies, they’re principles to live by.
1. Embrace Web 2.0 and Social Media
There is the old Internet and the new Internet. The old Internet was a one-way flow of information where a company, entity, or individual would put their content on a website. Visitors would view the content, and go on their merry way. The new Internet takes a collaborative, visitor-centric approach where the community creates the content and everyone benefits. Here are a few examples: Read more…
Besides a website being a necessity for PR, marketing, credibility and communications, it can also bring in revenue and drive sales. If your business sells a product (or many products), or a service that can be packaged as a product, consider having a storefront on your website. This will allow you to take orders 24/7 from anywhere in the world (you can always limit sales to “domestic” or “local,” but the capability for global sales is there). Additionally, there are options to seamlessly accept orders on your own website, or inexpensively process them on a third party site.
In order to make a sale, companies used to have to sendout an expensive catalog, personally contact potential clients, or wholesale their product to a retailer if they did not have their own store. Today, it is possible to make a sale without a per-customer cost (time or money) or applying a huge wholesale discount. The miracle of the Internet allows Read more…
If you never try any other SEO methods, at LEAST put these to use.
Most of us don’t have the time to implement every Search Engine Optimization technique we come across, and that is where this list comes in. These are the most effective SEO methods for todays search engine algorithms. Implementing these SEO techniques alone will do wonders for your website – you’ll wonder why you didn’t do them sooner.
1. Put your keywords in your <title> tag. Make sure each page has a relevent and unique title, emphasizing the keywords that are on that page. The title is what Read more…
Yes, I know, how could anyone possibly make Search Engine Optimization and Marketing interesting to the average Joe? Why, rap the information, of course. Check it out.
http://www.webaddict.co.za/2008/02/13/seo-sem-basics-rap-video-youtube/
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Tony Kau is co-founder of Portland web design and Internet marketing company Vanivo. For service inquiries, you can contact him directly at tony -at- vanivo.com.
Having a website for your business is not an option – it is a necessity.Everyone knows that having a sharp website is good for business, but most people don’t really know why. In this article I’ll offer several reasons why they are vital to reaching your potential.
1) Credibility. Today, everything is online, and to even keep up in your industry, you need a website. When a customer types your name into their favorite search engine, they expect your professional website to come up. If that’s not the case, they second guess doing business with you. Read more…
Promoting your business during tough times is easier than you think. In my last post, I addressed a few case studies and principles of businesses that came out of tough times ahead of their competition by continuing and even increasing their advertising exposure. Today, I’m going to give you some specific examples of how you can apply this to your own business.
A recession is a perfect time to consolidate, refocus and become more efficient across all aspects of your business. Running leaner is a necessity for survival, but that doesn’t specifically mean budget cuts, it means finding out what’s working and what isn’t, dropping what isn’t working and pursuing what is.
1. Survey your customers.
Find out how your customers Read more…