Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Google Workshop Coming to Atlanta January 19, 2011
Google, in partnership with the Georgia Small Business Development Centers, invites you to a free interactive Google workshop for Atlanta’s local business community. They’ll show you how Google tools can help you reach more customers, understand what customers are searching for, and operate more efficiently. In the three hour workshop they’ll cover online marketing best practices, including how to:
- Reach the right audience using Google AdWords and boost your ad performance by choosing the right keywords and writing compelling ads
- Claim your business on Google Maps and create a Google Place Page
- Use Google Analytics to track online traffic and optimize your website
This seminar is ideal for customers who are new to online advertising as well as existing AdWords customers who want to get more results from their online advertising investment.
Date:
Wed, Feb 2, 2011
Time:
4-7pm
Location:
Clayton State University Student Activity Center
2000 Clayton State Blvd.
Morrow, GA 30260
(678) 466-5100
View Map
Registration:
Registration is required to attend. Space is limited. First come, first serve. There is a $49 fee to attend this workshop.
Boost Traffic to Your Blog with Every Email You Send April 21, 2009
Something near and dear to my heart is email marketing. Email marketing can be as simple as sending email from the same domain name as your website. This is something I’m so passionate about I wrote an article about it a few weeks ago. It can also be the use of an email template or email newsletter. Here’s another thought…it can be an opportunity to advertise your most recent posts or highlight a select few featured posts.
If you’ve received an email from me lately you’ve probably already noticed me doing this.
When you think about the number of emails that you send in a day, month, or year it makes a lot of sense that you use the opportunity to highlight or feature certain aspects of your business and its products or services offered.
As seen in the screenshot above of my email signature, I have taken the opportunity to feature some of my recent posts from my website. I have seen a large surge in site traffic as a result. Every so often I’ll change the recent posts to feature a new grouping. This is a very simple way for bloggers to boost traffic to their blog, blogsites, websites…whatever name you want to use.
How did I set this up? It’s really quite simple actually. You just set up an email signature and hyperlink text to specific URLs of your website. Its not difficult to do, just something most don’t think to do.
If you are a Realtor you can drive traffic to your website and increase leads. You can do this by not only having links to articles on your website, but by also linking to a home search feature or home evaluation page on your website.
I challenge you to think outside of the box. What are additional ways you can drive traffic to your website using this technique? Post your ideas in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.
Aside from word of mouth email is the cheapest form of advertising. Optimize your emails so that you get the highest possible return out of every email you send.
How I Earned $300 in One Week Through Affiliate Programs February 20, 2009
As you may or may not know, I have another website called MTOBikes.com in which myself and others contribute articles about mountain biking for publication on the site. After only three months the site was receiving between 250-500 unique visits daily (all organic). The site peaked around 1,000 visits daily during the Olympic Games (at the time, the site ranked #1 out of 1.6 million sites for the search phrase ‘olympic mountain biking’). A few months ago I started to dedicate a lot of time to restructuring the layout of the site in order to create more space for advertisers. I’ve also been doing a lot of research online and networking with experts as to how I can optimize advertising revenue from the site and back in October, I earned $300 in one week (less two $10 PayPal transaction fees) through an affiliate program by selling two text link ads.
What is an Affiliate Program? It is a means in which companies can advertise on websites other than their own. When a visitor clicks on the affiliates link on your website you get paid a commission for the desired action…that action could be the act of clicking on the ad, a purchase on the affiliate’s site, and so on. There are Affiliate Network sites…which for a lack of a better term, serve as brokers that provide enrollment to multiple affiliate programs providing you the ability to manage your programs from one central account. Essentially, once you are enrolled in an affiliate program you are provided HTML code that can be used to create banner ads (like the two featured in this post) or text link ads, when visitors click and perform the desired action, you get paid…it is that simple!
Below are the three Affiliate Network sites that, if you have a website, I strongly encourage you to enroll and explore ways at which your website can help earn you a passive income.
Once enrolled in these networks begin searching for what companies are offering affiliate programs. Identify and register with companies that are relevant to the content on your website (this will maximize your revenue).
If you have questions, ask them in the comments section below. I will respond promptly. Alternatively, you can contact me direct at 678.231.3615 and I will direct you as to what your next steps should be.
Who Do You Market? February 5, 2009
One of the hardest things about being a small business owner is the ability to market yourself and generate new clients on a limited budget. Why is it that the majority of small business owners do not take advantage of the easiest and cheapest way to market themselves online? Email.
Most business professionals send around 50 emails per day. When you send an email, who are you marketing? Are you promoting your business or another? Unless your email uses the same domain name as your web address, you are marketing another business or service.
Whenever I teach a class, students are asked to provide feedback by filling out provided evaluation cards. Between 80-90% of these individuals list an email address different than that of the domain of their business’ website…emails from AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.
The same individual who complains about their Comcast internet service is also promoting them every time they send an email!
Why don’t people use an email address that promotes themselves? Most if not all web hosts provide unlimited email included in their hosting packages…we do.
People, do yourself a favor and instead of promoting a business or service other than your own, inform the world about your business by promoting your website through email. If you aren’t sure how to do this, contact us…we would be glad to help get you set up!