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By John V in Advertising

Experts squawk about Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, designing websites, and a whole litany of online and social media possibilities, but not all of them make sense for every single business. When it comes to local advertising, small business owners must seriously consider how to concentrate their efforts. While we all must utilize the internet and social media to some extent, what will be most effective for one owner, may be a waste of time for another. By reflecting on some key issues, devising a successful local advertising strategy becomes less about what everyone else says and more about what you truly want and need.

Before you embark upon any online advertising initiatives, you must decide whether you are going to do it yourself, delegate someone in house, or out source it. All of these are perfectly valid options, but you need to consider whether you have the technical expertise, time, and money to support your decision, whatever it happens to be. Initially, it may be difficult for you to gauge your resources and exactly what this undertaking will require. Defining what you hope to achieve with your online presence may clarify things.

We are conditioned to believe expansion and growth is always the desired outcome, but local businesses can also remain a certain size and be quite successful. Are you focused on growing your business, maintaining your current client base, or both? Do want to provide basic information, foster interaction, launch a new but related enterprise, or all of the above? Take a moment to quantify the current state of your business and articulate your true feelings about it. Next, envision where you would like your business to be this time next year. If the tomorrow you dream about looks a lot like today, that is perfectly alright, but then you will fashion an online presence that supports that goal and not one that strives for something you do not want and cannot manage.

Before you establish your accounts, build your sites, and fill out profiles, explore your options by tooling around, and imagining how you would use it to bolster your business. What would you actually enjoy doing, and would your clients respond to it? Twitter is an excellent example of a social media tool that can be an amazing way to cultivate a relationship with new and existing clients. It requires a certain level of commitment, however, if you expect it to help your business. Are you willing to put the time in or would it simply be another chore? Would your tweets be purely professional and, if so, what would they say? Do you see your clients following you, responding, and retweeting your updates? If you can imagine a Twitter presence that adds to your professional life, by all means, tweet away. If, however, it seems extraneous or just does not seem like a good fit, then right now, Twitter is not for you and there are plenty of other online outlets for local advertising.

Some aspects of your business’s online presence are non-negotiable. At this point, every local business should have a website. How complex or sophisticated that website is, however, can vary. At the very least, it should provide critical details such as a description of your business and contact information. On the other end of the spectrum, your website could also host a blog, a library of information, links to other resources and articles, staff bios, and more. If it is exciting to you and makes sense for you business, then make it happen. A well-crafted online presence will pay off, but only if you care enough to invest in it properly.

Facebook is quickly becoming a non-negotiable component for small businesses, as well, in part because it is projected to have 1 billion users by August 2012. A large segment of those users are turning to Facebook instead of Google when searching for services and products. It also has taken the concept of word of mouth to another level. Everyone has a vast network of friends, family, and colleagues to either recommend or enquire about businesses. Just like with your website, however, your Facebook page can be as simple as you want, but keep in mind that local companies who make the most of what it has to offer are seeing results. By interacting with their current customer base, they are fostering a sense of community and loyalty. An active presence also means they are more likely to be noticed by familiar friends and new acquaintances alike.

Review sites are another part of the internet that you cannot opt out of, and you ignore at your own peril. Sites such as Yelp and Citysearch provide an independent space for your clients to submit feedback, both positive and negative. Since it is all user generated content, you cannot remove yourself from these sites, but they usually provide a forum for you to respond to reviews and report ones that violate the site’s guidelines. By being an active participant, you can monitor and manage your reputation. You can also gain valuable insight into your business that helps identify sources of professional pride and areas for improvement. Like Facebook, review sites are often a deciding factor when it comes to patronizing a business, and being highly rated and recommended can be a significant boon.

As you can see, you cannot escape local advertising through social media and the internet, and, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, you can make a tremendous difference in shaping your online presence. At the end of the day, however, small business owners should be focused on their business and not preoccupied with following every social media trend, especially those that are not right for them. Before you dedicate resources to a facet of online advertising, take a moment to carefully consider what makes sense for your business. After all, you know it best, and advertising should be a reflection of your business’s true nature and an investment in its future, whatever that might be.

Article by John V. A successful local advertising strategy requires you to craft an online presence that reflects your business’s true nature regardless of social media trends. Learn more at http://www.wpromote.com

By Kalena Jordan in Advertising

ppcI was talking to a small business owner the other day, who was complaining to me about how difficult it is to run Pay Per Click ad campaigns on Google when you are faced with conflicting information all the time. I asked him to elaborate and he said:

“I talked to my Google AdWords rep recently and he said that using company names in an ad violates Google’s terms. Also, in some of your blog posts, you seem to suggest bidding on common brand names is also a violation. But I was under the assumption that this was common practice. Is it not? I’m sure our competitors are doing that and I’m wondering if I could report that to Google?”

It did seem like a confusing issue, so I decided to research it a little more.

Use of Your Company Name or Trademark in AdWords

Putting your own company name or trademark in your ad is certainly not a violation, it’s encouraged, particularly if yours is a well known brand/name. In the section of AdWords Help called Use of Trademarks in AdWords, there is an authorization form you can submit to be able to use your brand / trademark throughout your account.

Use of Your Company Name or Trademark by Competitors

The use of your trademark by competitors is where things get complicated. It differs between region and differs again between ad text versus keyword bids. Google actually opened up trademark keyword bidding two years ago, however AdWord’s trademark policy is now dependent on the region your trademark is registered in and the region/s your billing account is located in.

This is a crucial change and one that has likely gone unnoticed by many advertisers. So here are the main regional trademark policies:

AdWords Regional Trademark Policies

1. In certain regions, Google allow some ads to show with a trademark in ad text if the ad is from a reseller or from an informational site. There is covered by a separate trademark policy for resellers and informational sites.

2. For regions that are NOT included in Google’s trademark policy for resellers and informational sites, if their investigation finds that the advertiser is using the trademark in ad text, Google will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in ad text in the future.

3. In most regions covered by the Trademark policy (250+ countries including UK, USA and Canada), Google will investigate ad text only. They will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint in these regions. Furthermore, their investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google rather than those served on partner sites.

4. In EU and EFTA regions, Google does not prevent the selection of trademarks as keywords. However, in response to a complaint, they will do a limited investigation as to whether a keyword (in combination with particular ad text) is confusing as to the origin of the advertised goods and services.

5. In some limited regions, Google may investigate the use of trademarks in ad text, in keywords, or in both ad text and keywords. These regions include:

• Australia
• Brazil
• China
• Hong Kong
• Macau
• New Zealand
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Taiwan

Because Australia and New Zealand are included in the above list (and these are the countries in which I operate), I have witnessed a few keyword trademark infringements and represented some clients who lodged complaints procedures based on this policy. I have also been following closely a landmark case playing out in Australia about this very issue:

Landmark Test Case

In 2005, Australian telecommunications company Telstra found themselves in legal hot water when an online publication owned by one of their subsidiaries purchased Google AdWords blatantly using the names of competitors in their ads.

As a result, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against the Trading Post Australia and Google Inc. in 2007.

In their Federal Court case hearing earlier this month, the ACCC challenged the use by Trading Post of the keyword phrase “Kloster Ford”, which was the name of a car dealership in Newcastle, as misleading conduct in breach of the then Trade Practices Act. When “Kloster Ford” was searched for using the Google search engine, this advertisement appeared:

Kloster Ford
www.tradingpost.com.au New/Used Fords – Search 90,000 + auto ads online.
Great finds daily!

The ACCC argued that Trading Post’s use of “Kloster Ford” in its sponsored link was misleading and deceptive as it represented that there was an association or affiliation between Trading Post and Kloster Ford and the ad suggested that information regarding Kloster Ford or Kloster Ford car sales could be found on the Trading Post website, when it could not.

The ACCC also alleged that, by publishing the results pages with these AdWords, Google had itself engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct. In response, Google raised a defense that it was engaged in the business of advertising and did not know that AdWords purchased by Trading Post amounted to an infringement of consumer legislation.

On 22 September 2011, the Australian Federal Court held that the Trading Post had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct under the Trade Practices Act 1974. However, they dismissed the claim against Google, stating that while Google provided the technical facilities that permitted the relevant advertisement to be seen, it did not follow that they had endorsed the information conveyed. Consumers would understand that the message being conveyed to them was an advertisement from the advertiser, they stated, rather than the publisher. A settlement between ACCC and Trading Post has since followed.

This case is significant for all Australian businesses that place advertisements through Google AdWords and other pay per click models, because it means that use of competitor trademarks, business names, brand names and URLs could potentially breach Australian consumer protection laws.

Navigate With Care

So the upshot of all this is that unless they have your explicit permission, your competitors generally aren’t allowed to use your brand/name in their own ads, but if you’re located in the US or other areas outside the limited regions mentioned above, they ARE allowed to bid on your brand/name as a keyword.

But it’s not all bad news – it means that you are allowed to bid on their brand/name as well.

However, as with any legal issue, tread carefully when using trademarks in your ads. Accidental or not, a violation of AdWords policy can result in the closure of your account by Google and possibly even land you with a lawsuit.

Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College – an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

By Toby Russell in Advertising

ppcHi now for all of us in the Internet marketing or information publishing arena we will undoubtedly use pay per click advertising at some stage. Now for those just starting out, it can all be a bit confusing so here’s a real beginner’s guide to the main ones – who they are, what they are and what you can expect. But as I’ve identified many times before you really need once you’ve been through this brief outline to go off and have a go, there’s nothing like DIY, you need to see and understand the nuts and bolts of how PPC advertising works.

What Is Pay Per Click?

Pay per click advertising, or PPC for short, is online advertising that works for any organisation whether offline or online and is certainly a method for helping advertisers drive highly targeted traffic to your site or offline business as well. .

Here’s the History Bit

It started in 1997 with Yahoo’s Search Marketing and since then has grown into a variety of different programs. There are a number of different options you can try. The top 3 pay per click search engine advertising programs are Google AdWords, Yahoo’s Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter.

Google AdWords

This is probably the top pay per click network and the one you’ll have heard most about. It has an interface that is friendly, clean and easy to use. It takes just a few minutes from the time you create your account until your ads are live and ready to go. It offers lots of different options for your marketing campaign. It costs $5 to get started, and you can bid for as low as $0.01 per keyword, so it’s really flexible.

Free to Use Keyword Research Tool

It also has its own free keyword research tool to help you choose keywords and phrases to target. No for me I reckon its one of the best and real easy to use so even if you don’t use AdWords the keyword tool I would sincerely recommend you check out and use.

Yahoo’s Search Marketing

This is the search engine that started it all. It has gone through several name changes from Yahoo to GoTo, and then Overture, and finally it’s back as Yahoo Search Marketing.

Like Google, this search engine enables you to reach a massive number of users with its ppc advertising, and also offers sponsored ads on all of its searches. It is also a comparatively cheap service and they offer special deals from time to time, just go & check it out.

Microsoft AdCenter

Microsoft’s PPC offering is top notch. Like the others, it has campaigns to help you customize your ad campaign. It also has its own free keyword research tool that lets you really target your customers, you can narrow it down to gender, age, time of day, geographical location, and just about anything else you can imagine. This feature makes it a wonderful all-in-one package.

The Disadvantages Of Pay Per Click

Whilst pay per click sounds very appealing, you should be aware that there are some areas you need to watch out for. You may have trouble winning your keyword bids at a competitive price and within you advertising budget, there’s lots of competition for most keyword phrases, so it can take quite a budget to get ones that you may want if they carry very high traffic levels.

Top Tip - drill down from top line keywords to cheaper less obvious ones and also consider long tail keywords which can produce some really stunning results for not a lot of advertising budget outlay. Don’t forget PPC is about driving traffic and more importantly targeted traffic so your keyword research is the real key to success.

Think Through Your Objectives First

Also a word of caution here, with the boom of ever increasing traffic, affiliate marketing growth etc, these major PPC search engines have instituted tighter regulations and restrictions. This makes it tougher for new marketers to get in on the ground floor especially if your budget is pretty small.

Google is still viewed by many as the reigning king of search engines, but both Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter are cheaper and not quite so regulated.

Since Internet marketing is about targeting smaller niches to make sales, it might be worthwhile to consider using these search engines instead of Google. But here’s my recommendation – try them all out with small amounts of budget, you need to find one you like, feel comfortable using and as I’ve said before it’s about having as many marketing guns in your arsenal as possible.

Before launching a full-scale pay per click ad campaign, test drive each of these search engines and see which one you like best. It’s possible that the advanced keyword research tool offered by Microsoft AdCenter is just what you need to help you get started. You may like one interface more than another. Think about what you want your campaign to achieve, and then choose the search engine that you are most comfortable working with and you believe is going to work best for you. So there you have it the beginner’s guide to pay per click advertising.

Toby Russell, Internet Marketer, Publisher & Property Investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. Want to know more about Google Adwords & Other Online Advertising Methods? Get his popular Free Special Report -Chapter 12 tells you how to use PPC advertising, available at => http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com

By Charles Kiyimba in Advertising

marketing3Business is all about minimizing costs and maximizing profits. For you to minimize the costs, you need to be cautious about the amount of money you commit to marketing your business. Whether you are new or old in the online marketing industry, you may have a limited advertising budget to market your website. Even if you had enough resources, you still have to minimize your costs for you to remain in business. Free online marketing is therefore a key ingredient in growing your business online. Do you agree with me?

When I had just started online marketing, I spent much money, hoping to bring quick returns in the shortest time possible. I dug deep into my pockets to spend on several methods intended to drive traffic to my website. At first I thought I would make money online as fast as possible.

Hmmm! That wasn’t the case. I realized that if I continued spending without going back to the drawing board to reorganize myself, I would end up wasting my resources on what could not work for me. I therefore decided to zero down on free online marketing.

Do you know that online marketers are there to make money? Yes, that’s why we are in business. But in the quest of making money, some marketers really exaggerate a lot. I always visit websites with adverts that make me laugh. Do you know why? It’s because I once fell prey to such “Make $ 2,000 in 72 hours” adverts. Most marketers create some urgency for you to spend by prompting you to feel that you will make money within hours. But it’s not all that simple.

While it’s possible to make quick money online, it may not be easy to new marketers. I am not discouraging you from using paid online marketing methods. They surely work. But what I am guarding you against is to spend your hard earned money on marketing methods you have not known very well how they really work. That’s why it’s good for newbies to use free online marketing methods first as they get the experience in doing online business.

There are many free online marketing methods but I would like to share with you only six methods that I have used and found to be effective.

1. Article marketing is a very effective free online marketing method, which most outstanding and experienced marketers use to drive a steady stream of traffic to their websites. All what you need to do is to write your own articles on topics related to your niche and submit them manually to article directories that will not charge you any penny. Your challenge here is to produce articles consistently and to have a list of the article directories for your article submission.

2. Open an account with Google to use their free online marketing tools like eBlogger, Google Webmaster tools, Google Analytics, Google Sitemaps, Google Adsense, Google Writely, Google Content Submission, Google Alerts and Google Froogle. These are advertising tools you can use without paying any coin to increase traffic to your website. Your challenge is to learn how to use them.

3. Use the word of mouth to tell people, with whom you personally get into contact, about your online presence. Do not underrate the word of mouth; it does wonders for me. I always ask people to visit my website and the response is always good.

4. Use social networking to reach many people with whom you share the same interests. Social networking is an effective free online marketing tool that came to stay.

There are many social sites but the most popular sites include Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, My Space, Ning, Google Plus+, Tagged, badoo, mylife and friendster.

5. Forum marketing is another free online marketing method you should not miss using. It’s so much used by experienced online marketers. You only have to join forums and become an active member. You will begin to see traffic coming to your site from forums.

6. Social bookmarking is a system where members of the same network are able to list websites, which are made accessible to other members of the network. Just like social networking, social bookmarking is a method that has become a big thing to the internet users. Social bookmarking sites include mainly Twitter, Squdoo, StumbleUpon, reddit, Blinklist, Clipmarks, etc…

After exploring and using free online marketing ways, you can now use paid traditional and online advertising to reach more customers, to grow your business. But do not undervalue the effectiveness of free online marketing. It really can help you greatly to build your business. You only have to commit your time to do something every day, you will win. No doubt!

Charles Kiyimba owns http://www.CashWithGoleza.com and http://www.golezadesigners.com where popular home business ideas and opportunities are tested rigorously to find out what works and what doesn’t. Visit today to discover the secrets behind building a successful home business.

By Brandon Clay in Advertising

ppcPay per click (PPC) campaigns are sometimes confusing. People also refer to it as cost per click (CPC), successful PPC campaigns involves keyword research and good tracking among other things.PPC can be expensive if there is a lot of competition for the keywords. When you’re paying for each click to your website, you want to make sure the research has been done. The following may help to explain the differences between the two types of PPC/CPC: flat rate & bid-based.

Flat Rate PPC

Flat Rate PPC is where the advertiser and publisher (search engine) agree upon a fixed amount that will be paid for each click. The publisher has a rate that determines the cost per click or CPC based on the competition of the term, meaning how many other people want to pay for that click too.

Terms such as “Austin, TX PPC” or “PPC Austin, TX” will have a cost based upon how many other websites are using those keyphrases to drive traffic to their sites. Another determination of cost is often related to the content on webpages, if you have content that attracts more valuable visitors it will cost more for that click-thru than content that attracts less valuable visitors. However, in many cases you can work with the publisher for lower rates, especially when you have a long term, high-value contract.

The flat-rate model is particularly common to price comparison websites like PriceGrabber, eBay and Kelkoo which typically publish rates for particular keywords and phrases. However, these too are negotiable and advertisers can pay more to get their sites to the top of the page.
Since these sites are compartmentalized into product or service categories they are highly targeted so you have a better chance of getting a customer from someone shopping on these sites because that consumer is farther along in the buying process, meaning they already know what they want and have come specifically to make a purchase.

Bid-based PPC

With Bid-based PPC, the advertiser signs a contract that allows them to compete against other advertisers in an advertising network such as Google AdWords or Microsoft AdCenter. Each advertiser sets the maximum amount that he or she is willing to pay in an auction for a given ad spot based on a keyword . The auction proceeds automatically by a visitor clicking on the ad spot that the search engine results page (SERP) displays.

All bids for the keyword that target the searcher’s geo-location, the day and time of the search, etc. are then compared and the winner determined. If there are multiple ad spots which there usually are there can be multiple winners whose positions on the page are determined by the amount each has bid. The ad with the highest bid generally shows up first, but again additional factors like ad quality often comes into play.

In addition to ad spots on SERPs, the major advertising networks have partnerships with 3rd party sites for contextual ads to be placed like the ads that show up on blogs. Those sites are 3rd party partners of the big search engines. Blogs, for instance, sign up to host ads on behalf of the ad network. These 3rd party websites are often referred to as a content networks and the ads on them as contextual ads because the ad spots are associated with keywords based on the context of the page.

Ads on the Google Display Network generally have a lower click thru rate (CTR) and a lower conversion rate (CR) than the straight search engine ads. But they can still be a good source of secondary income for the publisher and a cheaper source of advertising for you.

To maximize success and achieve scale, you can hire someone to manage your PPC campaigns for you or have the process fully automated by a bid management system. These systems are more commonly used by advertising agencies that offer PPC bid management as a service.

Which type will work for your business?

That depends on your budget. If you have more to spend on PPC, then you can target the more “ready to buy” consumer directly on the SERP with a flat-rate ad. If you are still testing keywords out or have less to spend on PPC than on other advertising channels, start out bidding on a few keyphrases and let the search engine syndicate them for you.

Or you can try your luck with a Google AdWords account.

Targeting is key as it is in other types of advertising.

Factors that often play into PPC campaigns include the target’s interest , search query intent, location, and the day and time they are browsing. Remember this is an ever-changing and constantly evolving industry, so don’t be afraid to experiment (after you’ve done some research).

Have some fun with it!

Brandon Clay has been involved in internet marketing since 03′. He currently owns Search Traffic Pro, a niche consultancy firm in Austin, Texas. His areas of expertise are search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC/SEM) advertising, social media, web analytics, and search marketing consulting If you need help gathering prospects, or help with PPC in Austin, (or anywhere for that matter) contact him at http://www.searchtrafficpro.com

By Patric Chan in Advertising

advertisingAdvertising on the internet is a very effective way to sell your products or services. It is also a way to attract the attention of your targeted customers. You can be considered an expert in your niche market because your name or brand is frequently shown in front of your prospects’ eyes.

When drawing up your advertising tactics, consider these tips to make customers find you products hard to resist.

Tip 1 – Support

You can provide support to customers in the instances that they have questions that need to be answered before they purchase your product. This is a selling point as you want to show that you care about your customers and want them to have a good experience with your product or company.

Keep in mind that customers will buy any of your products if your advertisement ensures them that you can provide the best approach for what they are looking for. If you also provide added support, they are assured that they can reach someone should they face some challenges while consuming your product. It is crucial for you to do this because it is part of your success in online marketing.

Tip 2 – Create hype

One of the most efficient techniques to advertise your products is to host competitions that offers a few free eBooks, software or even a product that you have created as a reward.

People will certainly seize this opportunity especially if the rewards you offer are relevant to what they are looking for. This can gain you the trust of your customers because they believe that you are generous. Well, you should also make sure that you have a product to sell which is superior to what you have offered for free.

It is easier to do this when you do niche marketing because your prospects are people who are enthusiastic about your topic.

Tip 3 – Provide guarantees

Let customers know that they have nothing to lose when they invest with you. Take out all the risk factors for them. It is common for marketers to offer 100% money back guarantees that last up to 90 days. A longer guarantee period shows how sure you are that your product will work as promised.

Tip 4 – Brand your site

Think of a domain name that is memorable. This is because there is an incredible number of sites on the Internet. It is prudent to choose a domain name that is not difficult to remember so that customers can locate you effortlessly.

You can also market your website with pay per click advertising. Potential customers can see your advertisements on top of the search engine results page.

You need to pay for these services. Just ensure that the returns are worth the amount invested.

Tip 5 – Team up with other Internet marketers

Start building a team of affiliates or joint venture partners. This will make your marketing strategies more effective because affiliates are able to drive traffic to your website and even market your products on their own website.

The thing you have to bear in mind here is that your affiliates or joint venture partners should preferably be reputable on the Internet and their business should also be the closely related to yours.

These advertising tips could help you “big time” to add more sales and profit in your bank account.

Internet marketing secrets revealed! How to create your own info-product in less than 3 days to make money online and discover how to get Joint Venture partners at http://www.youchandoit.com

By Chip Cooper in Advertising

bahavtargetOn March 14, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its first behavioral advertising settlement. If your website collects behavioral data or serves behavioral ads – either directly or indirectly through the use of behavioral ad vendors – you need to understand and comply with the FTC’s notice and choice principles, or suffer the consequences.

What Is Behavioral Advertising?

Behavioral ads are based on anonymous data collected on how a user’s computer browses the Internet, including websites visited, searches made, and content read. This data is used to create a behavioral profile that is linked to a specific demographic. The ads seen by the computer’s user are tailored to the user’s interests resulting in significantly increased relevancy and sales.

Contextual ads, in contrast to behavioral ads, are based solely on the content of the specific website page the user is viewing. Because contextual ads are generally not as relevant to the user’s interests as behavioral ads, contextual ads are less effective, and therefore less
profitable.

Although behavioral data is essentially anonymous when collected, the FTC and privacy advocates are concerned that the amount and depth of some data could lead to personal identification of users. In addition, even if users are not personally identified, the enhanced data about them could rise to the level of an invasion of privacy.

The Chitka Settlement

In 2009, the FTC issued a staff report on behavioral advertising that explained the FTC’s principles regarding behavioral data. The FTC believes that its deceptive and a violation of the FTC Act to fail to provide to consumers proper notice and opt-out choice regarding the collection of behavioral data. The FTC’s settlement with Chitka, Inc. is the first settlement based on these principles.

Chitka is an intermediary between advertisers and websites that serve ads for the advertisers. To collect behavioral data, Chitka passes a cookie on users’ computers and then uses the cookie to track the users’ online behavior.

The FTC alleged in its Complaint that for over two years Chitka advised consumers that if they wanted to opt out of behavioral tracking they could click on a button titled “opt out”. Clicking the button would generate a message that read “you are opted out”. The catch according to the FTC is that the opt out lasted only for ten days, and then new cookies would be passed to consumers’ computers
resulting in tracking of behavioral data for serving behavioral ads.

In its settlement with the FTC, Chitka agreed to:

* delete all identifiable user information collected for the ineffective opt out period,
* provide consumers with a new opt out mechanism that lasts for at least five years, and
* notify consumers whose opt out was ineffective to opt out again.

Chitka also agreed to a notice and opt out procedure that could be interpreted as a blue print for what the FTC believes is generally required for all sites that collect behavioral data. This procedure includes:

* A message on the home page that reads “we collect information about your activities on certain websites to send you targeted advertisements. To opt out of [our] targeted ads, click here.”

* The “here” link points to an opt out page where the user is notified that opt out means the information would not be used for behavioral ads, the status of the opt out (in or out), and that opt out is limited to a specific browser and should be repeated if another browser is used.

* A link on any behavioral ad that reads “Opt Out?”, and that provides text when the users’ cursor hovers over the ad that reads “Opt Out of Targeted Ads”. The Opt Out? link would point to the opt out page described above.

Conclusion

The Chitka settlement clearly establishes that the FTC believes it’s a deceptive practice under the FTC Act to fail to provide notice and opt out choice regarding behavioral ads.

What’s more important is that the notice and opt out procedure agreed to in the settlement may be a clear indication of the specific procedure that the FTC requires for compliance.

Leading Internet and software attorney Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting Website Legal Forms with his Website Legal Forms Generator. Use his free online tool — Website Documents Determinator — to determine which legal documents your website really needs. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to draft your website legal forms at http://digicontracts.com/ .

By Owen Jones in Advertising

viralmktgViral advertising is the art of encouraging other Internet users to pass your adverts around the Internet free of charge. This is a very effective, very cheap and yet very fast manner of advertising. For instance, you could compose an ad, send it to 100 people who each send it to 100 (10,000 people in a couple of hours), who send it to 10 friends, who send it to 10 friends. That means 1,000,000 people can have read your advert in a day.

And it is free and takes minutes to do, although it will indubitably take longer to plan. So, how can you instigate viral advertising techniques into your advertising? The most common methods of attaining this are by promoting a web site using email and instant messaging.

Viral advertising is virtually free, not entirely free because you need an Internet connection and a computer, although you can do it from an online cafe anywhere in the world. Viral messages can be quite narrowly targeted. How can you accomplish this targeting?

Well, it is fairly simple actually because ‘birds of a feather flock together’. If you send your message about one of the latest games to 100 pensioners, it almost certainly will not reach 1,000 surfers, but if you sent the same message to 100 teenagers, you almost certainly will reach 1,000,000 fairly quickly.

This targeting combined with the ease of the click means that the response rate is fairly instant – so fast that the ad-message goes out in the morning and surfers are clicking an hour later, virtually as soon as they receive it. This is instant profits for hardly any outlay.

However, because viral advertising is so swift, your promotional material also has to be up to the minute too. For instance, if a game manufacturer is offering a 20% discount voucher off a game starting from the 15th, you need to be ready to send out your emails or instant messages as soon as the 15th breaks. You could try the 14th, but you run the risk of your message being deleted or forgotten about and by the 16th someone else will already have sent it out.

So, what form do these viral marketing messages take? I can tell you some of the most common forms, but actually, the best ones are imaginative, unusual, quirky and unique. You could pass around a decent joke or collection of jokes on a theme that matches the topic of your advert. Let’s say gamers or computers, to stick with our instance.

Years ago, there were some great examples taken from computer support centers doing the rounds. I bet someone earned thousands out of them. You might pass around photos of birds, if you are selling bird seed; racing cars if you are selling tires.

You could send out a personal recommendation, if enough surfers think that you know what you are talking about and at the bottom of every email that you send out is a link back to your sales page. These messages are usually forwarded en masse without editing, so your link goes around the planet on a tidal wave of viral advertising.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with whether sitemaps give websites a boost. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at PLR Articles

By Chip Cooper in Advertising

advertisingThe Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) publication earlier this month of a proposed framework for protecting online privacy portends a major impact on online advertising. If your website’s business model depends on advertising revenue, either directly from the site itself or via a smart, mobile device, you have a big stake in the outcome of the dialogue kicked off by the FTC report.

The FTC report suggests implementation of a Do Not Track mechanism – similar conceptually to the current Do Not Call list regarding annoying telemarketing calls – that would enable consumers to block the collection of online browsing data. Do Not Track, if implemented, will dramatically change the rules of the road regarding Internet advertising – with a potentially huge impact on relatively smaller websites that publish free content supported by behavioral ads.

The Target – Behavioral Advertising

Behavioral ads are targeted to a user’s browsing history, thereby increasing relevancy – and dramatically increasing conversions to sales. Behavioral ads are based on anonymous data collected on how a user’s computer browses the Internet, including websites visited, searches made, and content read. This data is used to create a behavioral profile that is linked to a specific demographic. The result is that the ads seen by the computer’s user are tailored to the user’s interests. Many industry advertising executives believe that the overwhelming success of behavioral ads is a significant factor in the growth of the Internet commercially.

Behavioral ads should be distinguished from contextual ads that are based solely on the content of the specific website page the user is viewing. Because contextual ads are generally not as relevant to the user’s interests as behavioral ads, contextual ads are less effective, and therefore less profitable.

Behavioral advertising is a big FTC concern regarding consumer privacy. Although behavioral data is essentially anonymous when collected, privacy advocates are concerned about where new data collection technology and methodology may take us. For example, the amount and depth of some data could lead to personal identification of users. In addition, even if users are not personally identified, the enhanced data about them could rise to the level of an invasion of privacy.

How Would Do Not Track Work?

Although it’s unknown at this time exactly how Do Not Track will work, one approach could involve a list similar to the Do Not Call list for telemarketers.

Another, more likely approach, would be for Web browsers to provide a built-in option for a persistent setting that would enable consumers to choose whether to allow or block the collection of behavioral data and behavioral ads. Users would have the ability to turn this option on an off. While on, the user would be able to surf the Web in a mode sort of like stealth mode.

Who Would be Affected by Do Not Track?

The effect of Do Not Track on ad-serving websites would be to lower revenues based behavioral ads. Relatively large websites that publish premium content would likely not be affected significantly by Do Not Track because the vast majority of their ad space is typically sold directly to marketers which may be able to rely successfully on contextual ads. This would not be true for smaller websites that typically rely more heavily on ad networks to place their ads. For this reason, smaller websites which publish free content supported by behavioral ads could face a significant impact on revenue from Do Not Call.

For consumers, Do Not Track could dramatically affect the quantity and quality of content they see on the Web. This is due to the fact that much of the free content on the Web is supported by ad revenue. Consumers operating in stealth mode would likely see limited or reduced content, plus ads would not be as relevant.

Conclusion

Some legal commentators question whether the FTC has the authority to unilaterally implement Do Not Track regulations. They argue that Congress must give them that authority. If Congress must act, it may be that the political appeal for Do Not Track would not be as strong Do Not Call. Many consumers understand the benefits of behavioral ads, and they may believe that behavioral ads are much less intrusive than unwelcome and annoying calls at dinner time by telemarketers.

In any event, the stakes are high for all websites that depend on adverting for revenues. The FTC has requested public comments on their framework report by January 31, 2011, for a final report later in 2011.

If you may be significantly affected by Do Not Track, it’s recommended that you strongly consider providing your comments before the deadline passes.

Leading Internet and software attorney Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting Website Legal Forms with his Website Legal Forms Generator. Use his free online tool – Website Documents Determinator – to determine which legal documents your website really needs. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to draft your website legal forms at www.digicontracts.com.

By Anthony Harris in Advertising

advertising1For years now, internet banner advertising has captured the World Wide Web for it has become a large help in saving an amount of money while reaching beyond territories. Banner advertising played a major part in market trafficking all over the internet and many individuals and companies have bought themselves these cheap internet banner advertising. Some made use of it financially; others have no idea on what to do with it.

With your cheap internet banner advertisement, would you just sit in front of your computer and wait for people to notice you? Would you let your company get trampled by other company’s marketing strategies?

Okay, so you admit you bought internet banner advertising, but does that mean you won’t do anything about it because it costs cheap? These following steps will help you get up on your feet and make your cheap internet banner advertising priceless. With these simple instructions, there will always have traffic on your website.

First, to be able to capture the attention of your target audience, your title and topic should be thought of with concern. You have to make the people believe that your cheap internet banner advertising is worthy of their time. The advertisement has to meet the audience’s need.

For the people to bring attention to your internet banner advertising, you should be able to raise the curiosity and convince the people. You should be able to deliver your products or services with strong words that may lead the target audience at deciding.You should be able to constructs words on your advertisements that could lead the target audience that you are directly talking to them to give a sense of familiarity on your services.

As you persuade the people by calling for them and directing them to buy or entail your services, they give importance to your business proposal. Your cheap internet-based banner advertising will become one of the sought for ads there are. Make sure to present your ads to the global community repeatedly to get them familiar with you and your services.

Always remember that having a website doesn’t mean it could sell products by itself. You must be sure to accompany it with marketing strategies. By buying banner advertising, you or your company would save time and money while achieving market sales. These internet banners advertising may come cheap, but it could lead you or your company to riches.

Learn How to get up to 19 Checks Per Month, Earn Upwards of $519.17 Per Day, and Personally Sponsor 107 Reps into YOUR Primary Business in 60 Days or Less Marketing 1 Simple Website! Click Here To Get Access Now! www.thenewbizsuccess.com

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