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Facebook. All the cool kids are doing it. Are you?

For advertisers, it’s a hard market to pass up. So many people in one place at one time. Marketers see something like this and it’s as if their dreams have come true. It’s got that glowing, shiny exterior that seems to say: come to us. We have numbers.

Numbers are important in a marketing campaign. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. However, in the Facebook world some of those numbers have gotten them in trouble. The reason being that in recent times Facebook introduced a new advertising platform. A platform that gathered numbers that not everyone was comfortable parting with.

Numbers and demographics. Demographics tell advertisers who and where their potential customers are. When millions upon millions of users register their personal information on a social site, all of the sudden demographic research becomes far easier than it has ever been before.

But fail to notify your users or give them an opportunity to completely opt out of the platform, and there will be a huge backlash of opinion. In the space of a month the site can go from “have you tried that out yet” to “remember when everyone liked it?”.

Online advertising propels online development. We all understand this, and, to a point, we all we’ve come to accept this. So much so that we barely even notice it anymore.

Here’s a quick thought experiment. Did you check your email this morning? Do you check it everyday? It’s a fairly common practice. Were you aware that there were advertisements all around your message? We all know they’re there. Flashing, pretty colors or creative titles in bold text. They’re always nearby… just in the periphery of our vision.

Now, do you remember a single one? Do you even remember what they were selling?

My guess is that you probably don’t.

Online advertising is the epitome of the in-the-moment selling. If the pretty colors or particular text catch your eye then and there, you might just click on it. But that means the truth is there’s as much reliance on pure impulse as there is on demographics.

Facebook is the latest in a line of platforms that are trying to deliver the opportunity to receive targeted advertising. Isn’t that nice of them? We’re going to use your personal information to deliver targeted advertising, because we have to advertise, so it might as well be for things you’ve given us hints that you actually like. Oh, and we might sell your information to others, so they can share in this opportunity.

But at least we’ve been given the opportunity to receive ads we want to see.

Wait. Ads we want to see?

Personal information being used to determine out likes and dislikes?

Let’s face it. No one wants advertisements. And rolling out an advertising platform and touting it as something beneficial to a user base isn’t fooling anyone. And in the wake of the backlash from this platform, Facebook has changed some of its policies and made it easier to opt in or out of the program.

So what about regular online advertising in social mediums like this? Is it effective? Do the demographics reduce the dependence on impulse? Or are the users of social sites so intent on the content that advertising doesn’t even register with them?

Studies have shown that the tendencies of the common user lean toward that last option. Click rates per page views on Facebook (and other social sites) are extremely low.

It seems people are too busy with socializing to even give into impulse clicks.

Does that mean you don’t need to consider social media in your online advertising campaign?

Not at all. While there are arguments flying around about the staying power of Web 2.0 applications and whether we’re on the verge of another bubble bursting, that is irrelevant to the current discussion.

In the here and now community works. Advertisements may not, but advertising isn’t your only option on these networks.

Community works because users feel like you have their interests in mind, rather than just your own. Community is about communication, and that might be the best advertising you could hope for.

Author:  Andy Eliason is a writer at Main10, an Internet marketing and development firm. His company works with online advertising to develop strategic marketing solutions.

When it comes to Pay Per Click campaigns, there tends to be a lot of focus on the quality and content of landing pages in order to increase conversions.

That’s all well and good, but to get people to visit your landing page, you first have to convince them to click on your ad. This is often much more challenging because while your landing page generally has your visitor’s full attention, your ad is just one of several ads all vying for the same attention.

That tiny ad has just 2 or 3 seconds, a tiny headline and a very short amount of copy to convince the viewer your site is worth visiting. So how do you make your ad jump off the page and become a click magnet? The secret is *triggers*. Your ad headline and copy need to trigger a response within the viewer instantly.

Pretend for a moment that you own a florist business in Miami that specializes in bridal bouquets. Imagine you have set up a Google AdWords PPC campaign to attract customers to your web site where they can order their bouquets online.

Here are some of the triggers you could use in your ads:

1) Ask a Question

People are naturally curious and seeing a question addressed to them automatically triggers a reply in their minds, whether they intend it or not. By asking a question in your ad headline, you are taking advantage of this curiosity and making your ad appeal to them on a personal level. Here’s an ad example our fictional Miami florist could use:

Need Wedding Flowers?
Gorgeous wedding flowers
delivered free to your door
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

2) Use Humor

People like to laugh. If your ad headline or copy makes them chuckle they are already associating your ad with positive emotions and are more likely to be receptive to your message. Here’s a humorous ad example our Miami florist could use:

In the Dog House Again?
Sweeten her up with a dozen roses.
Free delivery to your door!
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

3) Use: Colons

Using a colon after a word indicates you are about to sum up or define an idea. This creates an automatic trigger in readers to pay attention to the content following the colon. Our Miami florist could take advantage of this with:

Bridal Bouquets: Stunning
Browse our unique and stunning
bridal bouquets. Free delivery.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

4) Get Regional

Depending on how you’ve set your ad campaign’s regional/demographic settings, it often pays to use regional triggers in your ads such as city or state names. Persons from the mentioned areas will automatically recognize that your ad is relevant to them and be more inspired to click on it. Our florist in Miami could use:

Need Flowers in Miami?
Floral bouquets for every occasion.
Free delivery throughout Miami.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

5) Use Power Words

There are a number of keywords known as “power words” that are proven to attract attention and sales. They include words like “secret”, “free”, “super”, “now”, “limited”, “exclusive”, “must”, “save”, “expert” and so on. Our florist in Miami could tailor his ads to use some of these. For example:

Free: Roses
Order a dozen roses and receive
half a dozen free! Limited time.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

6) Use Catch Phrases

People recognize popular catch phrases used by major brands. Provided you are careful not to directly infringe on their trademarks or copyright status, you can use them in your ads. For example, our Miami florist could use:

Got Flowers?
Floral bouquets for every occasion.
Free delivery throughout Miami.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

7) Use Personalization

Just like ads asking a question, ads that specifically address the audience are much more likely to gain attention. Our fictional florist could use this to his advantage with ads like:

Your Bouquet is Ready
Your wedding bouquet can be ready
within 24 hrs if you order online.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

Tell a Story

Internet searchers are good at recognizing advertising and blocking it out. So your ads can sometimes be more effective if they have a storyline and appear less like advertisements. Stories create empathy and parallels with the reader’s own life. For example our florist could try an ad like this one:

Your Perfect Wedding Day
Dress dirty. Veil torn. Rings lost.
At least your bouquet was gorgeous!
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

9) Use Emotion & Senses

As well as personalization, your ads can appeal to the five senses of readers: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Our Miami florist could achieve this with:

Stop to Smell the Roses
Nothing beats the heady fragrance
of a bouquet of lush red roses.
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

and finally…

10) Use Calls to Action

In my experience, ads that achieve the highest click through rate (CTR) are ones that use a call to action within them, for example “download now”, “read our e-book”, “sign up now” and “call us toll free”. Our fictional florist could achieve this with:

Gorgeous Wedding Bouquets
Order your wedding bouquet online
and receive free wedding-toss posy!
www.funkyfloristsmiami.com

Apply a few of these triggers to your current PPC ads and I guarantee your click-through rate will improve dramatically.

Author:  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.

I’m always amazed when I come across a sales letter, usually online, and there are NO testimonials. They’re powerful response and conversion boosters and are so easy to implement. You’re only hurting your own marketing efforts, and leaving cash on the table, if you’re not using them.

If you have them, .make sure you’re using them the right way to maximize response. You have a lot more flexibility and available power with online copy. Simply because of more available formats.

The most powerful testimonials are video testimonials, and it’s easy to see why. They engage more senses and stimulation. People can see and hear it and videos add much more credibility especially if no editing has been done. It’s coming straight from the horses mouth.

The second most powerful testimonials are audio followed by standard text.

Today you’ll learn how to use text-format testimonials to give your conversions a big boost.

Try to get as much specific, relevant, and detailed testimonials as possible. This is much more compelling and stronger than general statements. Highly detailed comments are perceived as more believable. You’re giving readers something they can wrap their heads around when you use numbers, data, and specifics.

Some marketers may choose to extract ‘only the juice’ from testimonials and this is a huge mistake. A little bit of customer rambling, spelling mistakes, or poor grammar only adds to the credibility factor.

Use longer testimonials rather than shorter ones. This is related to the previous point about heavy editing. Don’t do something like this:

• :”great product!”
• “loved it!”
• “provocative, a real winner”

I think you get the idea here. When you cut and chop a testimonial it creates the impression that you’re leaving something out for a reason and that creates suspicion which is something you don’t want to do.

This next one is a bit of a no-brainer. But I’ll say it anyway…

Always use real testimonials instead of fake ones. I’m telling you, there’s something about comments made from other people that’s very difficult to emulate. People will sense it and see right through you. And you’ll be cutting your own business throat. More importantly fake testimonials are lies. It’ll find its way back to you, eventually, and it won’t be good. So don’t do it.

The visual use of your testimonials will have an effect on your readers. But there is some flexibility here. You can group them all together as a block of testimonials. Or you can scatter them throughout your copy. Then again, you can combine the two.

All three approaches can be effective. But the second and third call for more skill on the copywriter to blend them in for greatest impact.

One thing, leading with testimonials can be dangerous to your conversions.

When someone is fresh on your page, starts to read and the first thing seen is a testimonial…you’re risking losing that reader. Here’s why; People are skeptical, especially on the web. Lots of people are skeptical about testimonials and if their real, or not. One thing you want to avoid is building on that pre-existing skepticism.

The best thing to do is offer one or more testimonials after you’ve established some kind of relationship with the reader. If you’ve done a good job of that, then they’re more relaxed and open to your testimonial.

Testimonial identity and location.

Always, always get first and last names, and specific geographical location.
John Smith, Los Angeles CA.or California.

Please avoid being minimal here. Don’t do:
J.S. California

Not having ANY name or location is so worthless you might as well not have a testimonial to begin with. I’m serious! You’ll only be inviting people to leave your site. They’ll think, “Uh huh…sure.”

To spice things up a little you can blend names and locations with a comment:
John Smith, from Los Angeles California sent us his unsolicited praise for …blah.

These are all very basic and easy things you can do for powerful testimonials. Even though that’s true, I still see online businesses violate these common sense guidelines every day.

Don’t be one of them!

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Imagine advertising a full page advert in a magazine which will cost in excess of $5,000, not to mention the cost that may come from hiring a professional marketer to compile a reasonable advert to get you 5 seconds of the readers’ attention.

You are much better off to promote through “education” than putting together a banner or an advert and hoping someone will take notice. You do not need to be a brilliant writer or rocket scientist to get published. Just be genuine, and offer useful and interesting content to your reader. Most importantly don’t sound like an advertisement; be helpful, practical, and your effort will eventually pay off.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

If you would like to write for a specific magazine, before submitting an article to be considered, take time to do the research first and get to know the publication. If you take the hit and miss approach, you will be spending a lot of time and see no real result. Go to the newsagency, grab hold of the publication, read through it and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Frequency:

Is the target a bi-monthly, monthly or a quarterly publication? If you submit something now and gets accepted, it will not appear in the next issue. Magazines often work 3 to 6 months in advance, so get prepared in advance.

2. Topic/theme:

Flip through the magazine and see what topics they cover. If they already covered staff retention, it’s very unlikely they will consider the same topic again for a while. Also look into their archive and see what they covered in the past. If you can take a new approach to an old topic you’ll still have a good chance.

3. Target audience:

The best way to determine their target audience is by looking at the advertisement, you may not always trust what they say in an ad, but you can be certain they have done their homework in researching the demographics.

4. Length of an article:

Editors prefer an article between 600 - 850 words. Only for a feature article, they will consider something between 1000 to 1500 words.

5. Tone/style:

Some publication prefer a formal approach in the third person, other publication may prefer a more conversational style. For journals, it is always very formal and academic. For magazines, they prefer to use case studies to illustrate a point.

After doing all the home work and before sending your article to be considered, pay 100% attention to the title and the first paragraph. If the first paragraph is not compelling enough, you can certainly expect that the editor is not going to look further.

Author:  Click here to access our newly updated report: “How to build your brand and generate more profit with zero advertising budget” by Australia’s leading article marketing expert Lei Wang. Discover the single most important factor behind long term brand success, and the one fatal mistake consultants make in getting free editorial coverage. Plus the proven method to convert leads into sales. http://submit.novusdecor.com.au/phantomwriters_1.html

Did you know that 80% of new advertisers fail to achieve a Return on Investment from their Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns? I didn’t either because I just made that up. But seriously, I bet the percentage is very high. I seem to be spending more and more time helping clients and Search Engine College students to tweak their AdWords campaigns these days. Unless they live and breathe search marketing, I think it is difficult for most people to allocate the time and resources necessary to maintain a successful PPC campaign. Plus there are just so many little tricks and secrets that most people don’t know about. I’ve heard so many horror stories about PPC campaigns hemorrhaging money in the hands of new advertisers and I’ve seen a few shockers first hand.

As one of their first assignments, our PPC Marketing students at Search Engine College are required to set up a new Google AdWords campaign, complete with carefully considered strategies for keyword selection, ad copy and matching types. More often than not, what they come up with is a campaign that is destined to fail. I then spend the rest of the course teaching them what’s wrong with their campaign, how to correct the errors and how to make sure their campaign has a good chance of succeeding.

But it’s not just first-timers that make mistakes with Pay Per click advertising. I’m often asked to review PPC campaigns for my clients, some of whom have been advertising for years. I often cringe at what I find when I login to their account. Campaigns that have been unprofitable for years are left to flounder and waste thousands of dollars because the staff are too busy to manage them or are simply ignorant of what it takes to fix them. Unfortunately, the “Set and Forget” mentality is alive and well in PPC.

The Unprofitable Campaign

Take last week for example. A client asked me to take a look at their Google AdWords campaign because although it brought traffic to their site, it didn’t seem to be resulting in any direct business. They had decided that PPC was simply unprofitable and they were ready to abandon it as a marketing channel. I logged into their account and had a good look around. It wasn’t the worst campaign I’ve seen but it was pretty close.

Here are the problem areas I discovered and rectified:

Not Enough Ads

This was the single biggest problem with the campaign. There weren’t anywhere near enough ads to cover the number of keywords the client was targeting. Some ad groups had 18 keywords and only 1 ad! Ideally, each keyword should have it’s own ad, sometimes two, because it is important that each ad is laser-focused on the keyword and includes repetitions of that particular keyword. You should always create multiple text ads for each keyword so that you can measure which ads work best. Not everyone will click on the same ad so you need to create and test multiple ads with different wording to see which convert best. AdWords will gradually show only the best performing ads over time.

Using Ads That Don’t Reflect Target Keywords

One or more of the ads didn’t use the keyword in the ad headline. For example, one Ad Group targeted the keyword phrase ‘bridesmaid dresses’ but that specific phrase was not in the headline or ad text. The single ad they had in place actually related to wedding dresses so it wasn’t relevant to be triggered for ‘bridesmaid dresses’ and related keywords. The client had tried to cover all bases with a single ad, but this was never going to be effective. To entice people to click, they need to see the keywords they’ve just searched for appear in your ad. You should always use your target keyword in your ad headline and first or second line of ad text.

Not Using Enough Ad Groups

This was the second biggest problem with the campaign. There weren’t nearly enough ad groups to cover the keyword themes the client was targeting. Many of the keywords in each Ad Group required dividing into several other Ad Groups based on unique keyword themes. For example all “bridesmaid” related keywords and ads needed to go in their own Ad Group, while all keywords and ads relating to ‘used wedding dresses’ needed to go into their own Ad Group and so on. Then several new ads needed to be drafted for each new Ad Group to laser-focus on those keywords as described above.

Not Using the Quality Score Column

The client didn’t have Google’s Quality Score column showing, so it would have been difficult for them to know the quality score of their keywords so they could tweak bids and ads. I switched it on immediately. To find the Quality Score, look at the Keywords tab and click on “display columns”. This column will show “Poor”, “OK” or “Great” for each of your keywords. The better your score, the lower the minimum bid Google requires you to pay for each keyword.

Opting into the Content Network

The client had opted into Google’s Content Network as well as the Search Network. Using the Content Network will almost always produce a lower ROI and higher click charges because the network includes many personal and irrelevant web sites that show AdSense ads. These often have content only loosely related to your subject matter but it is often enough to trigger your ads to appear as a contextual match. In my experience, Click Fraud also seems to be more common in accounts that utilize the Content Network. I advise my clients to avoid the content network like the plague unless they have an e-commerce style site where they can expect some drive by sales. Needless to say, I flicked the Content Network off on this campaign pretty quickly.

Not Using Content Bids The client had opted NOT to use Content bids, even though they had opted into the Content Network. If you must use the Content Network, you should always use separate, lower bids for your keywords on that Network because the ROI is so much poorer. The number of clicks you are likely to receive on the Content Network is much larger, but of a much lower quality and less likely to convert so you shouldn’t pay as much for them. You can set your maximum bids to a lower amount than the search network by opting in to use Content bids.

Not Using Position Preferences

Still under Campaign Settings, the client had NOT enabled Position Preferences. This is a powerful feature of AdWords that gives you the ability to tell Google what positions you want your ad placed in for particular keywords. For example, you can set it to positions 1-3 for some keywords, meaning that you want your ad shown in ranking position 1 to 3 for those keywords or not shown at all. For keywords where you don’t need to maintain top positions, you can set it to 1-10 to indicate to Google that you want your ad shown in whatever position is available for the bid amount you’ve set. This is a particularly useful feature for more competitive keywords, where you can specify lower positions for your ads where keywords have too high a price tag for positions 1-3. Obviously if your bid amounts aren’t high enough to secure you the positions you want, your ads won’t be shown, but this still gives you more control over when your ads appear and how much you spend.

Unnecessary Use of Multiple Campaigns

The client had actually created two campaigns, but they both had the same regional target markets and other settings. There is generally no need to set up multiple campaigns unless you have totally unrelated products or services, you are targeting different regions/countries and/or you have multiple advertising campaigns with different start and end dates.

Not Using Targeted Landing Pages

Some of the ads created by the client had destination URLs that led to pages on their site specifically relating to those products/services, which is ideal. But most ads led to the generic home page of the client’s site, which was never going to be effective, especially now that Google takes landing page relevancy into account when determining a keyword’s quality score. The destination URLs for all ads and keywords should be reviewed to ensure they are laser-focused to the search query. If there aren’t suitable landing pages for a keyword or phrase, the development of tailored landing pages for each keyword set or Ad Group should be considered.

Incorrect Use of Keyword Matching Options

Most of the client’s keywords were set to broad match. Broad match means that you want your ad shown for variations of your keyword/phrase. So if you target ‘wedding dress’ using broad match as my client had done, it means you want your ad triggered for ANY searches using those two words in any order. So your ad will automatically be shown for ‘hideous wedding dress’, ‘I need a dress to wear to my friend’s wedding’ etc. To avoid your ad being shown for inappropriate search queries, I highly recommend using “phrase match” and/or [exact match]. You can read more about the different keyword matching options here.

Not Using Negative Keywords

The client was not using negative keywords. The use of negative keywords is a very powerful but often overlooked feature of a PPC campaign. A negative keyword is a keyword that prevents your ads from being shown for irrelevant search queries. Adding a negative keyword to your campaign means that your ads won’t show for search queries containing that term. For instance, the negative keyword “–free” tells the PPC system not to show your ad for any search query containing the term “free”. This feature is extremely useful because it helps you rule out any searchers who are less qualified and less likely to be interested in your offering. For example, if you run an e-commerce site selling DVDs, you probably want to add “-free” as a negative keyword so that persons searching for “free DVDs” don’t see your ad. You should always include some negative keywords in your PPC campaign to ensure your ads are not triggered for inappropriate search queries.

Not Using Tracking URLs

Tracking URLs were NOT being used. As with any advertising campaign, results need to be tracked to determine overall ROI. Pay per click campaigns lend themselves to this because you can add a simple piece of code to the end of your landing page URL and most site statistical packages will allow you to track click-throughs. This code is called the tracking URL and looks something like this:
http://www.mysite.com/mypage.htm?source=adwords-mykeyword. Everything from the question mark onwards is the tracking code. Many of the larger PPC providers provide automatic tracking of your ads, but the statistics you get are not always detailed enough or, in my experience, accurate. I recommend implementing your own tracking code to the end of the destination URLs of all your ads, based on keyword, ad group name or unique ad creative. You’ll then need to set up your web analytics program to be able to track these individual parameters to determine which keywords, ad groups and ad creatives are the most effective.

Setting the Daily Budget Too Low

The daily budget was set too low. Because the client had been targeting very generic keywords using broad match and had also opted in to the Content Network, their ads were attracting thousands of irrelevant clicks (including some fraudulent ones!) and the costs of the campaign were skyrocketing. To try and curb this, the client had lowered the maximum daily budget for the campaign, meaning their ads were only being shown for around 2 or 3 hours per day until the budget was used up. What they should have done was to use more targeted 2 or 3 word keyword phrases, used phrase or exact matching options and opted out of the Content Network. That way, their ads would be shown 24 hours a day to a more targeted audience, they wouldn’t miss out on any traffic, they would reduce the amount of click fraud they were experiencing, yet they wouldn’t exceed their maximum daily budget.

Not Using Conversion Tracking Finally, I noticed that Conversion Tracking had NOT been switched on for the campaign and no conversions were being measured. This is because what constitutes a conversion for the client hadn’t been determined and conversion tracking code had not been integrated into the site. Not using conversion tracking makes it very difficult to measure the effectiveness of the PPC campaign. PPC advertisers should always define a successful conversion and establish conversion goals and targets prior to campaign launch. A successful conversion might be a sale, submission of an enquiry form or a newsletter subscription. Tracking such conversions is a simple matter of embedding some javascript tracking code into the conversion page. Tracking this data lets you identify how effective your PPC campaign is in isolation from your other marketing efforts.

The Turnaround

So what were the results of my investigation? Well, after I pointed out the problems to the client and made the changes, the campaign made a complete turnaround. One week after my changes, the campaign was experiencing Click Through Rates of up to 40 percent and the client began receiving higher quality traffic, more enquiries and a huge increase in conversions as a result. The turnaround has renewed their faith in Pay Per Click and they are now excited about increasing their PPC marketing efforts.

If you ensure your campaign avoids the 14 common blunders listed above, you too will be well on the way to a profitable PPC experience.

Author:  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.

Famous is as famous does and the famous get known through publicity. Yes, that’s right, fame doesn’t discover you, you create it through strategic campaigning. What’s more, the techniques for increasing your exposure isn’t as difficult to attain as you might think. A great publicity campaign starts with courage, then planning, and lastly, it succeeds through persistence. If your not sure why you should seek fame, consider fortune because the two go hand in hand.

Fame will bring your business into the forefront of your target audience faster than any advertising campaign can hope to do. It solidifies you as an expert and creates a deep, abiding confidence in the consumer. It makes you a shining star with infinite possibilities. So what’s are the steps you ask? Well paste a gold star to your forehead and let’s get started.

1. Press Releases: Increase awareness through a press release. Yes, I know, press releases have become quite the popular little tool around cyberspace with releases being blasted hither and there, but is it working? Probably not. Blasting your press release will bring blasted little results. Instead, thoughtfully put together a very dynamic one page press release and target publications that would be most interested in you and your business. Don’t drone out the details, make that press release sing your praises. Then send it to a real live editor and follow up with a phone call. In other words, let the press release be the invitation to your follow up phone call. Begin making connections with the media. Be polite, be excited, and be patient.

2. Create A Press Kit: A Press kit is basically an exaggerated press release turned into a package. It’s more complex, tells more about you and your company, and is all pulled together into a nice neat folder. Of all the questions I receive, first is, what is a press kit? Simply, it is a folder of information about you or your business. It should contain:

    A. An Introduction Letter
    B. One or Two Press Releases
    C. A Fact Sheet (This contains the facts about you or your business.)
    D. Bio Sheet (Which is a biography of you and your accomplishments.)
    E. Copies of Published Articles
    F. Company Literature
    G. A Business Card

Send your press kit when an editor, publisher, or producer wants to know more about you.

3. Newsletters Offline. Don’t forget that a whole world exists offline. Locate newsletters or smaller print publications offline and submit articles. This can be a very dynamic way to increase your exposure as well as add to your press kit. You can locate newsletters in your subject area by visiting the local university library reference section. Ask for a directory of trade newsletters and do your research. Once you have been published, it’s easier to step up to the larger publications. Fame starts small and then snowballs onto itself.

4. Speak Up! Yep, that’s right. Start giving speeches on your area of expertise. Start locally at civic clubs and local educational programs. Then find the local talk radio shows and make your case to the producer. It’s surprising how many talk radio shows are actively looking for new speakers. Once you have achieved Talk Radio, the opportunities will start coming to you.

5. Publicity Pitches: Put together several dynamic article ideas. Just the ideas, not the actual article. This is called a Publicity Pitch. Take those ideas and then pitch them to editors of targeted publications. This can work very well as it saves Editors time and puts the outline right into their hands. As a past Editor I know how well this works. Editor’s love ideas, especially ideas that are completely outlined and correct for their readership. This means don’t send pet article ideas to cooking magazines. Send pet articles ideas to pet publications. Seems like a no brainer, huh? But you’d be amazed at what editors see that don’t apply to their own publication.

Fame comes from planning and persistence. It has it’s rejections, but if you can learn not to take it personally, it will eventually work. Remember, once you start, keep going. Once you stop, you have to start all over.

Author:  Anne Marie Baugh is a noted publicist for cyber-stars such as Rick Beneteau, John Harricharan, Marty Lund, Rhoberta Shaler and more. She also owns and operates Write-Promotion an online business that works hands-on with businesses looking for promotional avenues and avenues to cyber-success! Please visit today at: http://www.write-promotion.com or write to: write@write-promotion.com We look forward to hearing from you!

If you sell a product or service, and want to be successful quickly, you must tell people about it through advertising and marketing.

TV, radio and newspaper are still considered the major media for effective marketing off-line.

However, a lot has changed with these top three marketing vehicles in the past 15 years.

In this article some critical changes are revealed that have occurred and how you can get the maximum impact for your advertising dollar.

Television is primarily an entertainment medium. Research shows the average person spends more time with television than with radio and newspaper combined. For many years, TV was considered the most powerful advertising choice because of the huge audience it provided. Even today, nearly everyone watches some TV every day.

There are three things you must consider before spending money on TV advertising - limited lifespan of your ad, audience fragmentation, and ad avoidance.

Keep in mind that once your ad has aired, it is gone for good. There is no way your potential customer can refer back to it. This fact makes it imperative that you run your ad many times to embed your message in the mind of the viewer. Frequency is important with any advertising, but especially broadcast.

Audience fragmentation is one of the major problems local broadcast television faces today.

At one time, a huge TV audience was split over only a few local channels. Community businesses could reach a large majority of their potential customers very quickly. Large national companies, such as Coke, only had to choose from the three major networks - ABC, CBS or NBC - to reach over 80% of the population.

Today, with cable and satellite TV, this same audience is now fragmented over 200 or more channels. The percentage of viewers on local TV has dropped dramatically. Yes you can run ads on cable and they will spread them out over ten or more channels. This shotgun advertising has not worked well for small businesses because many of these stations have only a half percent or less of the total viewers. And, what are the odds that they will be watching during the 15 or 30 seconds that your ad is presented?

Ad avoidance is also a very rapidly growing problem for TV today.

Because the public watches TV primarily for entertainment, they see advertising as an unwelcome interruption - not unlike the hated telemarketing. This was true 30 years ago but there was nothing a person could do about it except channel surf or leave the room. As you know this was, and still is, often done. Today, with TIVO, pay-per-view, public broadcast stations, and the multitude of satellite and cable channels, the public has shown a willingness to pay for reduced interruption from advertising.

Radio has similar problems. It is also primarily an entertainment medium. As such, advertising is also considered an interruption. Satellite radio is one of the fastest growing industries today primarily because people, again, are willing to pay to avoid commercials. In fact, most new cars have satellite radio built in.

Additionally, radio has evolved into an entertainment source for primarily driving, and background noise at work. If you buy any radio advertising, it should only be aired during drive time.

At home, radio use drops off. People can play CD’s or listen to satellite radio. This way they can choose exactly the music or programming they prefer without commercial interruption. The radio industry understands that folks do not want to be interrupted with advertising. Many times radio stations promote themselves by offering “more music, less commercials”.

Newspaperes have had their ups and downs, but have steadily maintained their local readership base and strength for local marketing. Even when radio, then TV, came on the scene, people still were loyal in reading their local newspaper.

Unlike TV and radio, advertising in a newspaper is not viewed as an interruption. In fact, one of the reasons people buy newspapers is for the advertisement content.

Surveys have shown among 15% and 23% of those buying a newspaper do so primarily for the advertising.

You see, people do want to see and read advertisements. They do want to - and need to - buy products and services. They just want the ads on their terms.

TV’s best day of the year is Superbowl Sunday, delivering nearly 40% of U.S. households. In striking contrast, newspapers consistently deliver well over 50% of your community households. They do it every day, 365 days a year. Now that is some serious marketing power.

Another advantage over broadcast that only newspapers can deliver is engagement of the consumer at the moment they are making a buying decision. When a person is reading your ad, it is because they choose to. At that time you have their full and focused attention. And the working life of your newspaper ad is enormous because it is physical and static. Your potential customer can refer back to it anytime they wish, or even cut it out.

You may have heard on TV or radio that newspaper subscriptions and readership are dropping. This is true. But it is not to the degree they would like you to believe.

What they do not tell you is newspaper on line versions are growing much faster than the 7% or so losses in subscriptions. In fact, you will find newspaper web sites are usually the busiest web sites in any community. Be sure you take advantage of this.

Now you can see why today’s trend among business people who are in-the-know is away from broadcast and back into the old, reliable newspaper. Most all the major stores are getting back to the basics and finding the print advertising to be the best return on investment. So will you.

Newspapers, of course, should not be your only advertising medium, but it is the solid foundation on which you build an effective marketing plan in today’s environment.

Author:  Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr. is owner of Leaders Excel in which he specializes in coaching, websites, and optimization. If you would like to grow in your leadership ability contact Dr. John at john@LeadersExcel.com or http://LeaderExcelSolutions.com

This is a question that I often get from direct clients, smaller agencies or larger agencies who are just starting to offer search marketing services. In all three cases, my client (e.g., the agency or the advertiser) is looking to me to help them price out search services.

For agencies, I actually favor a hybrid model of media percentage and flat fees for larger and more complex PPC campaigns. I personally base my fee structure on hours worked, something I provide prospective clients in the form of a 2-3 page estimate after we’ve hammered out the overall scope of work.

Estimating a PPC Job - A Consultant’s Viewpoint 

To answer the main question here - I rarely base my estimate on the size of the budget because there’s not much difference between putting together a campaign with a $1000/month budget and a $10,000/month budget (for example). In my opinion, budget should only influence fees when it’s very large – over six figures a month, and that’s mainly because it’s generally indicative of a more complex campaign.

Here are the factors that I think should affect the estimate:

• The number of vendors (engines) in the plan – it’s a lot more work to launch campaigns on three engines, monitor, report and optimize them than it is to focus on just one (*cough* Google *cough*) engine
• The number of keywords/categories in the campaign– An e-commerce site with 12 categories and thousands of products has many keyword variables to test, while a company that just sells one product or service (e.g., online tax filing) has a limited number of keywords. Keyword expansion and refinement directly impacts the number of hours spent optimizing a campaign, and should be a factor when estimating hours.
• The potential for campaign growth. Many campaigns I launch start small and then grow into great monstrous beasts that require a lot more time to manage then when they initially launched. As such, I find it’s important to do three-month trials so the scope of work can be re-evaluated to see if 1) an agency is even needed at all and 2) if the campaign has grown/changed significantly where the number of hours needs to be revisted
• The amount of reporting involved. I provide weekly summary reports to most small clients as well as monthly keyword reports. If a client requires more reporting than this (e.g., CPA reports by keyword by week) than I would likely increase the amount of the estimate. Very large campaigns (of the type I manage with the large agencies) often are very complex and have teams of PPC specialists working on them, which justifies the higher cost of retaining these companies to manage a campaign. Well, that and the higher ROI the campaign achieves.

Many of the projects I work on with small agencies or directly with the client amount to about 25-40 hours to launch, and 20-30 hours/month to manage. This doesn’t seem to deviate much for budgets of $50,000 or less, and I’ve begun moving to a flat monthly retainer fee for these types of campaigns.

I’m certainly not sayng that the way I do things is the best way, but so far my clients feel it’s fair and I’m happy with the compensation. I have begun exploring the idea of getting paid for performance with e-commerce or lead-generation campaigns, but I haven’t yet taken that plunge. Still, it’s got some exciting potential.

Author:  Jackie Dooley is the owner and founder of Jacqueline Dooley Internet Marketing, where she works primarily with agencies large and small as a consultant on a variety of search marketing campaigns. Read more of Jacqueline’s bio here.

Managing your pay per click advertising for best effect can be difficult. But failing to master at least the basics can be costly in more ways than one. Google provides a very easy to use keyword tool. Make it your first port of call.

Keyword Selection

If your budget can’t compete on the most popular keywords you’ll gain little by including them. Spending a little time working with Google’s keyword tool can help you seek out the keywords others are perhaps failing to target. When setting up your chosen keyword targets you’ll do well to divide them into related groups and ensure ads are displaying associated words. The search terms people use will be highlighted in the ads, plus you’ll get a higher result through quality of match.

Direct to Landing Pages

Many give only a fleeting thought to the advert itself believing it’s all about bids and so forth. But if and when your ads do display you want to grab people with something captivating. Let’s assume for a moment that your ads are indeed winning a few clicks here and there but you’ve got everything geared to your home page. This has to be one of the easiest ways to clean out your budget but see little in return. Remember people in surf mode are notoriously impatient and by not directing them to the page best related to your ads you run the risk that they abandon your website fairly rapidly. After all who wants to search a second time? Likewise, if you have got people landing on the right pages it’s imperative they are engaging and delivering your message without fuss. Basically, surfers need to know they have something relevant to whatever it is their seeking.

Use Appropriate Domains

It can prove effective to use a mix of domains. By displaying a domain name that is perhaps likely to contain keywords, you’ll get some eye-catching highlighting to the advert text. The trick is then to direct people to a domain that has better pages related to the keyword search. This little gem does tend to improve click through rates. General text changes and optimization of ads should be carried out a step at a time. It’s sometimes surprising how much difference small modifications can make. By comparing sets of adds / keywords, simple textual changes can be monitored and results compared.

Negative Keywords

Take a closer look at negative keywords. Many people pass right on by this tool and in turn pass by increased conversion rates. Negative keywords are words you don’t want to be associated with. Lets assume you have ads geared towards promoting your website for vintage MG cars. You’d therefore increase your conversion rate by doing your best to exclude searches for newer models. For instance ‘1965 MGB Roadster’ could be your speciality but you’d pay highly for those seeking out ‘2004 MG TF’ if you don’t filter them out. Many PPC-ers make the mistake of getting too hung up on clicks. The great thing about PPC is the ability to target the people who have real interest in your product or service etc. You need to remember it’s a game of maximising your investment.

It’s a Competitive Environment

Google Adwords is without doubt the number one PPC service at the moment. But as quick a Google PPC arrived there are always threats to its dominance. It’s always worth checking out the competition…..yes there is some competition…..Google doesn’t yet rule the planet. Yahoo has released ‘Panama’ and Microsoft is fighting back with ‘adCenter’. If past experience is anything to go by both should eventually prove to be healthy and credible alternatives.

Author:  Paul Coupe is lead designer / developer with Zoom Online. Zoom Online is a UK based specialist web design company providing total online solutions.

You would think that everyone in business would be able to tell you what they do and why you should be doing business with them; unfortunately the sad truth is many business executives can’t. In fact one of the biggest problems in designing websites has always been getting appropriate raw material that can be turned into meaningful presentations: a handful of badly written brochures and a few out-of-date photographs are not going to make much of an impression.

And now that the Web has involved into a sophisticated communication platform, able to deliver audio and video content, the problem has become even worse; not only do websites need to deliver appropriate copy and image content, they need to present audio dialog and video performances that demonstrate how products and services improve the business or personal lives of website visitors.

As a company we are good at what we do, we can turn the mundane into the memorable but we can’t do it if clients don’t know or can’t express their own marketing story, or are unwilling to allow their multimedia advisor to develop that story for them.

At the heart of the problem is fear, fear of making a definitive statement, declaring loud and clear what you do, and why anyone should care. It’s no longer good enough to apply technical solutions to marketing problems: you are not going to engage your audience with SEO, XML, CSS, or PHP. You must have a story to tell and you can’t be afraid to tell it as boldly as you can.

Do You Know Who You Are and What You Really Do?

We know who we are and what we do: we deliver our message knowing that some people are just not going to buy into what we have to say, but those that do get it, really get it, and they are our potential clients. As far as the others are concerned, well, there’s lots of business for everybody, and nobody is going to get it all.

You can’t be afraid to lose a customer you never had in the first place. In our case our job is clear: we deliver marketing stories using Web-video and audio in memorable Web-presentations. We are not afraid to tell clients that they need multimedia, and that an over dependence on search engine optimization or any other technical answer is a mistake - a big mistake.

Are You Doing All You Can To Attract Business?

There are many methods that can be employed to drive appropriate traffic to your site: search engine optimization is only one. Have you written and published articles and advice on what you do, have you created a blog or a MySpace page to create a community of interest, or have you issued press releases on new developments and product releases? If you’re relying solely on search engine optimization as a substitute for marketing, you are not doing everything you can to attract new business.

Even if your search engine tactics are attracting large numbers of visitors to your site, what is your conversion rate, how long are people staying on your site, and do you have enough compelling content to get them to come back?

If you’re in the business of selling banner and text ads on your site, if that is how you make your living, then lots of random traffic may serve your purpose; but if you are in the business of providing something useful to people, then you better pay more attention to what your visitors see once they arrive on your site. After all, all the traffic in the world is useless if those visitors don’t get your message. It all starts with the message, so what’s your message?

What’s Your Story?

Crafting your marketing story is not as easy as it sounds, and you may have to let go of some outdated thinking in order to bring your story to life.

Web-videos are not feature films or even viral videos intended to show how clever you are. You are making a commercial: special effects may be cool but they are not a substitute for a finely crafted script delivered by a professional performer.

Websites Don’t Close Sales, People Close Sales

Web-videos are designed to make a statement: “this is who we are, and this is what we do, so contact us to find out how we can change your life.” Websites create leads, not sales; so don’t expect your Web-video to make the sale, that’s your job.

Now you know the purpose of your website presentation, it is time to figure out what you want to say. Below are a series of questions that will help you develop your marketing story.

1. How will your product or service change your customer?

All stories or marketing messages have to do with change: a cosmetic company provides change from plain to beautiful, from self-doubt to self-confidence. A vitamin supplement supplier provides change from poor health to good health, from sluggish to vitality. A self-help motivational program provides change from defeat to victory, from depression to wellbeing, and so on.

All good marketing stories highlight the change that your audience wants to make in their business or personal lives. Go deeper than the obvious - look for the psychological, emotional, cognitive or spiritual change your company delivers.

All successful campaigns are about change. People who are satisfied with their work and life aren’t motivated to be customers; you want to target people who are motivated, people who want to be better, stronger, smarter, prettier, healthier, and richer; people who want more out of work and more out of life.

If your audience isn’t motivated to change and if your product or service can’t deliver that change, then you’re wasting your time and your money.

2. Is what you have to say different?

If you are saying the same thing, the same way as your competition, you’re in trouble. You must differentiate yourself somehow; you must standout. Your product or service must provide something different. The world is full of ‘me-to’ companies, businesses that do the same thing as dozens of other businesses. You must find that unique something in what you offer that makes you different; that says you are not a follower but a leader.

If your product or service is substantially the same as your competitors, perhaps you should market it differently, or maybe you should concentrate on the ‘High Concept’ need it delivers, rather than the standard ’same-old-same-old’ that everyone else is touting.

Which one of ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ does your product or service fulfill: physical, safety, social, self-esteem, aesthetic, cognitive, or self-actualization? Chances are your competition has completely ignored the psychological and emotional marketing angle and is focusing on specifications and features that have little to do with why people really choose one product over another.

3. Do you know how to tell your story?

You must have more than a story to tell or a message to deliver; you must know how to tell it. Your marketing should create a recognizable corporate image that establishes a unique identity in the mind of your audience. If your audience sees no difference between you and the competition then you become interchangeable.

Apple didn’t capture the lion’s share of the MP3 market just because their product is arguably better than everyone else’s, they did because iPods are more than MP3 players, they are a life-style choice, clearly delineated in commercials and advertising.

4. Can you say it boldly?

The meek may inherit the earth, but if they’re in business, they’ll probably go broke. If you’ve got something to say, SAY IT, and say it loud and clear. There are just too many companies, too many websites, too many advertisements, and too much everything to expect people to pay any attention to you if you are afraid to stand up and be noticed. Go boldly or don’t go at all.

5. Who is your target audience?

Decide who you want to target and what motivates them; then design your website, videos, and advertising campaigns to trigger every hot button motivating message you can. Develop your message so it speaks directly to that audience.

Your message must have purpose, be focused and concise, and deliver a clear impression of identity. This means you can’t be all things to all people. By focusing on a clear audience with a precise message you may even have a better chance of capturing non targeted audiences: the fact that Apple iPod commercials are aimed at a hip young audience has not stopped Apple from capturing MP3 market share across all demographic profiles.

6. Can you take the heat?

Last but not least, do you have what it takes to tell your story in a way that people will remember? Are you prepared to deliver