When it comes to marketing, every medium has its own set of tools, and the Internet is no different. You need to know about these tools in order to succeed on the Internet. It may sound simple, but it is not simple. Many people err at this, and they resort to old-world tools, which are incompatible to the new media. In this post, I will talk about 5 online marketing tools that we can use.
Everything on the Internet begins with keyword research as keywords are the basic building block of the Internet. People search for keywords, web master develop websites around keywords, and marketer use them to place their products.
If keyword is the most basic tool a marketer uses to market his product, links are among the most prized possession on the Internet. Every marketer aspires to get as many links to their website as they can within the given budget. A Link is like a door that brings the visitors from other website, and the more doors you will have the more visitors you will get.
No matter how much money you pay to bring visitors and what mean do you use, it cannot compete with the number of visitors one get because of your being number one in a search engine. Traffic from PPC and other form of ads are expensive, but organic traffic is priceless.
How you place different elements of your website on different places will decide the conversion rate of the visitors. You do not need just the visitor to make money, you need visitors who make purchase. A carefully designed web site helps you in that.
If you need immediate results PPC is the tool to use. It does not require months to show results, and if proper keywords are chosen, it can bring quality traffic. You cannot discount the efficacy of this tool.
Tags: Budget, Conversion Rate, Design Conversion, Different Places, Doors, Efficacy, Elements, Marketer, Marketing Tools, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click, Pay Per Click Marketing, People Search, Ppc, Prized Possession, Proper Keywords, Quality Traffic, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Traffic, Web Design, World Tools
Everyone is talking about blogs, blogging and money, but no one is asking or telling, if you have in you what it takes to be successful as a professional blogger? If you want to take blogging just as a pastime then you do not need to worry much about some of the skills we are going to discuss below, but to make a living out of your blog, you need to know the things we are going to discuss. I have categorized the skills required into three categories: Framework, content and promotion.
This category consists of all the skills required to create a blog. It can be divided into three subcategories.
I am not talking here about the advance stuffs like creating a theme framework, our PHP coding for the blog theme, but I am talking about basic tweaking to make your blog look like yours. You need to have a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and PHP, if you want to personalize any freely-available existing theme for your blog. This skill is not hard to acquire, and in short time you can learn the basics required for the work provided you have an analytical mind, or in other word a knack for coding. If you do not feel comfortable with codes then I will suggest seeking help from outside, though I will not recommend it.
Beside, you also need to have a basic knowledge of WordPress (I am assuming here that you will use WordPress blogging platform for your blog). For a self-hosted blog, you also need to know how to work with a webhosting account. This is no brainer; do not get scared of it.
To create a header image, or blog logo for your blog, you should have a working knowledge of any image editing software. I recommend Photoshop because it is the most powerful graphic editing software around.
The category consists of skills required to create content for your blog.
You need to have impeccable English, or the language in which you want to create your blog. You should have a good command over grammar, sentence composition, paragraphing, and you should also know a proper use of punctuation. A mistake or two can be okay, but avoid creating any glaring mistake.
Well, the knowledge of English, as dealt above, is just the technical part of writing, which indeed is important, but not as important as the ability to write an article or a blog-post that can keep the reader hooked to your blog. To develop a good writing skill, you need to read as much as you can, and be observant of your surrounding. Always remember, writing is an art, and the more you practice the better you will become at it.
A working knowledge of Photoshop will help you in optimizing the image you want to use in an article or a post.
You should know how to dig relevant information from the internet. This information will help you in finding material to write on.
This category consists of skills needed to promote your blog on the internet in order to bring traffic to your blog.
A working knowledge of SEO is must. You will require this skill to bring your blog into public awareness. You should also know how to write keyword optimized articles or blog-posts because all the articles or blog-posts on your blog are going to be keyword-rich. Click here to read about Keywords.
You need to know about social bookmarking, forum posting, blog-commenting, twitting, and other tools that will help you promote your blog on the Internet. I am not recommending buying banner advertising or anything like that. I am asking you to sweat, and build awareness for your blog.
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Things you have to do to make a good website great:
It is a common misconception in the online world that if you build a website people will visit it. It is just not true. There are millions upon millions of websites available online. Your little webpage will be nothing more than a speck in the sea of information called the World Wide Web.
However, no need to despair just yet. All hope is not lost. Although your website may seem small, you can make that site shine for all to see. These simple tips will help you make your website stand out from their competition. Join us as we explore the things that make websites great.
Action Steps
Content is king. The most successful sites in the world are driven by original and well written content. People go to the internet for information and knowing that will set your site apart from the rest. Make your content relevant and useful. If you do not make your content relevant it will only be glossed over by web surfers. They need fresh and engaging information now. Make sure that your content is tailored for your intended user. There are too many people in the world to satisfy every single one of them. Instead choose a specific group and tailor your content for their needs. If you want to cater to the youth, write content that addresses the things important to the youth. Same with any other group, you want to capture their interests by talking about things that interest them specifically.
We recommend. You can see from the list of alexa.com that content plays a large part of what makes a website great. One great source of information online is Wikipedia.org. It is just amazing how this site has remained afloat despite being a non-profit website. It does not charge any money for its use and relies solely on donations from the kind hearted.
Be interactive. Interactivity is another thing that makes a website stand out compared to the others out there. If you include your viewer, chances are they will feel like they are a part of your organization. Allow readers to contribute to your websites. It could be as simple a comment or as complicated as a total marketing plan. The key here is to let your viewers control certain portions of your website. This gives your viewer ownership and with it affection to your site.
We recommend. To see how much interactivity plays a part in the web, go to alexa.com. In this page you will find that the top 10 sites offer original content or access to original content. There are collaborative sites where people are encouraged to share information such as two social networking sites, MySpace.com and Facebook.com; other popular collaboration tools or websites include an online auction site, eBay.com; a collaborative encyclopedia, with Wikipedia.org; and a video sharing site, YouTube.com. That is 50% of the top ten websites where visitors can create content for your website.
Create a Killer Design. A design is more than just a pretty picture. It is about form and function. Create a design that pulls a visitor in. A website has to be very navigational. It needs to offer an easy to use layout. One popular layout is the three column layout. The middle column is usually where designers put in their headlines. Place eye catching graphics as well. There are plenty of wonderful photos available in public domain and even perhaps your own camera. The way you present your text is also very important. People will not stick around if you make your content difficult to read.
We recommend. A great example of a great three column website design is MSN.com. MSN makes sure that you get hooked by their headline and that you stay to read their content, which is very easy to navigate. You can follow their lead by getting a great design from hiring a great graphics artist. There are good graphics artists available in freelance hubs like oDesk.com. If you are on a tight budget, why not go to Gossimer.biz, where they have an easy to use online website builder.
Tips and Tactics
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