Posts Tagged ‘online marketing strategies’

How Important are Long Tail Keywords for Businesses and Internet Marketing Professionals?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

internetmarketingprofessionalsThe term “long tail” Has been around for at least a few years now, but if you read the latest assessments of long tail search, you’ll find that there’s still no consensus as to how much time Internet marketing professionals should spend chasing it. Are long tail keywords crucial to a commercial Website’s success? Or should they be ignored?

First, let’s back up a bit and explain what long tail keywords are. As the name implies, they’re keyphrases that are long. They usually contain at least four words. Furthermore, they’re not keyphrases that are searched for a lot. For example if you own a rock climbing gym in Cleveland, you may want to go after a long tail keyphrase like beginner rock climbing lessons in cleveland. The truth is, there are probably not a lot of people typing that phrase into Google, but if you optimize for that long tail keyword, you’ll be able to attract the few who do search for it.

Now back to the topic at hand: are long tail keyphrases worth the trouble? There are as many opinions about that as there are Internet marketing professionals. And the latest report by the Rimm-Kaufmann Group should only fuel the controversy.

That’s because the report states 5 key findings that all Internet marketing professionals should consider:

  1. The value of long tail keywords depends on several factors, the nature of a company being the most important. One company only earned 8% of its sales from long tail keywords, while another claimed that 83% of sales were from long tail keywords.
  2. The type of product is also important. Since people will search for different products using differently, what works for one product or service won’t necessarily work for another.
  3. The budget that Internet marketing professionals and companies set for a campaign does not necessarily affect the success of chasing long tail keywords. In other words, spending more money to chase more long tail keyphrases won’t necessarily result in better ROI.
  4. Internet marketing professionals have had the most success with long tail keywords were retailers selling SKU-based products.
  5. Long tail keywords can help all online advertisers and Internet marketing professionals, but the amount to which it helps can vary greatly. Even that aforementioned company that only earned 8% of its sales through long tail keywords had a positive, if small, ROI by going after those keywords.

While there’s still a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of long tail keywords among Internet marketing professionals, one thing remains clear: long tail keywords can help any online business. What’s contested now is how much businesses and Internet marketing professionals can benefit from them.

5 Tips for Online Marketing Stratiegies: How to Retweet for the Maximum Impact

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

onlinemarketingstrategiesIn the old days of the Web, before social media fundamentally changed online marketing strategies, the secret of getting people to keep returning to your Website was providing great, relevant content. But these days, the secret to getting users’ attention is to produce content that catches on with other bloggers and Twitter users—fast. When using Twitter, the more you get retweeted, the more new followers you’ll pick up. The more followers you get on Twitter means the more fans you get on your FaceBook page, and the more effective your online marketing strategies will be.

If Twitter is a part of your online marketing strategies, then you’re already doing more than most businesses online. But it’s important to write tweets that will get repeated by a lot of people. That means it can’t be all about you. You need to provide value. That may seem like a lot of work, but it isn’t once you learn the basics. Here are 5 online marketing strategies for Twitter that will get your tweets repeated.

  1. Don’t use all of Twitter’s 140 characters—Writing relevant information with 140 characters can be tough enough. So why use less? Because that makes them easier to retweet. Twitter users won’t have to worry about editing or abbreviating words.
  2. Mix the professional and the personal—No one expects your every tweet to be poetry. But your online marketing strategies should include some engaging pieces from your everyday life. It shouldn’t all be about business and providing interesting links. Give your followers one or two glimpses into your personal life every day.
  3. Add something when retweeting—Like retweeting interesting content you come across? Great. That’s a crucial part of all Twitter online marketing strategies. But for if you want to retweet stuff that will get you retweeted as well, be sure to add something extra. This makes you appear more engaged, and it makes people want to retweet you.
  4. Use your Twitter bio and your URL to build credibility—Good online marketing strategies dictate that all blogs should have informative bios. The same goes for Twitter accounts. Make sure you include your full name, then include a link to your Website. Don’t have a Website? Then include a link to your LinkedIn page. That makes it possible for others to quickly check your online footprint to see who you are.
  5. Include a link—Twitter is a great way to implement online marketing strategies, as it lets you link to blogs, news articles, photos and videos. In order to save as much space as you can, you can shorten URLs with bit.ly or ow.ly. When linking to content, be sure to include your own comment. Your comment could be a simple statement like “interesting,” or it could be a short sentence that includes your opinion. Effective online marketing strategies should have you backing up your comments with links that support your statements.

7 Simple Online Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Business

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Whether you’re an exclusive online or offline business owner/manager, you will benefit from using several online marketing strategies to boost your company’s profit. Remember the adage, “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket”? Well, it holds true for marketing your company’s products or services, especially in a globally technical savvy world. Read to find more ways to use online market strategies for yourself and business.

Online Marketing Strategies

1. Gift Cards/ E Cards

Gift cards are no longer just a holiday gift. Many retailers and superstores offer gift cards in various denominations. E cards benefit consumers by allowing them to purchase goods and services online through your eCommerce storefront. More than likely those same gift card users will buy more than the value of the gift or e-card and/or become return customers. This is also a great way to capture new customers to your store or online store. E Cards can be either offered through online channels or mailed through the USPS. Use gift cards as a promotional online marketing strategy to introduce your business to a new market and watch your sales soar.

2. Email Address Compilation

Don’t underestimate the value of gathering customers’ and clients’ email addresses for the exclusive use of sending weekly or monthly e-newsletters. Although it is easier to sign up online than in person at a traditional retailer, it is a simple online marketing strategy for your business. While this is a tedious task to ask for customers’ email addresses when they have been waiting in long lines, but can be very beneficial for returning customers and word-of-mouth advertising.

3. Single Buy Merchandise/Service

If you have an e-commerce storefront as well as a physical storefront, you may offer “online only merchandise” or “in-store only merchandise” to encourage your sales in both places. You can also monitor the top selling product/service online versus on site. A few large retailers such as Target offer online only merchandise that is not offered in their retail stores. Advertise your products online for your physical storefront as “in store only” purchases. You’ll be able to attract a broader audience than the traditional Sunday newspaper flyers with this special online marketing strategy.

4. Online Preorders/Waiting Lists

Want to tempt your customers’ buying power? Notify them via email of upcoming products/services and offer an online pre-order. To ensure you’ll have ample products in store for them when it arrives, have an option to secure their order with a credit card. While the credit card isn’t charged until the product arrives, they’ll feel as if they bought the product/service already. This online marketing strategy works for all sizes of businesses.

5. Online Consultations

Nothing tells a customer/client that they are valued like a one-on-one consultation. Customers buy based on their emotions and they use their intellect later to justify why they bought a particular product/service. So why not offer a personal online consultation to answer their questions, emphasize the benefits of such products/services and encourage them to buy additional products or services. If you offer this extra online marketing strategy to all your potential buyers, you’ll increase your clientele through word-of-mouth three fold!

6. Directory Listings

An undetermined amount of people are using online store and business directories to find specific businesses or services. This is a valuable online marketing strategy for your business to attract targeted customers. It only takes a few minutes to submit your company’s information and within a few days to sometimes a couple months you will receive an email confirming your listing. Many directories are free for regular listings or charge a small fee for “Featured Listing.” Yellow Pages may seem like an obvious place to market your company, but only a small number of people are using the Yellow Pages to find you. Use a more valuable and cost effective online marketing strategy with directory listings.

7. Blog Sites

Blogging has become just as popular as email was 10 years ago. Blogging isn’t just the ramblings of 20 something college students, it has become a verifiable news network. Blog sites such as Wordpress.com and Blogspot.com have created an entire news industry of expert bloggers as well as informed amateur bloggers. Many blog sites are free to join, while you can update your blogs as often as you want – daily, bi-weekly, weekly, etc. Use this online marketing strategy to advertise your business for free with weekly sales, promotions, upcoming products/services, press releases, videos, and much more. Be sure to include categories and tags with each blog. There is a Help section on Wordpress to guide through setting up your blog.

So now you have seven online marketing strategies to market your company and all of them can be implemented simultaneously. If you require additional help with online marketing or have specific questions regarding any of these marketing strategies, please call Search Circus for personal customer service today.