Online Marketing

Get Focused With Your Website Marketing – A Reader Example

Online Marketing

Sometimes I give some freebie advice to my subscribers and readers by way of a blog post. I received an email from Becky at Classy Sassy Couture who is looking for more ways to market her website and improve her SEO. Classy Sassy Couture sells  custom-beaded clothes and accessories via ClassySassyCouture.com. She also blogs at http://classysassycouture.typepad.com

Here’s a few of the questions/comments she had:

She tells me that she’s not sure what to blog about but that she picks up new followers whenever she blogs.

So first things first – that blog should really be on your own domain, e.g. classysassycouture.com/blog .  It hurts me a little inside when I see people linking out to their blogs. While a popular blog hosted elsewhere can still help develop your brand name, it doesn’t help your site’s search engine rankings very much and it’s not very seamless for the user. One of the benefits of having a blog is that it can attract targeted traffic, and can boost your search engine rankings. But if all that lovely traffic is not going to your own domain, you’re missing out. So I would recommend getting WordPress set up on your site and creating your blog on that. You can export your content from Typepad and import it into a WordPress installation.

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Recharge and Refine Your Marketing Strategy

Online Marketing

I frequently come across frustrated business owners who are still of the  “build it and they will come” mentality. They don’t understand why they are not getting more web traffic, or why their marketing efforts are not having the desired results.

Any marketing strategy requires constant refinement to make sure it continues to serve your purpose. That also goes for the components of the strategy – making sure that your website, social media campaigns, ads, promotions etc are all optimized to serve your purpose is an ongoing consideration.

Here are some useful questions to apply to any marketing effort that can prod you into more effective action. If you feel that something isn’t working the way you had hoped, try going through these and seeing what you can do better. Make a conscious effort to step back and view your marketing from the objective eyes of an outsider – someone who knows little to nothing about your business.

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Drive Traffic Using Q&A Sites To Show Your Expertise

Online Marketing

Demonstrating expertise in your field using Q&A sites is a budget-friendly marketing strategy that can drive traffic to your website. Such sites allow the general public to tap the knowledge of the community to get answers to their questions. You gain from the exposure you or brand receives and you typically get a link from your profile back to your site. You can sometimes also reference articles you’ve written as a source, if that’s appropriate.

To make it easier to stay on top of this strategy I recommend you use an RSS reader to subscribe to the most relevant categories for you on your chosen sites and scan them every day or few days to see where you can jump in and contribute.

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Make Your Video Debut

Online Marketing

This is a guest post written by Kathleen Dowdey of AvocadoVideo.com.  Kathleen produces online and offline video for small businesses, agencies, special events and entertainment venues. www.avocadovideo.com

Ready to take the plunge and liven up your website with some video? You’re not alone. “With the advent of YouTube, anyone with a video camera, some editing software and a little bit of free time can create a video of just about anything,” writes Katie Wertz. She’s published on the Bruce Clay, Inc. website, a leading search engine optimization consulting service that helps clients up their SEO rankings. Wertz notes how well video engages website visitors, then mentions an attractive bonus: “Because of the YouTube partnership with Google, it’s a great way to be found…”

Join the millions who are rushing to broaden their web user reach with video. After all, video on your website sounds like a simple proposition, doesn’t it? Still, you might take a deep breath after visiting YouTube where you’ll discover a staggering range of possibilities. Before you touch that camera, consider what kind of video you want. There are many factors – the quality, content, genre, style and vision. Your research and project conceptualization will likely be the most valuable investment you make. Done well, it will even save you money.

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Using Online Video Trailers To Market Books

Online Marketing

This is a great idea I spotted over at Digital Media Buzz – authors are starting to use video trailers, similar to movie trailers, to promote upcoming book releases. It’s a simple idea – applying an existing marketing tool to an industry that hasn’t typically embraced the digital world yet – and has tons of potential. Below is a trailer for W. Heyden Nissim’s new sci-fi novel, Our Time is Near, created by Idea Werks Studios. I see no reason why authors shouldn’t up their digital guerilla marketing game in the same way that independent musicians and labels have been doing.

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