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| English: A tag cloud (a typical Web 2.0 phenomenon in itself) presenting Web 2.0 themes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Being an ambitious entrepreneurial-orientated guy (currently involved in the property business and also with a great passion about blogging and internet marketing), I am now enthusiastically looking to get the most out of blogging,
RSS and kindred types of the available modern internet marketing strategies and techniques in order to effectively grow and profit from any business I might be involved in or alternatively the one I would like to start.
As you may have heard, blogs are a hot topic these days. A blog (which is short form for
Web log) is nothing more than a public journal which is published online and can often represent the personality of the author or the
Web site. Why are blogs one of the hottest trends today? They represent such tremendous potential for fresh original content being added to the
Web and updated daily to the Web.
Search engine spiders absolutely love indexing blogs and many blogs are being read on a daily and sometimes even on an hourly basis by a wide range of readership.
From a technical point of view, search engines love blogs because there are now literally millions of people writing fresh content, at least daily, sometimes several times a day. Millions of people all sharing their "points of view" on a variety of topics including philosophy on life, politics, health, travel, religion, business, entertainment and much more.
If you are not yet familiar with social media and/or
Web 2.0, you can use this article as a start-up to get yourself up to speed.
Join the Web 2.0 Revolution! How Your Business Can Benefit from Hands-On Internet
So you’ve heard of Web 2.0, but you’re not sure what it is. Do you need to install it? Nope. Web 2.0 is what you’re using right now to read this blog. It’s the interactive factor of today’s internet. (I say this as if I sound like I know what I’m talking about. I’m actually still learning!).
Remember when the internet was a place you sent the occasional email or tried to look up information (only to be disappointed with the results)? It’s hard to remember those times, but the ability to find virtually anything we need online is only a recent phenomenon. I know that even just three years ago, I probably could not have run an internet-based company! People would have thought I was crazy to market to people across the country!
Today, the internet is completely interactive. You participate in chats and forums, you blog, and you get to decide what news stories are important to readers. It’s been called the “democratization of media.” It’s an exciting time! And what better time to implement these interactive tools to promote your small business?
Where in the past, your marketing efforts might have consisted of a television commercial, radio spot, or billboard, today’s technology lovers and entrepreneurs are putting stock in online advertising, which is more affordable and more effective.
Enough said. You’re sold. But what can you do right now to join the Web 2.0 revolution and market your company online?
Blogging
1. Start a blog. I’m not just saying this because I have a blog. Well, actually, I am. I wasn’t sold on blogging until my husband started this blog and I saw that people were actually reading it! I realized that today’s media offers something for everything, and ever piece of content has an audience. With an unlimited potential of readers, why wouldn’t you start a blog for your company?
The blog should relate to your business. I have a marketing company,
Social Network Asia, so my blog relates to marketing. Make it enough to entice the reader to learn more about your company (you’re enticed right now, right??) and to build trust in your skills. It’s about building relationships. The next time a reader needs the product or service you provide, you can bet they’ll think of you first. If you want more information about the act of writing as a marketing strategy, you can check my previous post.
Press Releases
2. Use press releases effectively. Note that I did not say “blast out press releases helter skelter.” I personally don’t believe in throwing out press releases just to boost your ratings. In fact, you won’t find a press release about Egg anywhere out there. That’s because I haven’t had any newsworthy events I feel should be announced.
When you do have something newsworthy (your grand opening, launch of your website, major client secured), don’t be afraid to toot your own horn. And do it right. There are press release services that send your release to hundreds of websites, both well-known news sites like Yahoo! and Google, and smaller niche websites and publications in your genre.
What this does is not only get you in front of hundreds of pairs of eyes, but also boosts your SEO. Try it for yourself. When you distribute a press release, do a search for your company name on
Google. I guarantee you’ll get multiple listings just from all the places that published your press release. The higher you are in your search engine results ranking, the more people will find your website.
Digg Digg Digg
3. Get Dugg. Huh? Digg.com and del.icio.us are just two of the social bookmarking websites available. What they do is allow readers to decide the relevance of articles, news, press releases and blog posts. Say MSNBC.com has the cover story on
Saddam Hussein, and waaay, buried in the back is an article on the Postal Service changing their fee structure (see my previous post). Now, I realize that Saddam is front page news, but I think this Postal Service article is a big deal too, especially for marketers.
There is a little icon at the end of the article that says “Digg it” and another that says “del.icio.us.” By clicking on these icons, I have essentially voted for these articles to move up in importance. The more people that click on your press release or blog, the more people see it, and then more people click on it. You get the picture. It helps you gain more viewers who will end up on your website, buying your products or services.
You can even Digg your own articles so that they make it into Digg’s list!
Newsletters
4. E-Newsletter. While your electronic newsletter isn’t exactly online, it’s a great place to give access to all your online components. You have a newsletter, right? You’re sending it out every month to your contacts, right???
In your newsletter, on the sidebars or at the bottom, include links to your website and blog. Give teasers for your most recent entries on your blog: “Giving Away Free Information as a
Marketing Strategy. Click here to read this blog entry.” If you have a recent press release, include a link to it. If you have coverage in local media (i.e. news program or radio) include a link to that. Give your newsletter audience every opportunity to connect with you.
Leverage Other People’s Eyeballs
5. Advertise. Guess what? You don’t have to advertise on the big players’ websites. It might not even be effective for you. There is a niche group in every genre you can think of (work at home moms, cat lovers, people who love Barbara Mandrell and toast). Find your target market online and advertise on smaller, more targeted websites. It’s much cheaper, and you’ll find that communities are very supportive of “their own.” So take the time to become part of online communities in your market, and you’ll see a big payoff.
Advertising on these sites can come in the form of banner ads, text ads, or mention of your product in a blog. Get creative and find your own ways to get your product name out there. As you can see, the sky’s the limit when it comes to marketing your company online. The great thing is there’s usually not a long-term commitment, so you can quickly pull out of any channels that aren’t beneficial for your company!
