Support your favorite pirate today! Yeah, it’s on the 19th this year, but I like to party like a pirate a little early. Never heard of Talk Like a Pirate Day? Only cool people do it, so if you aren’t doing it… Well, you already know you’re ‘that’ guy. Sad…
Anyhoo! Javascript insert created by Tom Hughes-Croucher of the amazing team at Yahoo! Developer Network. Get your own Talk Like A Pirate Javascript code here!
Read the original post:
All Me Posts Are Pirate Speak Now Mateys
Marketing Socially: Robyn Tippins from Converge SC on Vimeo.
FYI, the very first of my talk is cut off, but what you miss is my telling you that I started a diaper company in 1998, at age 22, and in month one, using forums to market it, we grossed ~$30k. The video picks up there.
See more here:
Robyn Tippins at ConvergeSC
Squidoo: The Challenge to Make a DifferencePosted using ShareThis
No, not really, there are no Monsters at Squidoo.Squidoo is currently experimenting with differentforms of advertising to increase revenues for charityand Squidoo Lensmasters. Obviously, the currenteconomic recession is biting into revenues everywhere.Squidoo, as usual, is being proactive about the currentstate of the economy.So you may have noticed green in-line hyperlinkson your Squidoo lenses
Read more:
Green Monsters Invade Squidoo
Twitter Grader is an interesting free toolthat gives your Twitter activity a grading basedon criteria such as number of followers and tweets.Twiter Grader explains their purpose below:”What Twitter Grader is trying to measure is thepower, reach and authority of a twitter account.In other words, when you tweet, what kind ofan impact does it have?”The exact details of how the algorith is calculated
Go here to read the rest:
Twitter Grader: measuring your power, reach and authority
I just got back from the Community Managers Meetup in San Francisco, which was held at the Thirsty Bear Brewery. There was only a small crowd, but I think that’s how it goes when you are just starting a new group. Rich Reader, a social media consultant, and Adam Jackson, Community Manager at Yoono (firefox extension based on your social sphere), were there. Some of the topics we discussed:
Keeping the objective in mind
– what do you want to accomplish?
Measuring Success
– Metrics, growth, engagement, etc.
Next month we’ll be discussing the tools we use to manage our community, including how we measure success (since it was an interesting topic this time). If you are a community manager and would like to join us, the group on Upcoming is Community Management Meetup. We meet once a month, somewhere in San Fran.
Likewise, if you are a business that wants to host us one month, we’d love to take this to a place with a whiteboard occasionally. Email me at robyn at sleepyblogger dot com.
The rest is here:
Community Managers Meetup #1
1) Create a Powerful Homepage Message.
Your homepage message should be a targeted, benefit-oriented statement that outlines what you can do for the potential customer. In order to properly draft an intriguing homepage message, you will need to identify the inherent benefit to your potential customer base. No one wants to hear that you are “the best”; customers want to hear why your product/service is different and what it means to them. Put more simply, customers are asking, “What can you do for me?” Answer them.
2) Focus on Clarity.
These days, with so many people searching online for products and services, your homepage should clearly identify who you are, what you offer, your core competitive benefits, and your supporting text—all in a clean and easy-to-navigate user interface. Use graphics and pictures to help illustrate what service or product you provide, and how these benefit the customer. However, the homepage should be a “no-fluff” zone. A good rule of thumb for the homepage is “less is more.” Make it easy for the user to understand what you do. Too much verbiage, images, and graphics will only confuse the user. White space, good. Clutter, bad!
3) Make Effective Use of “Secondary Messaging.”
After you have presented your homepage message, you will need to incorporate “secondary messaging” on the homepage. This includes any additional messages that will be used to help clarify and drive home the points made in the primary message. Secondary messaging should also incite the user to take certain steps—that is, it should be a call to action. These calls to action could direct the user to e-mail the company for additional information, phone the sales rep, download a white paper, read a recent success story, etc. The secondary message will change from company to company (isn’t this stating the obvious?). A good marketer will know how to choose a penetrating secondary message.
4) Integrate Imagery and/or “Flash” to Emphasize Your Core Message.
Imagery and flash animation are important parts of your homepage. To help illustrate your company’s core competitive benefits, both strategies help customers visualize how you can meet their needs
and requirements. Most people are visually oriented, so your imagery/flash will quickly convey and emphasize your message. Be consistent with what you are telling your potential prospects. Align your messaging with your visual strategies. Images and flash are also great ways to eliminate clutter; by adding a visual component to your website, you are alleviating the need for additional reference text.
5) Drive Toward a Specific Call to Action.
You have already heard a little bit about calls to action, but it is such an important strategy that we have also dedicated a specific section to it. Failure to convert online potential customers into sales leads is mostly attributable to homepages that lack primary and secondary calls to action on homepage. A call to action can be as simple as a link that states, “Contact us for more information” or “Tell us more about your needs and we will schedule a conference call.” Statistics have proven that if you can guide web users along your sales process, you will convert more of them into customers.
6) Know Your Audience, and Know the Audience Within Your Audience. OK, so maybe you don’t know who Carl Jung is, but chances are, you either have taken or soon will take a Myers-Briggs personality test. Most people can clearly state whether they are an introvert or an extrovert; your website should cater to these and other personality types. Develop your website not only for an audience that requires what you can provide, but also for disparate personalities within that audience. Some people prefer to pick up the phone to find out more information about your products or services. Some may prefer to e-mail you instead. Others may want to schedule a meeting. Your website should cater to as many of these personality types as possible, or else you will lose conversions. Make it easy for the web user to contact you . . . using whatever method they choose.
7) Make Your Homepage Easy to Navigate.
You must lay out your website with easy-to-navigate options and buttons. If you are a service-based company, then put an “XYZ . . . Services” tab on the top navigation bar. If you sell more than one service, then enable a pull-down menu showing options for your customers. Allow them to select the page that they want to research—without having to click first to find out more (a big no-no!). Another strategy is to use sidebars to help users navigate as they read your content. You will also need to ensure that your homepage uses an interlinking strategy, so that if web users hit the wrong button, they can easily get back on track and find the information they seek.
The Bottom Line Make it easy for a prospect to find out more about your products and/or services. Create a homepage that takes the guesswork out of it by guiding web users through the process, from understanding the message to taking action. Statistics have shown that the more clicks it takes for potential customers to find what they seek, the higher the rate at which they will abandon the website.
Scott C. Margenau is president of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning marketing, branding and advertising firm specializing in online and off-line media. Visit http://www.imageworksstudio.com for more info.
Establishing maximum value for your price is never easy. In today’s volatile economy, it’s even more of a challenge. For most companies, costs are increasing, yet the ability to pass them along to the customer is fraught with numerous roadblocks.
The customer’s response to a price increase is rarely positive, with the usual line of objections that go along with it. In addition, there are the concerns that a competitor’s price may undercut yours or that the customer may choose to go down a different path instead of buying from you at all.
As big as these issues are, they pale in comparison to the number one roadblock to maximizing your price point: the confidence of the salesperson. The main reason why companies do not
capitalize on their potential revenue is because their salespeople do not have the confidence to ask for and receive the highest price point.
If a salesperson is secure in what they are selling and in knowing how the customer will benefit from their products/services, then they will be confident in asking for and getting the desired price point. The problem is that many times the salesperson lacks confidence in at least one of these areas, resulting in their inability to make their sales quota.
To rectify this problem, it’s important to examine how the salesperson first developed a lack of confidence in their ability to maximize their price points. Generally, it stems from a sale they perceived to be lost because their price had been too high. On the surface, their assumption probably appeared to be correct. However, in reality, it just seemed that way because the right price-value relationship had not been established. If the salesperson had executed a proper sales strategy that allowed both himself and the customer to see the product’s/service’s true value, this could have been avoided.
It needs to be communicated that in a B to B environment, the benefits are to both the buyer and the business they’re buying it for. In a B to C environment, the benefits are to both the buyer and to the person who will actually use the product or service. When the salesperson and the customer understand this, it can help erase the uncertainty that the price may pose. In general, new salespeople often lose the sale shortly after they’ve stated their price. Thus, it’s only natural for them to believe that the price was the determining factor. However, when digging below the surface, the price was not what prevented them from closing the deal. Rather, they lost the sale because they didn’t ask enough questions to fully establish the needs of the customer.
Top-performing salespeople ask questions that allow the customer to elaborate on their needs and then demonstrate their listening skills by asking appropriate open questions and probing deeper with great follow-up questions. They use the information that they learn to better explain how their product or service can be beneficial to the customer.
In my 25 plus years of selling, I’ve learned that the customer’s real needs, hurts, and wants don’t often surface until you’re demonstrated genuine interest in what their thoughts and goals are. Ironically, this means that you can throw out their initial comments, as it is rarely the need they are looking to fill.
In summary, today’s economy is full of opportunities for top performing salespeople to ask really good questions that get customers talking. This allows both the customer and the salesperson to see, feel, and understand what their true needs are. When the salesperson can experience this across multiple customers, they will begin to develop the assurance they need to be able to confidently convey the maximum price point their company expects them to receive.
Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter”, is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit http://www.TheSalesHunter.com
Go here to read the rest:
Selling in a Soft Economy
Most business owners, once they become busy working with current clients, no longer make the time to market their businesses. It’s only when business has dropped off (and the well is starting to run dry) that they frantically begin marketing their businesses again, anxious to fill in the gaps. When they speak to prospective clients, the prospects can hear the desperation in their voice and are thus unlikely to hire them. Frustrated by rejection, the business owner is off again, desperately seeking more clients. Does this describe your marketing pattern? If so, you’re not alone.More than 50% of service business owners experience this feast or famine scenario. What if you could create an environment so that the well never ran dry and would permit you to continuously market and promote your business? There is another way to keep yourself supplied with an eagerly waiting list of prospects with whom you can work when you have the time and space in your business. Often referred to as “drip marketing,” this strategy is defined by a deliberate, planned and sequenced system of deploying marketing messages over a period of time. In many cases, drip marketing is conducted through direct mail, but the Internet entrepreneur can create her own drip marketing campaign as well.
Here are 6 secrets you can use to create your online drip marketing campaign and keep prospects in your pipeline:
1. Client attraction device. The best way to get prospects into your marketing funnel is to give away something that would compel them to part with their name and email address and join your list. Often called an “ethical bribe”, your client attraction device must answer a pressing problem experienced by your target market. You can format this information into an ebook, special report, ecourse, audio recording, video, or some combination of all of these.
2. Newsletter: Whether you choose to publish a hard copy newsletter that’s directly mailed to your prospects or an email newsletter that is emailed on a regular schedule to your list, your newsletter is the best “stay in touch” device that you have. Regular publication of an email newsletter (weekly is most effective) will enable your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and have you be top of mind when they are ready to solve the pressing problems that fall within your line of expertise.
3. Blog. Business blogging has become more popular than ever. Blogs use RSS feed technology to immediate get new posts and updates out to your blog subscribers through a feed reader, Unlike ezines or traditional websites, search engines index blog posts almost immediately, which help yo
u generate traffic to your website. You need to post 2-3 times per week to keep your readers interested and coming back.
4. Article marketing. One of the best ways to generate traffic to your site or to your blog is to regular write and publish high quality articles that demonstrate your expertise. In addition to placing these articles on your website and blog, you’ll want to get them distributed throughout the Internet on high traffic article directories. Ezine publishers, reporters, print media editors, and bloggers all frequent article directories in search of quality content to present to their readers.
5. Social networking. If you don’t yet have accounts on the two most popular social networking platforms, Facebook and Twitter, today is the day to hop on board. Business owners are getting prospects on their lists and making sales every day to people they met exclusively through social networking. Best of all, these strategies are free of charge!
6. Public speaking/teleclasses. What better way to wow prospects than for them to hear you speak at an organizational meeting or on a teleclass? Speaking locally to groups comprised of your target market or holding teleclasses are very effective ways to build your list and increase the number of prospective clients. Design a signature speech or teleseminar that demonstrates your knowledge and expertise without giving away the store (focus on the what and the why but not the how) that compels your listeners to visit your website or request your client attraction device and get on your list.
Don’t become overwhelmed and try all of these strategies at once. Pick one that you find appealing and work at it for 3 months. If you discover that you don’t enjoy it or that it’s not working for you, try another one. Continue to slowly add more drip marketing strategies until the process is firmly ingrained in your day-to-day business practices. Ultimately, you’ll create a list of prospects who are ready, waiting, and eager to hire you.
This post provided by Donna Gunter, Online Business Manager and Online Business Coach helping independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com
Read more:
Continue to Market Your Business to Succeed
If a business has happy customers and a lot of return clients, it should have testimonials. You wouldn’t hire a contractor to remodel your house without checking references. Therefore be proud of the work you do and get some testimonials. Customer testimonials will help increase sales as well as boost the confidence of potential customers.
The Difference Between Good and Better
In order to have testimonials work for you and increase your client base, you must be careful how you phrase them. Testimonials are a marketing effort, which means that they need to be geared toward making your company look spectacular. For example, instead of writing “I love their vitamins”, write “Taking these vitamins everyday gives me lots of energy and keeps me feeling great all day long.” The latter testimonial is a lot more eye-catching and will be more effective in gaining a customer’s confidence than the former. Ask customers who are willing to write testimonials to be specific.
Cherry Pick Your Testimonials
If you don’t have any testimonials, check your company’s email inbox for customers who sent compliments. If you can’t find any ones you like, look at your client list and find out who is buying your products and at what frequency. Call or email a handful of your best customers and ask them to write a specific testimonial. Have them send a picture as well. This will give potential customers further reassurance of the validity of the testimonial.
Testimonials will not only improve your business, but will also improve your company’s image as one that values customer satisfaction. So make the effort to get some strong testimonials.
Four Tips for Effective and Eye-Catching Locations
1. Once you have the testimonials, you need to figure out where to put them on your site. Placement is key, particularly when using flash. You want your testimonials to give maximum impact. The most common place on a website is for them to have their own navigation button titled either “Testimonials” or “Rave Reviews”. This way more testimonials can be viewed on their own page.
2. Another option is to use flash testimonials on a sidebar on the homepage along with the customer’s name, job title and company or logo. If you are using the testimonials in the masthead, they should rotate every 7-10 seconds then stop after all testimonials are shown. You don’t want a testimonial to be so distracting that it takes the emphasis off of the content and what you are selling or offering. By having the flash cycle stop, you are allowing viewers to see the testimonials and then freely look at the content without the excess flash.
3. An alternative way to present testimonials is to sprinkle them throughout the site, highlighting them within the content using graphics, such as a color block background, upper and lower bar, etc. These visual stops are equally effective in reinforcing your credibility and can act as an additional selling point for specific products or services.
4. If you have the option for audio or video testimonials, this can be very effective in boosting your company’s credibility. Audio is easy to record using Audio Acrobat. Video, on the other hand, requires more thought to positioning and angles. If you are at a trade show or with a client, you may want to pre-plan these testimonials for more impact.
Remember that in order for a testimonial to be effective, it needs to be specific, believable and placed in a credible location. With these three tips in mind, your testimonials will build customer confidence and web success.
This post provided by the Web Success Team. Contact the Team today and we’ll show you how to beef up your online marketing efforts make your website capture more buyers and generate more income for your products and services. http://www.websuccessteam.com
The rest is here:
The Power of Testimonials
One of my colleagues recently asked me, out of all the aspects of marketing including online marketing, marketing strategy, Web 2.0, market research, etc., what was the most important? Without hesitation I replied, “Testing”.
Many of my marketing friends might argue and profess that if you don’t have the right message, reach the right audience, the right timing, or the right offer, you won’t succeed. And to that I say ABSOLUTELY! In fact, those are the very elements of a successful campaign that can be identified through proper testing. So how do you know that your messaging is optimized or that you’re reaching your target audience in the most effective way possible? Only proper testing can give you that information.
The rest is here:
The Most Important Aspect of Marketing…Testing
I’d like to thank everyone for their feedback on posts related to Search Engine Marketing. I hear from so many people who are spending money on Google Adwords and not seeing results that I’ve made today’s post about how you can make the most of your search engine marketing. 
e.Original post:
More on Search Engine Marketing
If you’re running a small or medium sized business, or perhaps a marketing department, it’s difficult to stay on top of all the marketing changes over the last couple of years. Social media, networking, new technologies… who can keep up with it all?
One way to stay on top of your marketing game it so be actively engaged. Set up Google alerts, RSS feeds, and become an avid reader of industry magazines. Even with all of this information, we, as marketers, rarely have the time to stay on top of every bit of marketing news. So how can you manage it all? Ask who, then what.
Marketing technologies, strategies, and tactics will continually evolve and change. Therefore, you need the right people on your team who can keep up with different aspects of marketing – regardless of what changes come about.
Think about your team members and what they’re most interested in. Is it marketing on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social networking site? How about mobile marketing or changes in the online advertising space. Find someone who is genuinely interested in an emerging aspect of marketing and have them update you on a regular basis. This is how the best marketers stay on top of just about everything.
Of course you could always work with an agency (if you budget allows), but an agency is doing the same thing you can do on your own. This is especially true if you have a team of people. Schedule monthly “update” meetings and ask everyone to report. You can then take this information to determine whether or not you have an opportunity to succeed with a new type of media or marketing tactic.
Keeping informed is much easier with the right people. First ask who, then what!
Read more here:
Ask Who, Then What
Click through rate continues to be a key metric for Internet marketers. However, the question “What’s a good click-through rate?” is a little bit like asking “What’s your favorite movie?” Truthfully, it really comes down to personal preference. Just as some people might lean toward an adventure film as their favorite movie, others might prefer something from another genre.
The same is true for click-through rates on your Sponsored Search ads: The highest possible click-through rate may work for some—but it doesn’t work for all. That’s why the honest answer to the question is, “It depends.”
Click-through rates are naturally going to vary from campaign to campaign, and even from keyword to keyword. Everything involved in the way your ad is displayed plays a part, from your ad copy to the ad’s ranking on the results page.
This being the case, your click-through rate should really be viewed as only one indicator of your ad’s performance. It’s best to try and balance your evaluation of those rates with a just-as-critical look at your conversion rates (number of clicks converting into sales or other actions you want people to take). While it might be easy to generate a bump in your clicks, you also want those extra clicks convert into sales.
An ideal click-through rate provides the best possible return on investment, and to achieve that, it’s important to consider these factors:
1. Competition
Are your keywords fighting for clicks? Generic keywords, such as “dvd,” tend to have a lot of competition, which lessens the chance of getting clicks. More specific keywords, such as “transformers dvd,” generally have less competition and a greater chance for clicks.
2. Position
An ad with a high ranking may generate more traffic to your web site. To help attain a good position in search results, keep your bids competitive and your ad quality high.
3. Ad Quality
Are your ads relevant? Do they contain the related keywords? Do they reflect the offering of your site in a way that will appeal to users? And do they include any competitive advantages you offer that might set you apart from your competitors?
4. Ad Testing
Create multiple versions of your ads and use ad testing to determine which ad works best. Vary your ad offerings, as well as your display URLs, to see what gets the best results.
5. Identifying Low-Performing Keywords
Compare the click-through rate of similar keywords, to see if any are significantly under performing in relation to the others. If so, consider moving those low-performing keywords to a different ad group and creating new, highly relevant ads for those keywords.
There really is no hard and fast rule as to how high a click-through rate should be. But if your ads are compelling and your click-through and conversion rates are well balanced, you’re off to a great start.
Post provided by Noah Belson
The rest is here:
Making the Most of Your Click-Through Rates
