Stuff Happens – What Day Is It?
Well, I stopped by here the other day only to notice the dates on this blog are incorrect. Stuff happens. I’m not sure how to fix things back, and not sure just how it happened on this blog and not my others, lol, c’est la vie.
What is really interesting is the top post I saw the other day is not the post that appeared at the top as I just came back in to make a post. That post is actually something I wanted to address.
http://www.internetmarketingplan.me/finally-chose-a-domain/
That 300 challenge was never accomplished. One of the main reasons was my inability to figure out a proper tracking system.
Thanks to a Warrior, I have found a script which will give me data needed for this experiment.
About that domain…
I picked up a new and independent domain for this experiment. I needed something generic and something that would work with a mixture of products. I’ll actually be able to use the domain and one single blog installed on it to see which traffic came from Ezine or Youtube, and it will track directly out to clickbank for me and reveal which sales originated from which source.
The main blog will post each article with its accompanying video on just one post.
While I could have run 2 sites and 2 lists, I should also be able to use this new script to tell me which new subscribers are Ezine and which are Youtube. I do think I’ll need to go into clickbank independently and figure out which sales get credited to which – manually by matching up names. This will be a bit of work if a lot of sales happen, but a necessary evil to the experiment.
So now with a tracking system in place, it’s a matter of creating the content for both sites meaning writing the articles and shooting the videos. The blog was just installed a few moments ago but will need some customization and tweeking. And the autoresponder series of course.
I had chosen some products at the beginning of the year. Not all of these are clickbank, so I’ll be revisiting the list and looking for some new products to fill in the gaps.
Any products recommended on the site will be ones I’ve personally used or had the chance to examine.
So, that’s the update for now. This is one project that I’ll now be spending some daily time to put together and launch by the New Year.
This of course is just one project.
Originally posted 2010-11-14 19:05:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
At The Internet Marketing Hardware Store
Filed under: The Big Debate - Article vs Video Marketing, Web Tools
This past week has been spent looking for tools that will benefit me in saving time as well as make my efforts more efficient in general.
I have some exciting new discoveries to share soon – but do want to make sure I give these tools the full run through before letting you in on what is working and what does not. These tools include keyword research, article organization, plugins for blogs, and the list keeps growing.
Finding the right tools for your marketing efforts can take time. There are so many softwares out on the market, and some will take care of one function while others can cover multiple tasks. Figuring out that perfect combination that will save you time, money, and give you the desired results is certainly a job in itself. Typically the type of tool you need will become obvious as your internet marketing journey takes course.
Once finding a tool you think will help you, it can be a whole new ball of wax to take the time to learn how to use it. Practice makes perfect, and giving yourself a reminder of what tools you have on hand when creating your plan can be a good idea.
While it is possible to do a lot of the things these tools do manually, my 300 Challenge I fear would not be possible within the alloted time frame.
Another side note, I use a Macintosh. The tools I will be sharing with you either will work for PC and Mac or just Mac or will run server side. In general, the majority of IM tools tend to run on PC only. This has always irked me. Mac users in particular may find this blog of great use in the future as you will not have to spend the time that I have in finding what will definitely work for you.
Originally posted 2009-12-26 11:45:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Multiple Streams of Internet Income
No matter which niche or business you are planning to pursue on the web, one thing to take into consideration when creating your marketing plan is a final goal which encompasses multiple streams of internet income. Each model will differ in the streams you decide to incorporate, and not all streams or paths will be appropriate for what you are peddling.
What are these multiple streams and possibilities? As an example, here’s a random yet profitable niche which could make a great business for anyone. The electric fireplace heater.
Now that a product has been revealed, what would be the plan for income streams?
The first and most obvious is the sale of the unit itself. This could be promoted on a store front site and drop shipped or delivered from a store. You may have a store that offers either several brands or one brand with several different models. Irregardless, you will need to decide if you want to just sell the units on your site, or if your primary site will offer adsense and banners. Your ultimate conversions can be affected by these simple choices. For instance, running adsense on your site may get you some out clicks to other products in the associated niche, but these clicks will detract from your real objective to sell your units you currently have. You may wind up making pennies compared to dollars.
Let’s say you’d like to experience adsense, but you really want the goal of your primary site to just sell electric fireplace units. How do you get to tap into this additional income stream?
Limitation on the placement of these ads can be done or you could choose to use your secondary sites for the collection of your adsense revenue. The same is true with banners. While there is money to be made by adding banners to your site, again it will detract from what you are selling on your site – that is unless you are careful to select a banner that is not a competing product but perhaps a complimentary product to the one you are offering.
Secondary sites like Blogger blogs and Hubpages will not only guide you how to get your adsense into place, but will aid in future SEO and can help to bring traffic to your primary site. It can be like getting the most bang for your buck – or in those two particular free solutions for your time. In addition, Adsense is not the only ad marketing network.
What other streams can be added to this niche? How about some Ebay auctions? Something as simple as adding an Ebay store can not only increase your visibility, but can also be used in ones pursuit of listbuilding. While we are at it, what about Amazon? They sell a lot more than just books. And what about that listbuilding thing?
List building basically is a way to collect information on interested consumers who have gained your trust. This list can be used as a future client base to promote many different products to. Of course when approaching this list, you’ll want to keep in mind the primary product this audience was interested in in the first place.
As you can see, there is more than one way to make money from your online efforts with even just one focused niche. Take some time to think outside the box and look for as many ways as you can to monetize and get the most from your efforts. When creating your plan, be sure to keep in mind the additional streams of internet income.
Originally posted 2009-09-15 20:06:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Mindset – The First Element To Any Plan
Before one can implement or even devise a solid plan, be it online or off, one needs to have the proper mindset.
But what is mindset? And how does one achieve it?
Mindset is determination to accomplish a specific goal or task. Typically, motivation plays a big role in solidifying ones mindset.
Let’s say I want some dinner. I have no food in the house. My mind is set on getting something to eat. Where is my motivation? Well, I could be getting hungry. I know if I don’t get something I’m going to become more and more hungry eventually.
I can dream about a steak dinner any time, but if I’m not hungry I’m not likely to do much about it.
It is one thing to dream about making things a reality. But without some kind of action and necessary motivation, many things remain just dreams.
The beginning of many plans starts with looking inside oneself and asking the basic question. What do I want?
You have to be very specific with this answer. The more specific, the better one can plan and analyze what is needed to accomplish a goal.
One of the next steps is to actually write down this goal. For some it is also a good idea to write down that motivation as to remind oneself why they are doing what ever it is they intend to do.
In order to nourish and keep a mindset focused, repetition comes into play. Daily reading of these goals can most certainly help one stay on track and in the right direction.
Visualization can also work wonders. If you tell yourself something over and over, and actually see it in your minds eye, it becomes a truth for you.
Once you know what you want, and can see it coming true, it’s time to start writing. You can start with writing out the end goal, and in the fashion of a backwards planner you write down the steps you took to get there. Fill in as much as you can – and once you’ve written as much as you can simply reverse the order to see where it is you need to start.
Don’t worry if there are holes in your initial plan. These are now clear areas you need to work on and can work out the details of before you get there.
Don’t wait to fill in the gaps before you begin. Just start the plan, and remember that your plan will be somewhat fluid and there is always room for improvement or change – as long as it leads you to that end goal.
Originally posted 2010-11-16 12:25:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Contest at Ezine HAHD
Filed under: Article Marketing, The Big Debate - Article vs Video Marketing
I wasn’t aware that there was a contest at Ezine Articles for 100 articles in 100 days – but looks like I’ll be participating by default. My deadline for the 300 articles is much sooner actually, but the difference is I was not necessarily planning on 400 words for all my articles.
I’m confident somewhere in the mix, a good portion of the articles I am currently writing are going to make that 400 word minimum.
The past two weeks have been spent doing some major research and planning. I have reviewed several article marketing ebooks on speed, subject, selling within articles, and some time was spent creating my topics to cover in each article. With all the preliminary work done, I “should” be able to just jump in and write daily with the goals of each article all preplanned. The next three weeks will be spent in a massive writing frenzy.
Up until now, my record number of articles to write in a day was a measly 5. This of course was slowed because of lack of focus and direction. I have to add, those articles also were well over 500 words a piece, which will not be necessary for this challenge. The day would be spent surfing, looking for topics, and honestly not really having an ideal format in mind for each article.
Things have changed drastically since then, and I feel all for the better.
The past 3 days unfortunately have been a bit of a wash with the holidays here and interruptions of guests, but I am anxious for this coming week where I will not be facing obligations and interruptions.
Yesterday in fact was the first 24 hours in a long time where I did not even log on to the internet (gasp)! This is going to be perhaps the biggest time saver for me.
I am lucky to have my own Macspeech Dictate, which is also going to be a great time saver.
I have fallen in love with a new tool, which I will be giving a review to as one of my articles. It allows me to automatically upload to some article directories, keep track of where specific articles have been submitted, and even upload to my blogs – which is where you want to put your articles first before submitting to the directories. I can create several resource boxes and project folders.
Well, I’ve got a window of time right now to get some more done, so off I go.
Will you be joining the Ezine challenge?
Originally posted 2010-01-03 09:30:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Your Primary Website – What Form Is Best For You?
Not all websites are built the same. Browsing around the internet one can find static html sites, blogs, forums, ecommerce and a variety of membership sites. Each of these share some common elements, but function and run very differently. Selecting the model that is right for you can be a bit tricky sometimes.
The oldest form and most simple is a static html site. HTML stands for hyper text markup language. This is a special defined code of characters that allows you to create links on your web documents. Very simply, you can create any kind of text document and by incorporation of this special code your pages can be woven together. This allows the user to find all the pages associated with your website – as well as outside sites you may be linking to. HTML also allows you to add different types of media to your site. If you have for instance a video on your web page, the actual video file will be located in it’s own folder. Html acts like a map which pulls the information from the stored file where it can work to play on your page and be displayed with all kinds of different elements. Static sites display in what ever order you create them to. Each page needs to be created one by one. Some elements that carry through on every page like a menu or a banner can be managed with CSS or a cascading style sheet. This sheet includes style commands that are consistent on your entire html site. It will tell all the pages created to put specific elements in the same place on each page. This can speed up the creation of your site and give it a consistent feel.
Blogs are run with what is called a CMS or content management system. This is a pre built machine like system that greatly benefits the user by assisting them in where the content will go and then assembling it for them. Once you know what the buttons and gadgets do on your CMS, you can quickly assemble web pages with different types of media and almost no knowledge of html. The CMS assists in creating links for you, and allows the user to upload and manipulate pictures and other media most times with basic knowledge of how a word processor works. WordPress is one of the top CMS systems to use and has a huge support system. Blogs are just as valid as sites built on html, and are known primarily for displaying their content in reverse chronological order.
Online forums allow a community to openly communicate with each other. Forums are run on scripts and give a specific set of tools for the visitor to use to share their information. Permissions given can be dictated by the owner of the site.
Ecommerce sites run on scripts that assist in displaying products in a store like fashion. Pictures and descriptions can be added to a site, and shopping carts can be integrated for the end user to assemble a variety of items they’d like to purchase.
Membership sites can be created in numerous ways. They can be a simple place where users download some materials, or as complicated as a combination of static pages, blog, and a forum for members to assemble. Scripts like Joomla are run on a CMS and allow an easy integration of all these elements through the addition of modules or plugins.
How do you decide which to use? This choice should be made with the thought of the end user in mind. You may wish to consider which is the best way to deliver your content or services in a way that your guests will get the most out of them. Before deciding which model to follow, take some time to browse the web and discover how others are delivering their content. Specifically, research your own niche and how the competition is doing things. Do their sites feel warm and inviting, and easy to navigate?
The sooner you’ve selected a platform to create your site, the sooner you can begin to build your little empire.
Originally posted 2009-10-01 08:49:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
What Does SEO Do For You? Online Offline Comparison
Why do you need to consider SEO when devising a plan for online marketing? One way to describe the ultimate importance is to do a comparison to an offline business.
For this, consider someone who owns a dress shop. We’ll say it’s Nancy’s Dress Shop.
Imagine this. Nancy has a small little dress shop located in the midwest situated on the outskirts (terrible pun) of town. Nancy has just renovated an old building and her shop has just opened for business. It is on a road not well traveled. The shop is absolute stunning inside, she has a wide variety of offerings, and is fully stocked up. But who knows she exists?
In the offline world, Nancy is faced with the issue – how does she get traffic to her little dress store? How will anyone ever find her?
One of the first things she might consider doing is calling up her friend Joy to come by and see her new store. This of course would be considered “word of mouth” advertising. While Joy will buy something from Nancy, she will need to sell more than one or two dresses to stay in business. Nancy needs to get some permanent signs or advertising locally or in the neighboring towns to get the word out that she is open for business. Nancy might do well to get herself listed in the local yellow pages. She might have to put in some money for some highway signs in a more trafficed area. She may also have to give out some free samples to create a buzz.
Now imagine that Nancy has magically found a way to put up signs in all 50 states about her little dress shop and what kinds of things she has to offer. Everywhere you turn around, you see Nancy’s being advertised over and over again. Do you think she might get a few calls? You need a dress – and there you see immediately that Nancy has them.
Online is no different with the exception that advertising and the driving of traffic to you site can be much more cost effective. The more search engine optimization you create, the less and less you pay for advertising. Online, Nancy has the opportunity to associate her name with her products over and over again. The more she does it, the more visibility and traffic she can achieve. SEO is like putting up signs all over the place about what you have and where to find it.
So what does SEO entail?
Like Nancy, you need to create your list of items you have to offer or what it is you want to be known for. Your next step is to simply start dropping those signs all over.
- article marketing
- blogging
- web 2.0 properties
- video
- online directories
- social networking sites
These are all great places to drop your message which ultimately point back to your site. The more you do the more people you can reach.
In addition, the ultimate benefit is if your SEO is done correctly, search engines like Google and Yahoo will take notice and give you a boost in their general search engine rankings.
No matter what niche you pursue, it is imperative that SEO considerations be explored and implemented in your final marketing plan.
Originally posted 2009-09-21 14:01:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Affiliate Marketing to Start Your Business
So, you want to begin your journey into internet marketing, but need a place to start? When you don’t yet own a product or service to sell, affiliate marketing can be a great way to start your business.
Affiliates are basically the middle man between a product and the end user. Odds are if you want to go long term with your internet endeavors you will either become an affiliate or employ them at some part of your journey.
Many of the tasks you will need to perform as an affiliate will be carried into the plethora of other tasks associated with all IM fields.
Affiliate Marketing can be an entire IM business all on it’s own. Everyone has the opportunity to choose from physical or electronic products to promote. The theory is most lucrative of these two are the information digital downloads as they require no shipping, and offer instant delivery to the end user.
Most marketers are drawn to places like Clickbank, Paydotcom, or Ejunkie – but don’t be fooled. These are not the only places to find great quality digital products to promote.
With all internet marketing plans, the most important factor is finding that profitable niche. The same is true with affiliate marketing. To find programs related to your interest all one needs to do is google the name of the niche with the word “affiliate.” Some programs will appear through large vendors while other programs will be quite private. Should you find a private program, be sure to investigate a bit further to make sure the program is legit.
If you are beginning your online ventures with a modest budget, working as an affiliate is probably the only way to start your business with as little as zero investment and possibility of the greatest returns. Of course this will all be reliant on your creativity and ability to adapt quickly to the online world.
If you are still exploring all your possible options, consider diving in to get your feet wet by using affiliate marketing to start your business.
Originally posted 2009-09-18 09:28:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Free Press Release Can Get You Exposure On New Products
Are you looking for more ways to get exposure other than just a Free Article Submission Service? How about a Free Press Release?
While articles are a great way to spread the word about what you are offering, the power of the press release is often overlooked by internet marketers. News organizations typically search press release sites over article directories when looking for the latest trends or fresh hot topics.
Creating a good press release is slightly different from just writing articles. While articles tend to focus on solving a particular problem, a press release presents the world with a new and exciting discovery or an update to an event.
If you are presenting a new product to the market, a press release can be one of your best new allies in getting a boost in exposure and a proper introduction on how you’d like your product to be portrayed.
Possibly one reason many shy away from using a PR in their initial campaign is the fear of the cost. While some press release sites can cost hundreds of dollars, you should know there are premium high traffic sites such as http://www.free-press-release.com that offer you submissions totally free of charge.
When putting together your first (or next) product launch plan, be sure to include your press release to get off to a great start.
Originally posted 2010-01-27 11:27:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Finally Chose a Domain
Filed under: Article Marketing, internet marketing plan, Market Research, The Big Debate - Article vs Video Marketing, Video Marketing
The big deadline for the work of 300 articles and 300 videos will be here March 17th. I’ve had roughly 9 days to do some organizing and planning whilst running another business that is in desperate need of some viral marketing of its own.
I had been debating how to get the best results from my 100 articles about article marketing, and where I was going to point those links to.
If you don’t know it already, I’m actually not too keen on articles. I typically feel some restraint – but I am going full blast into becoming the best expert I can on the topic and sharing freely as much on the subject as I can. I am giving it my honest best go to soak up as much as I can.
At one point I was just going to do this with the topics of article marketing and video marketing, but now have some wild card topics for the last 100.
Someone in my hot poll thread at the WF asked,
So, you’d be making 75 videos and 75 articles for each product?
The problem I see with this is: How do you make 75 videos about video creation without already mentioning basically everything that matters for video creation?
I mention this because my reply to the concern was,
How do you make 75 articles about article creation without already mentioning basically everything that matters for article creation?
In actuality, there will be 100 articles about article creation/marketing, etc. – not sure what happened to the math that day.
Anyway, much of what is needed for video creation such as the answers is already on the web somewhere. And same with article marketing and article creation.
It boils down to a “time” factor.
People are willing to pay for information that is actually “free” if it has been assembled and collected nicely into a package that will save them time looking it all up. Time is that one thing we can never get back.
Back to the plan, I want to have a site to showcase all my articles and information about article marketing, and I want to have a site to showcase all my videos and information about video marketing. Makes sense right?
The real question then lies in the monetization plan. Initially I wanted to just promote a course on article marketing, and one on video marketing. I have access to BOTH – but I will be already exposing and sharing a lot of information on those topics. The sensible thing to do is to offer those things, but also offer things that are not just digital information. For instance, what would be a useful tool for an article marketer? What would speed up their process in creating articles? Just doing a Google search, there are all kinds of tools that can help you assemble and create articles quickly.
There is article creation software, article submission software, and other tools to assist.
The same is true with video. People need access to photos, video loops, music, and even video creation software for those who really want to get into it.
I would be silly to limit the number of products offered to just courses. At the same time, I need to investigate best I can anything I do recommend. And it would not be wise to sell something in every email sent by an autoresponder.
I will funnel traffic to two blogs. Each blog will have a sign up for something “free” that will help my new subscribers. I will be able to judge this contest partly with the number of sign-ups.
Here is where things get a little crazy, and some “creative” tracking needs to be done. Let me explain.
Lets take that 100 articles about article marketing. I need to track how many subscribers come in from my articles on Ezine, and how many are directed to the sites from Youtube. Keep in mind, there will be 100 articles about article marketing, and 100 videos about article marketing. I can either split this into two squeeze pages, or 2 blogs, or a squeeze page directed from youtube and perhaps just a link directly to the blog from ezine as they are very specific on landing pages offered int the links and really want to see valuable content on the sites.
To save myself some time and avoid duplicate content issues on the Articles blog (which will be located at http://articleparticles.com) I will be installing Steven Fullmans WP Unique, which makes the article appear as unique content in the eyes of google. I will also need there to be some unique content initially to get the blog approved by Ezine as a site worthy of linking to.
I would like to be able to display the articles and videos of each for each site. The videos will play at the top, with the option to scroll down to actually read the materials.
Here is what I will have. A blog about article marketing that shows videos, and has article about article marketing, and I need to know what traffic was generated from ezine, and which from youtube. Let’s say I have 10 people visit from Ezine, and 10 visitors from Youtube – how do I really know which ones are “buying?” Do I just run this as a traffic experiment or traffic to conversions? The best way I can think to break this down is into 2 landing pages that are DIFFERENT lists. Through Aweber I can track the clicks on links in my autoresponders, and will need to have 2 affiliate codes for each product.
What a pickle eh?
My original poll question was:
If you had to choose between getting 300 videos, and 300 articles, which do you think would convert better and lead to more sales?
While some of this is obviously a traffic game, should I disregard conversions? Are article readers and clickers buyers? Are my video watchers going to click and ultimately buy something?
It is of no point for me to toot the benefits of video marketing if it brings traffic, but the traffic does not buy.
While I could just buy some cheap dot info’s and skip the whole list building thing, would I not just be throwing away traffic? It would be the easy path, but I’m not so sure it is the best for long term benefits of the work going into this challenge and plan.
I don’t even want to go into the mess of tracking and analyzing my results.
Fortunately some affiliate programs (IE clickbank) do allow you to create a unique tracking code for campaigns you put in place.
As you can see, there is a lot of pre-planning needed for this experiment aside from the creation of 300 articles and 300 videos. I dare say the creation of those is the “easy” part at this point.
I hope to be back soon with a nice method in place. I have only 91 days to my deadline.
Originally posted 2009-12-16 10:59:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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