Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 12 of February , 2008 at 1:20 am Leave a comment
The beauty of website marketing as a business is that you can literally take it with you wherever you go. To ensure that your website marketing venture is truly mobile, you will need to make some sacrifices and perhaps a few compromises, but it can be done very easily.
Mobilizing your Website Marketing Data
Most people use a spreadsheet application for their record keeping and we are all for that, but did you know that it is possible to backup your spreadsheets with Google Documents? Try it some time, it works quite easily. It is a great way to keep a second copy of all of your website marketing data. I don’t feel Google Documents is at a point where I would bother using them exclusively yet, but they are worth making use of as a backup service.
If you use Firefox, you can make use of the Gspace add-on which allows you to use a Gmail inbox as a hard disk drive. You can use these as a backup hard disk for your website marketing files.
Mail forwarding is a great way to run your communications from the road, should you ever need to. Gmail has a lot of forwarding options that make it a really useful tool. If you are running multiple small websites, it pays to make use of the commercial Gmail services (some of them are still free). These will allow you to have an email address that is registered to your domain name. These Gmail accounts have the same forwarding options as other Gmail accounts. You can set each of them up with a mail client and have them forward to another address. Create a catchall account that all of your website marketing sites can forward to and you will be able to see all of your messages in one location. Gmail is useful in this regard because they offer both POP access and mail forwarding, whereas other free email accounts do not.
Mobilizing your website marketing business is not a whole lot of work, but it will require a lot of different passwords and these can be difficult to keep track of. If you want to keep all of your passwords in one safe, secure location, Roboform Pass2Go allows you to run the popular Siber Systems password manager from a USB key.
A mobile website marketing environment is not for everyone, but having the ability to go mobile should it be required is a great advantage. Whether you wish to relocate, or simply run the office from Starbucks for a couple of hours per day, it is nice to know that you can set up your system for some mobile website marketing action.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Thursday, 24 of January , 2008 at 11:17 am Comments (1)
In a recent article on the SEO Book blog, Aaron wall wrote an interesting post regarding Yahoo’s recent troubles. In many ways, the major search engines are similar to much smaller website marketing ventures. Search engines succeed and fail in website marketing just like any type of business. What makes Yahoo of particular interest to me and no doubt so many other people is that there was a time that they were number one. I do not think that Yahoo went wrong with their website marketing, I think that they failed to adapt to the times. Google marketed aggressively from day one and after clawing their way to the top, went on to take progressively more of the search engine market from their competitors.
The following is a series of ten suggestions that Aaron Wall made in his article, that do merit quoting:
1. Increase the relevancy of their directory by actually featuring it (the directory looks like a sidebar to a blog that occupies most of dir.yahoo.com), and by becoming more selective with what sites they accept. You can appreciate their bad marketing of the Yahoo! Directory by the fact that the Google Directory (a DMOZ clone) has a higher PageRank.
2. Yahoo! is testing integrating Del.icio.us data in their search results. Brand Yahoo! search as human edited safe search and find a way to pay end users for their contribution. Payment does not need to be monetary. Take a look at the success of Yahoo! Answers and Del.icio.us and apply those toward search. Google gives Checkout advertisers free ads and a higher ad CTR (which leads to a lower ad cost). Win search marketshare from your users by giving them rebates on your other products as well.
3. Create a branding and awareness campaign around the new Yahoo! Search. Hire someone to do a fake study proving that Yahoo! Search is more relevant than any of the other players. Make sure Ask or Microsoft is ranked #2 ahead of Google.
4. Let users comment on search results AND on listings in search results. Controversy surrounding this will lead to more people talking about and evaluating Yahoo! Search for quality.
5. Launch a new toolbar with a meter like PageRank in it…call it YourRank (or something the emphasizes to the user) that it is their web and what they like. Heavily push that branding message to users locked into Yahoo! email, Yahoo! Stores, and other verticals they interact with.
6. Create a well branded specialty search for bloggers with innovative features that make it easy to follow the conversation both ways. Also launch creative ideas to buy mindshare with other high authority communities (universities, open source projects, etc.).
7. Easily allow advertisers to do keyword research on Yahoo! outside of while they are setting up search campaigns. Create a reliable publicly accessible keyword tool which actually markets the Yahoo! Search product.
8. Give away a lot of useful search market data (like Microsoft recently did with their Ad Intelligence plug-in).
9. Put the Yahoo! brand on the millions of syndicated domain landing pages they power each day.
10. Increase the relevancy of their contextual ad product and increase payouts to 100% (buy marketshare) BEFORE Microsoft openly launches their network. Perform case studies with publishers who saw their Yahoo! monetization go up AFTER switching from AdSense (and other inferior networks) to the NEW Yahoo! Publisher Network contextual ads program. Perhaps pay key leading bloggers 150% just to get them using, talking about, and giving feedback on your ads. Buy marketshare…
While I do not agree with everything in the article, Aaron Wall does have some very good points. Right now Yahoo needs to be particularly mindful of not just Google, but also Microsoft. Microsoft is getting its website marketing right, and it is entirely possible that Microsoft could start wrestling more of Yahoo’s market share away in the not too distant future.
While Yahoo does still have a healthy percentage of the website search market, jobs are on the line. If they continue to slip as they have been, then they have some very dark times ahead. Better application of some common website marketing techniques is all that it would take to get Yahoo headed back in the right direction. The longer they take to implement some aggressive new website marketing strategies, the further they will fall behind and the harder it will be for them to catch up. Variety is the spice of life and I do hope that Yahoo is able to do something about its performance before it is too late. Google taking over even more of the search market is not in the interests of the average website marketer. One could argue that they already control too much.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 18 of January , 2008 at 8:56 am Leave a comment
According to an iCrossing article that was featured in Web Pro News yesterday, more than half of Americans look to the Internet for health related information.
More than three quarters of people said health care professionals are their most trusted health resource but Internet resources are considered more trustworthy than friends/coworkers, pharmaceutical companies and television.
What are health sites getting right about their website marketing?
A lot of medical and dental clinics have their own blogs or informational websites these days. It is not a substitute for the competent medical advice, but sometimes it is enough to satisfy niggling doubts that people have with their health issues. Many law firms do the same thing with regard to their website marketing.
Educating one’s clients, customers or patients can build up a great deal of customer goodwill. Not every person that visits a medical site needs to see a doctor. They might be looking for information on weight loss. They might be exhibiting some symptoms that are troubling to them. They might be researching an existing medical condition. If such people have a doctor in their area that dispenses reliable advice there is little doubt where they will be going the next time they get sick. This is website marketing at its most basic.
What precautions do health sites need to take with regard to their website marketing?
Health sites need to take special care in relation to their website marketing. It is possible to slap together a pile of search engine optimized articles and watch the hits roll in. The trouble is, there is a huge amount of pressure on medical sites. If their information is inaccurate, the consequences could be dire. At the very least, these sites have a duty of care to ensure the accuracy of the information on their websites.
What can non-medical search marketers learn from health sites?
Educating your client or customer is a wonderful thing. While you might miss out on a few mistaken sales, people will appreciate your business ethics. Ethical businesses attract a great deal of goodwill and positive word of mouth. Do not lose site of the bigger goal of your website marketing. If you want to build a thriving business, customer goodwill is vital. That so many people turn to the Internet for their health related information reveals that there are a great many trusted medical websites.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Thursday, 10 of January , 2008 at 7:30 pm Leave a comment
People have been questioning the ethical standards of Network Solutions of late and while I take most of what I read with a pinch of salt, an article on Marketing Pilgrim got me intrigued. The article provided a link to an article by Bill Hartzer documented exactly what happened:
After performing a domain name search using the Network Solutions search form, Bill shows an actual example of his search for an available domain. A few minutes later he is able to show that Network Solutions has registered it, forcing him to purchase it from them if he wants to own the domain.
This bothered him because he located the domain at another registrar for a significantly lower rate, but since Network Solutions has already registered the domain Bill wants, he is forced to pay the $34.99 that Network Solutions charges if he wants to own the rights to use the domain.
I read through his article and his evidence was compelling, so I decided to check it out what was going on. I ran a few obscure domain names and can confirm that they were snapped up by Network Solutions.
Network Solutions claims that this is to protect their users from the process called domain kiting or front running. That is, the registration of domain names that people search for on unscrupulous registrars. It begs the question, if this is a service, why don’t they advertise it? Why do they charge such a ridiculously inflated price for protecting a domain? In fairness, it should be noted that they only hold the domain name for a short period of time, but perhaps long enough for some people to cough up the $35 in protection money.
Is this service by Network Solutions ethical or not? You be the judge.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 7 of January , 2008 at 6:15 pm Leave a comment
While some analysts are predicting doom and gloom for 2008, I am going to go the other way completely and say that I think that 2008 could hold amazing things for the website marketing industry. In yesterday’s article we took a look at what some of the doomsayer claims that are floating around and I posited some opinions as to why they could be mistaken. Today, we are going to re-examine the argument and take it a step further. I do not believe that we are going to see a dot com crash in 2008, here is why:
Emerging markets – The world is coming online in ways that had not previously been seen. More people than ever before have access to the Internet. More people than ever before have broadband connections or are planning to get connected. More people than ever before are using the Internet to research products or services that they wish to pay for. In short, more international commerce is related to website marketing.
Times have changed - One might argue that the dot com crash occurred because there was not really the infrastructure to support that level of commerce that was taking place around the year 2000. Web 2.0 technology is able to support websites that are much more robust. The experience is better and that is leading more people to choose web stores over bricks and mortar stores. Website marketing now has the tools that are required to do the job properly.
The numbers – Advertising is not going to dry up. Even if there is a global recession, companies are still going to want to sell their products. People are not going to disconnect from the Internet, so it will always represent massive marketing potential. I think that it is more likely that we will see continued growth in website advertising over 2008. Website marketing should experience a year of continued growth in 2008.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 6 of January , 2008 at 8:41 pm Leave a comment
Since the dot com crash of 2000, a lot of website marketing folks are justifiably a little nervous regarding the future of their business on the World Wide Web. We have learned a lot since then, but as with all types of business, things could head south at any minute.
There are some that are predicting that 2008 will be the year that it happens. I for one do not believe that we will see a dot com specific crash over the current year, but we could see some serious economic downturn. This has more to do with banks and sub-prime mortgages than anything else.
The following is a passage from Web Pro News, the article is worth a read and discusses some of the economic woes that we find ourselves in at the start of 2008.
Feeling The Fear yet? Greg Linden might think you should. He has one prediction for 2008, and it’s not a pretty one:
We will see a dot-com crash in 2008. It will be more prolonged and deeper than the crash of 2000.
The crash will be driven by a recession and prolonged slow growth in the US.
Linden also thinks online advertising will go flat at best, or even decline. Google and Yahoo will suffer, and ads driven by spyware and malware will return in a big way, all over the Internet.
I believe that Linden is off the mark. Yes, 2008 is going to be a tough year for the economy. The sub-prime mortgage fiasco could very well kick off a chain reaction around the world and see economic slumps in countries that have economies closely linked to the United States. This will affect other sectors of the economy, which ones is hard to say, but I hardly see this as indication of a coming dot com crash.
Recessions hit from time to time and there is a high possibility that a recession is on the way; that does not mean that we are headed for economic meltdown. The 2000 dot com crash involved a relatively new business sector. By 2008, I would like to think that the website marketing sector has matured somewhat.
I don’t believe that 2008 spells trouble for website marketing. It will be a tough year for a lot of people, in a lot of business sectors. We will likely feel the pinch and people may have to tighten their belts a little but unless anything unforeseen happens, it should be business as usual, perhaps with some slightly tighter budgetary constraints.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 19 of December , 2007 at 7:42 am Leave a comment
Web design projects can create time management issues. It takes a great deal of time to code a site if you are not doing it all the time. There once was a time that I would do all of my site designing myself in a bid to save a few extra bucks. It usually worked out well for me, but spending hundreds of hours in front of the computer screen designing websites is not my idea of fun. I prefer to be in the trenches making sales, promoting, producing content and that sort of thing. Time is money after all, and why not spend your time doing the things that you do best? Outsourcing website design can be a massive time saver and is not all that expensive with GetAFreelancer.com and Quote Catcher.
I use Quote Catcher for times that I want a site designed from the ground up. Quote Catcher will allow different designers to bid for your site. You will get up to five quotes, you choose the one that is the best offer from your point of view. The best offer does not have to be the cheapest one. It depends on your needs, if you want a slick looking website, then it is probably wise to go with whichever site designer has the most impressive portfolio. If it does not really matter, go with the cheapest.
When I have smaller or more technical jobs, I use GetAFreelancer.com. With GetAFreelancer.com you give a specific outline of the job that you require and freelance programmers will offer you bids. It is important to distinguish GetAFreelancer from Quote Catcher. The freelancers on GetAFreelancer.com are programmers, you use them for programming related jobs. If you need a shopping cart system, or would like to make some sort of site related improvement, this is the place to go.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
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