Technology Toolkit

Most businesses struggle to differentiate themselves for the competition. Why not use your website to stand out. A great website can help you establish yourself as the leader of your market. Any business can have, regardless of their revenue, a Fortune 500 web presence. With over 100 million domains registered you must do more than put any website online, you have to have an online strategy.

There is no successful online strategy without the following:

Content – Good website content doesn\’t end with an \”About Us\” or a \”Contact Us\” page. You must have great content. Not some boring sales pitch that people never really believed. Content must be unique and useful information to your target market. Don\’t be afraid of giving information away. Even if you are a lawyer that charges by the hour for your expertise, you will have a better website when you include expert advice. Your website is NOT an online brochure. It is a source of valuable information.

Update – Have an outdated website? Don\’t think that people that look at your website don\’t know that it is out of date. An out of date website show your market that you are too busy. If you are too busy you don\’t want any more business. Your website has to be updated frequently. Frequent means several times each month, not several times per year. The best websites are updated several time per day. Your website should be built with a CMS (Content Management System) that enables you to edit each page of your website without any programming skills. Your website should include information about what is happening at your company such as new products/services, management changes, trade shows and other trade events, press releases, how to\’s, anything and everything that would be of value to your market.

Expert – Your website makes you an expert. The great content you include in your website will position you above others, elevating you to expert level. Your prospects would rather buy from an expert than from a sales person. We tend to trust experts more than sales people. Your website should do more to position you as an expert instead of trying to be your online sales person. Include, expert advice, white papers, research results, awards, accomplishments, accolades, everything that will tell the world that you are an expert at what you do.

SEO – Search engine optimization is often misunderstood. Some people think it is about manipulating the search engines. They are wrong. SEO is about optimizing your website and always adding new and unique content to your website. SEO is more about great content than anything else. SEO also involves getting other websites link to your website. When you have great content it is a lot easier to get others to link to you than a website with boring content. Your content should include relevant keywords. As you develop your content keep in mind what keywords you are targeting.

Easy – The old way of updating your website is contacting your webmaster and ask her to make the changes. It a slow and inefficient way to update website. That is the reason most website are out of date and contain old information. A CMS website empowers you to update your website as frequently as you would like. When updating is easy it is much more likely to happen than updating the old fashioned way. If you want 100% control over your website content, you must have a CMS website.

A Marketing tool used by large companies and corporates for decades is now accessible to Small to Medium Sized Enterprises at an attractive cost thanks to the new Software available.

Over the years Direct Mail Marketing or 1:1 Marketing has been one of the main marketing tools used by large business to target prospective customers. The problem with this process is the cost largely outweighs the potential returns, The Return on Investment or ROI.

The fact is that when these brochures, leaflets, flyers, catalogues or whatever other literature were sent out (and of course this is still the case) to their target audience they were or are really exactly the same, the only difference between each is an address label stuck on the outside, looking rather unprofessional, the rest of the information is utterly and completely the same! The reason for this is that the printing is done by lithographic offset printing on huge presses which cost enormous sums of money. Therefore, in order to be cost effective, many thousands had to be printed in one print run to bring the unit cost down to an acceptable figure. That’s why it has always been too expensive for smaller companies to introduce this method of marketing with any success.

With the litho process, each colour requires a separate plate which itself is expensive and takes a large amount of labour time to set up, furthermore there is an amount of wasted prints early in the run whilst the printer attempts to get the colours to match, the alignment correct and so on. Naturally if these costs were amortised over a small amount of copies the unit cost would be horrendous.

The biggest problem with this type of mass mail marketing is the ROI is about 1% to 2% and unless those turn into substantial business, the question has to be “is it worth it?”

Fortunately, with the advent of better quality Digital Printers and speciality software, it is now possible for companies to have small runs and sample runs prior to a full-scale roll out and to individually target by business type, authority or area. Variable Data Printing Software in conjunction with Digital Printing increases the potential ROI to a very desirable 10% to 15%. Personalisation is the key. Not only can the sticky address labels be eliminated by printing names and addresses directly onto each printed item, but each can also have a different bar code, individually personalised message and even a change of graphics and the colours can now be different on each printed part.

Companies simply provide a database of names and addresses to the print company, the individual graphics are designed in the Graphic Design department and uploaded to the Rip Drive. Rip stands for Raster Image Processor and is like a print driver but more sophisticated with many enhanced features. Once all the data is uploaded, the print job is ready to go and unlike the litho process there is no need to stop to change plates or waste many copies getting the print correct, all the changes are effected on ‘the fly’ by the rip, in other words whilst the job is running.

The advantages are obvious, by targeting prospective clients with the inclusion of more relevant data and with a more professional image it is more likely the recipient will read the information they receive rather than put it straight in the bin, also the labour costs are reduced as the printer runs the job non-stop and there is no need to set up individual plates or print large volumes which are not required. This type of marketing also means that it’s trackable and the success is measurable. It allows the marketer to get the message across more directly.

This process can even be combined with sending out data on CD and DVD or other types of media by printing and personalising the card wallets, Digipaks or the paper parts in a CD Jewel case for instance.

For more information on Direct Mail Marketing using Variable Data Printing, please call 01495 243222.

\”The String\” is a social networking site similar to Facebook/ Myspace and Twitter..But with a slight twist…unlike those other social networking sites \”the string\” gives 70 percent of their advertising revenue back to their users..

So what does that mean for us!?

Well let\’s think about that for a minute…

Last year Facebook made well over 1 billion dollars in ad revenue..So.. If that was Peoplestring instead of Facebook WE as users would have shared in on 700 Million dollars of that! I can only imagine the possibilites with that kind of Payout!

So how do we get our hands on that money?

Easy.. by logging into our homepage (just like we do Facebook) And using it for what it was made for.In all reality it really doesn\’t matter what we\’re doing,whether we\’re gaming,keeping up with friends,emailing, instant messaging, using the integrated search engine to \”surf the web\”, the list goes on and on.. And what it comes down to is as long as we\’re logged in we\’re getting paid!

Think it\’s time to get with the social network that \”does\”? I know I do.

- Another great feature is their free email service, this state of the art mailer can not only send/receive email, it also has the capability to track how many times a message has been opened( great for marketing & Team member help) AND on the slight chance that an email is sent to the wrong person(which I wish I could count on one hand how many times I\’ve done that) It has the ability to recall it right out of their inbox before they even see it!

- Also for all those Shoppers out there that missed \”black friday\” they have an integrated app in the back office that says \”Cashback Shopping\” and guess what happens when you click that? That\’s right, It grants us \”unlimited access\” to the peoplestring portal that gives the user cashback for shopping online at popular stores like Macy\’s,Sears,American Eagle Outfitters,Best Buy, even ITunes!,the list is humongous!

Now that my friends, Is a social network that\”does\”!

So how much does this really cost?

- It\’s 100 % FREE!

- NO upfront/backdoor fees

- NO enter your credit card here (unless you go for an entrepreneur package).

This is a zero out of pocket opportunity folks!

Its easy as 1-2-3!, just choose which account you would like to create,fill in the boxes,confirm it all and that\’s it!

It\’s a \”No-brainer\”!

Feel free to email me, and I will give you my personal exclusive guide,a step-by-step program, on how I took peoplestring by the horns and continue to make money by doing the things I normally do

like…

- checking email

- keeping in touch with friends

- surfing the web

- playing games (like mafia and farmville)

- going to the mailbox (yes at home)

- cashback shopping (just in time for christmas)

- and last but not least helping others do the same.

So listen up!

whether its promoting a business, playing games,\”venting\”with friends,making new friends,or just cruising the internet… stop letting those \”do not\” websites like Facebook/Myspace and Twitter make money off of us!

Besides,Isn\’t it time we shared in on the advertising revenue of these \”Corporate\” social networking sites?

Or did they forget we\’re the ones that made Them?

Here is the fundamental premise on which all marketing is based:

If the consumer isn’t aware that you exist, you can’t sell your product.

When encountering a prospect on the showroom floor or at a trade show, in every case, he or she was “delivered” to that critical point by an awareness of you; whether through an advertisement, a referral or, in the trade show circumstance, merely because you were there.

What takes place at that point is two-way communication (you standing face to face with the prospect, closing the sale). Though your degree of success will be determined by your persuasiveness, product, knowledge, price, etc., something that happened before that gave you the opportunity: a prospect had to be delivered.

At our marketing agency in Phoenix, we have learned – and base much of what we do on – this lesson: In today’s highly competitive marketplace, real success is largely a numbers game. To survive, let alone be a leader in your category, you have to close many sales. In order to do so, you have to have ample numbers of prospects with which to work. This applies whether you are a product or a service, large or small, with a reach that is local regional or national in scope.

Here’s the key point that most marketing, advertising and public relations professionals have learned over the course of the past several months, if, indeed, they didn’t know it previously: developing adequate numbers of prospects cannot be accomplished through two-way communication, either face to face, by phone, the mail or, even, the Internet. Neither you nor your sales staff has anywhere near the time necessary for this crucial function. We have had to talk long and hard, and demonstrate meaningful results to convince many of our clients of this. That because they long have been oriented to a sales force driven model, and sometimes have a difficult time learning “new” and more efficient ways of cost effective customer contact.

Prominent publisher McGraw Hill & Co. has estimated that the average sales call requires approximately 45 minutes, and that an average of three calls is required to close a sale. Surely, it’s no way to prospect.

Prospecting is what marketing  the one-way communication element of sales  is ideally suited for. Expensive, time-consuming two-way communication simply isn’t necessary, nor is it efficient in developing prospects in the numbers sufficient for business success. Marketing communication, in one form or another, is the answer.

Most anti-marketing hard-liners got that way because they, at some point, were turned off by poor marketing efforts that failed to produce results. This is understandable, because much marketing is misguided or misplaced  but it is not justifiable, and, more than likely, will be hazardous to bottom-line business health.

Is marketing foolproof? Will it always produce infallible, guaranteed results? No it won’t, nor is it fair to expect it to (after all, what does?). But it is more science than art, and, as such, has something very important on its side: LOGIC. Marketing is measurable, quite often yielding predictable results, and as practiced by good professionals, should  and most often does  more than pay for itself.

If you are interested in making money online you cannot do so without first of all attracting a suitable level of traffic to your website. As there are now more than one hundred million web pages live on the net, the difficulty of acquiring a high visitor level is great. There are a number of concepts you could try out that should boost your site\’s presence. By learning about the benefits of article marketing you may discover that this is the option best for you.

Article marketing is a concept whereby articles that contain relevant or related information to your website are posted in directories. These then have back links to your site so that interested viewers can be directed your way. It sounds like a simple concept and it is, but it is also one that offers huge potential.

An important consideration in any marketing campaign is the cost. If you were to use traditional mediums for marketing, such as TV and newsprint, you may find that the expense that would be incurred is prohibitive. With article marketing there would be no issue. Most online directories allow you to submit information free of charge.

Any expert in internet marketing would know that the key is often the search engines. When most of us go online it is the search engines that are our first point of call, in fact millions of us set the homepage on our browsers as or favorite search engine.

If you submit information to an article directory, the web page is likely to receive a high placement in all the popular search engines. This is because the way the directories are set up suits most search-bots. Before you know it you can by receiving a huge amount of redirected traffic.

Another important factor is that you can submit information to an article directory three hundred and sixty five days of the year and twenty four hours a day. You do not need to wait for suitable business hours. This flexibility is an important benefit as you can choose a conveniently time to put together and upload your information.

Links are the arteries of the online world. They take web surfers from one page to another. The more links you have on the net, the greater amount of traffic that will be directed to your site. If you compose interesting articles you may find that other website owners would be interested in using the information on their sites and blogs. By increasing the number of links to your pages you can quickly increase your online visibility.

A lot of people go online in search of information and advice. If you put together articles that are helpful then these will attract a lot of information. You may not feel like placing \”how to\” lists on your own web pages, by adding such information to an online directory you can catch the interest of surfers who can then be directed to your own site and turned into paying customers.