Banner ads aren't the only way to advertise online; take advantage with these affordable alternatives.
By Lydia Dishman
The first question you must answer before launching an advertising campaign for a new business, product or service is: "Who is my audience?" Once you determine your ideal customer, you can go on to produce successful, targeted ads.
Social networking as an advertising tool is a new trend, but it’s expected to represent more than 20 percent of advertising overall by 2014, according to recent studies. And Twitter is poised to lead the pack.
"Most advertisers are interested in reaching more prospects, especially new audiences, and getting direct return on investment," Brian Carter, founder of TweetROI says. "Twitter is a new place to [do that]. People are already talking about all kinds of things on Twitter--people who need what small businesses offer.
"TweetROI is one of a small but growing group of emerging platforms that leverage Twitter as a low-cost medium for companies to place ads that reach very specific targets. Basically, a business buys into the service and offers a cash incentive to those who tweet its ads. Each platform has unique features and benefits, so it's up to entrepreneurs to decide which suits their business best.
Carter believes social media has the potential not only to help entrepreneurs target consumers more effectively, but also to bring in bigger returns by taking a larger bite out of that web-based pie.
TweetROI
Businesses send TweetROI their suggested text and a link, then choose campaign settings such as how much they will pay per tweet, a maximum number of tweets, how often they can go out and how long the campaign will run. There’s a function for advanced bidding that allows businesses to pay more or less depending on the tweeter's influence and viral potential. According to TweetROI's website, Twitter users recommend stuff they like in their own words.
"Businesses should both build their own Twitter accounts and advertise via pay-per-tweet,” Carter says, noting businesses can expect a faster ROI from their TweetROI investment than their social media labor hours.
"Pay-per-tweet is cheap compared to existing online advertising channels." Carter says. "TweetROI averages $3 per tweet and its average cost per click comes out to about 50 cents." He recommends that small businesses start with $500 a month to test the service. "It's critical that sufficient web analytics are in place to measure the conversions and revenue that come from pay-per-tweet," he adds.
adCause
Founded by Andy Arnott, a startup veteran, this service is designed to appeal to users who want to make money on Twitter and share that money with causes they are passionate about while promoting socially conscious advertising. AdCause allows both tweeters and businesses to suggest charities and to make donations directly to charities through PayPal.
Businesses that want to advertise can match their ads to tweeters by searching by name, location or number of followers. Tweeters control which ads appear; if they select a network option, only businesses that match their subject matter will display. Then it's click to purchase via PayPal, or to negotiate a better deal. The message will automatically appear on the Twitter stream of the chosen person when the transaction is completed. Campaigns start as low as $1, but Arnott suggests an initial investment of $100 to test the waters.
Sponsored Tweets
Brainchild of Ted Murphy, CEO and founder of IZEA, Sponsored Tweets lets companies see the potential impact of each tweeter by offering a graded profile based on the tweeter's number of followers and how often that tweeter engages in conversation. The service also allows tweeters to manually select companies whose ads are most relevant to their personal preferences. Though Sponsored Tweets gives businesses a how-to for suggesting content, tweeters are free to write the content themselves.
Murphy, like Carter and Arnott, recommends starting a campaign with a few hundred dollars--Sponsored Tweets start at 50 cents to $1 CPC. "Remember, it's not all about clicks," Murphy says, "Engage a broad range of people with large and small audiences. Pick the best performers and re-engage those people in future campaigns."
The service is also appropriate for building buzz, Murphy says, adding "I would use the tool to build followers and anticipation prior to launch."
Twitter offers a kind of word-of-mouth marketing that works, Arnott says. "It's a perfect fit for companies looking to form a lasting relationship with their customers. By engaging users with relevant ads, companies are not only building their brand but engaging their customers in a relevant dialog."
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Increase Your Startup's Online Visibility
By Scott Gerber, Young Entrepreneur
The web is the great equalizer in business. Resources aside, every day, billion-dollar businesses and startups compete on an even playing field for internet exposure. To the victor go the spoils: top rankings on major search engines that can skyrocket a business’s revenue into the stratosphere.
The key to a successful search engine optimization campaign is to create a unique language that captures the attention of consumers and becomes synonymous with your brand name. Owning a brand language means that every time prospective customers type your keywords and phrases into a search engine, your site--as well as other websites and media that support your website and its offerings--is the first result they see.
Begin by identifying keywords and phrases that are highly relevant to your product or service. Entrepreneur offers a keyword search tool, and there are other sites such as Network Solutions or Google AdWords to assist you in narrowing down your verbiage. In the early stages of your SEO campaign, your brand language should consist of no more than two or three keywords or phrases. Likewise, it is important to make certain your brand language is uniquely yours so you can "own" it. As an example, an environmentally friendly carwash business may never be able to own the words "car wash" due to the sheer number of car washes in the world, but it may be able to own the phrase "eco-friendly car wash."
Once you've selected your main keywords and phrases, incorporate your brand language into your company tagline, a one-sentence company description and one-paragraph company bio. Along with your individual keywords and phrases, this content will serve as the primary media you will utilize for your SEO campaign.
After you have completed your brand language content, it’s time to distribute your keywords and phrases to specific internet channels. This tactic will increase the number of links driving traffic back to your site and increase the amount of real estate that you control on the web--effectively building your site’s visibility on search engines. Here are five ways to use your brand language to dramatically improve the efficacy of your search engine optimization efforts.
Optimize your website
Making your website search engine friendly is vital to improving your online visibility. Search engine optimization entails placing your brand language in specific areas on your site. For starters, you’ll need a website header title no more than 70-80 characters and a site description no more than 200 characters. Both the title and the description need to include all of your brand language. Additionally, be sure each of your keywords and phrases is included in your site’s meta tags and body text, but be careful not to overuse them. Only use each keyword once in your title, description and meta tags; twice in the site’s main body text is sufficient. Overuse may cause some search engines to define your site as spam, resulting in a lowered site or page ranking. You may also want to consider using online services such as Web.com or hiring a reputable SEO firm or consultant to help improve SEO efficacy. Should you decide to use a firm or consultant, avoid anyone who "guarantees" he can get your site to the No. 1 position on Google’s organic search. He'll probably also have a bridge to sell you.
Distribute optimized press releases
Distributing and posting press releases online monthly will create a large number of link-backs to your site, which steadily increases your visibility and site ranking. When composing your press releases, include your keywords and phrases once or--at most--twice within the body text of the release. Once you lock your copy, hyperlink each of your keywords and phrases to link back to your site. In some cases, press release distribution services, such as PR Web, will have you create hyperlinks using their proprietary software. For all other cases, click here to see how to write a simple hyperlink html code. To avoid your releases being read as spam by search engines, only hyperlink one keyword or phrase per 100 characters. Once your release is completed, use wire services such as PR Web and Business Wire to distribute your release to hundreds of sites and journalists. There are also a plethora of free posting sites you can use to increase exposure.
Create social media channels
Social media sites offer your brand the chance to control hundreds of pages of prime real estate on the internet; many of which have high site rankings and lend credibility to your site in the eyes of search engines. Populate your social media profiles with your company tagline, bio and website URL. Tag all image, video and media files that you upload to these sites with your keywords and phrases. Include elements of your brand language in status updates and posts, and utilize free services such as Ping.fm to syndicate your content.
Commenting on blogs and forums
Commenting and blogging on relevant industry threads, websites and forums is another way to create valuable link-backs to your site. Make a list of the top blogs and online sites in your industry. In some instances, you may be able to offer your services as a guest blogger, which would allow you to include your company credentials and brand language in guest posts. For all other sites on your list, comment and respond regularly to posts made by site content providers with relevant advice that incorporates your brand language and website URL. Avoid self-promotion or spam messaging. Whenever you register a user account, use one of your keywords or phrases as your username and include your website URL. In many cases, usernames become hyperlinks when your comments go live.
Produce a viral-ready newsletter
Newsletters that offer valuable content have the ability to exponentially increase a site’s exposure in search engines. Every time you create a newsletter, share it on various social-bookmarking sites to increase exposure. Enable users to easily share the content as well by integrating social media tools such as ShareThis and Tweetmeme or social-bookmarking tools such as Digg and Delicious into your newsletter template. Since social-bookmarking sites and other social media sharing tools will pull the title of your newsletter onto their sites, make sure to always include your brand language in the newsletter’s title.
The web is the great equalizer in business. Resources aside, every day, billion-dollar businesses and startups compete on an even playing field for internet exposure. To the victor go the spoils: top rankings on major search engines that can skyrocket a business’s revenue into the stratosphere.
The key to a successful search engine optimization campaign is to create a unique language that captures the attention of consumers and becomes synonymous with your brand name. Owning a brand language means that every time prospective customers type your keywords and phrases into a search engine, your site--as well as other websites and media that support your website and its offerings--is the first result they see.
Begin by identifying keywords and phrases that are highly relevant to your product or service. Entrepreneur offers a keyword search tool, and there are other sites such as Network Solutions or Google AdWords to assist you in narrowing down your verbiage. In the early stages of your SEO campaign, your brand language should consist of no more than two or three keywords or phrases. Likewise, it is important to make certain your brand language is uniquely yours so you can "own" it. As an example, an environmentally friendly carwash business may never be able to own the words "car wash" due to the sheer number of car washes in the world, but it may be able to own the phrase "eco-friendly car wash."
Once you've selected your main keywords and phrases, incorporate your brand language into your company tagline, a one-sentence company description and one-paragraph company bio. Along with your individual keywords and phrases, this content will serve as the primary media you will utilize for your SEO campaign.
After you have completed your brand language content, it’s time to distribute your keywords and phrases to specific internet channels. This tactic will increase the number of links driving traffic back to your site and increase the amount of real estate that you control on the web--effectively building your site’s visibility on search engines. Here are five ways to use your brand language to dramatically improve the efficacy of your search engine optimization efforts.
Optimize your website
Making your website search engine friendly is vital to improving your online visibility. Search engine optimization entails placing your brand language in specific areas on your site. For starters, you’ll need a website header title no more than 70-80 characters and a site description no more than 200 characters. Both the title and the description need to include all of your brand language. Additionally, be sure each of your keywords and phrases is included in your site’s meta tags and body text, but be careful not to overuse them. Only use each keyword once in your title, description and meta tags; twice in the site’s main body text is sufficient. Overuse may cause some search engines to define your site as spam, resulting in a lowered site or page ranking. You may also want to consider using online services such as Web.com or hiring a reputable SEO firm or consultant to help improve SEO efficacy. Should you decide to use a firm or consultant, avoid anyone who "guarantees" he can get your site to the No. 1 position on Google’s organic search. He'll probably also have a bridge to sell you.
Distribute optimized press releases
Distributing and posting press releases online monthly will create a large number of link-backs to your site, which steadily increases your visibility and site ranking. When composing your press releases, include your keywords and phrases once or--at most--twice within the body text of the release. Once you lock your copy, hyperlink each of your keywords and phrases to link back to your site. In some cases, press release distribution services, such as PR Web, will have you create hyperlinks using their proprietary software. For all other cases, click here to see how to write a simple hyperlink html code. To avoid your releases being read as spam by search engines, only hyperlink one keyword or phrase per 100 characters. Once your release is completed, use wire services such as PR Web and Business Wire to distribute your release to hundreds of sites and journalists. There are also a plethora of free posting sites you can use to increase exposure.
Create social media channels
Social media sites offer your brand the chance to control hundreds of pages of prime real estate on the internet; many of which have high site rankings and lend credibility to your site in the eyes of search engines. Populate your social media profiles with your company tagline, bio and website URL. Tag all image, video and media files that you upload to these sites with your keywords and phrases. Include elements of your brand language in status updates and posts, and utilize free services such as Ping.fm to syndicate your content.
Commenting on blogs and forums
Commenting and blogging on relevant industry threads, websites and forums is another way to create valuable link-backs to your site. Make a list of the top blogs and online sites in your industry. In some instances, you may be able to offer your services as a guest blogger, which would allow you to include your company credentials and brand language in guest posts. For all other sites on your list, comment and respond regularly to posts made by site content providers with relevant advice that incorporates your brand language and website URL. Avoid self-promotion or spam messaging. Whenever you register a user account, use one of your keywords or phrases as your username and include your website URL. In many cases, usernames become hyperlinks when your comments go live.
Produce a viral-ready newsletter
Newsletters that offer valuable content have the ability to exponentially increase a site’s exposure in search engines. Every time you create a newsletter, share it on various social-bookmarking sites to increase exposure. Enable users to easily share the content as well by integrating social media tools such as ShareThis and Tweetmeme or social-bookmarking tools such as Digg and Delicious into your newsletter template. Since social-bookmarking sites and other social media sharing tools will pull the title of your newsletter onto their sites, make sure to always include your brand language in the newsletter’s title.
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