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Tag: "prospects"

Five Ways You Can Use Facebook to Build Your Business

| September 10, 2009

Facebook first rose to popularity as a way to connect with old friends, new friends and other people’s friends. In response to the younger generation’s mania with MySpace, Facebook rose up as a spot for a slightly older crowd. Many people still consider Facebook to be strictly a friend-based website purely used for social purposes. It still fills that purpose well, but Facebook can be a very useful tool to help build your business.

Five Ways You Can Use Facebook to Build Your Business

1. Facebook Pages – Facebook pages are special pages for businesses. When you create a Facebook page, you use it to brand your business. Upload your logo, photos, applications and other information connected to your company. Everything you post on your Facebook Page will automatically post on the Mini-Feed on your profile page as well, giving you extra exposure. In addition, people can become a “fan” of your Facebook Page, which shows on their own home page, so it extends your visibility.

2. Groups – Another Facebook feature useful for advertising your business is the “Groups” feature. Groups are not built around an individual business, but instead are a touch point for likeminded people and businesses to connect on issues related to their interest or industry.

3. Polls – A great way to market your business is to feature your excellent customer service. By showing your customers and prospects you are interested in their opinions and needs, you prove to them they are important to you, which builds trust. Facebook lets you conduct polls so you can ask people what they want from you. You can gather information about demographics through Facebook polls as well, allowing you to define your target market for more effective marketing.

4. Facebook Connect – Facebook’s newest application is particularly well suited to marketing your business through Facebook. With Facebook Connect, you can integrate your website directly with Facebook.  This allows your website users to authenticate with their Facebook credentials so they can find friends who are also on your site and publish information from your site to their Facebook feed. As all of their friends see it, your networking marketing reach is extending.

5. Facebook Applications – Facebook is known for its applications that add versatile and fun ways for users to interact with each other. You can use Facebook applications on your Facebook Pages to offer your visitors widgets and doo-dads tying into your business or your target market. For example, if your target market is men between 25 and 25, there are applications pertaining to NFL and other sports teams so your page visitors can check in on the latest stats and news of your local team. If your target market is WAHMs, then perhaps the Circle of Mom’s application would work well on your Page.

The number of software developers creating new applications for Facebook increases daily, so you are certain to find one perfect for your business. By providing an appropriate application to your business page, you encourage your friends to visit often and stay longer when they do stop, which increases your brand awareness and can lead to more website traffic.

It’s clear Facebook has evolved a great deal from its purely social beginnings into a strong business networking tool on one of the top rungs of the social media ladder. Open your business to all of your friends – and their friends – and theirs! This method of promoting and marketing your business will draw more visitors to your website on a regular basis for no cost. Go ahead – put a face on your business with Facebook.

What Is Viral Marketing And How Does It Benefit Internet Marketers?

| August 5, 2009

41The practice of viral marketing can be very useful to internet marketers. Viral marketing consists of giving away free products or services along with your original ad copy such as links, contact information, and mailing list.

In return, those who receive your free products can pass it along to their own customers and prospects. Viral marketing is a great way to advertise for free and without a lot of effort on your part.

Internet marketers should be aware of the value of viral marketing. The ability to advertise your products to a large audience is of great value to you. You can increase your sales and traffic to your web site through the sharing of free information.

Some of the more effective methods of viral marketing are:

Ebooks.

You can share your free ebook with all who visit your web site. You should include an advertisement for your most profitable product and links to your web site. Make sure to inform those who receive your free ebook that they are free to share it with their own customers and contacts.

Software.

You can offer a free trial version of your software to your web site visitors. As with the ebook, include links to your site and your contact information. State plainly on your web site that all those who receive it can share the software freely.

Free web hosting.

You can provide free hosting on your server to small businesses or beginning internet marketers. In return, place a banner ad at the top of each site advertising your products and web site. This is a very effective means of advertising your site with little expense. The potential increase in the number of visitors to your web site is worth your efforts.

Templates.

You can design your own web site templates, including your own contact information in the design, and offer them as free downloads. Make sure to expressly grant permission for them to be shared with others.

Content.

You can provide original content about your particular area of expertise. Include your contact information and web site in the text and allow others to publish it as long as they keep your information intact. As this information is shared and published by others you will attract more traffic to your web site.

Discussion boards.

Setting up a discussion board or forum with your banner ad attached is an excellent means of advertising. Invite your web site visitors to join your discussion board and make it available to the public.

Internet marketers should make themselves aware of all means of free advertising. The more you spread the word about your products and services, the more traffic you will draw to your web site.

Internet marketing is extremely competitive and you should use all the avenues that are available to you in advertising your web site and products. Experiment with the various ways of viral marketing until you find the ones that work best for you. Increased visibility means more traffic to your web site and more traffic will translate in to higher sales.

Successful internet marketers not only provide valuable products and services, they use any means possible to advertise to as many people as possible. The success of your business rests on your ability to promote your web site.

Article Marketing Your Way to Business Growth

| April 20, 2009

We’ve heard it said time and again in the world of marketing on the Internet – content is king. What does that really mean, however? Simple, by providing great content or information, you are establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. Content does more than just fill your website and blog pages, however. Do you know how do you use content to market your business for no out of pocket cost?

One of the fastest and easiest ways to use content to promote your business is through article marketing. Article marketing is the technique of writing articles about your business, products or services and then submitting them to article directories on the Internet.

Article directories are websites that gather together vast amounts of free articles on every topic under the sun and then allow others to publish those articles on their websites, blogs, in emails and newsletters. Article directories provide valuable services to business owners. By having fresh content to use and publish, business owners can quickly and easily provide information to their clients and prospects.

So how does article marketing help you promote or advertise your business?

• Every article submitted to an article directory includes an author’s bio information at the end in the resource box. The resource box gives the author the opportunity to tell the reader a bit about who they are and what they do. It will also provide the opportunity to include a link or two back to your website.

When someone chooses to publish your article from an article directory, they must also publish the resource box with your author’s bio information. As a result, every time someone reads your article, no matter where they find it, it will include an instant “mini-ad” about your business as well as a direct link to your site.

Once the reader clicks through to your site, you have the opportunity then to capture their email address through an autoresponder for a newsletter or mailing list. Once you have their email, you can begin to build a relationship with your prospect and eventually turn them into a customer.

• The other thing article marketing can do to promote your business is establish you as an expert in your field. People want to purchase products and services from an educated and informed business. By writing and publishing well-written articles offering useful, informative, accurate information, you let your prospects know you have a level of expertise in your industry. They will learn you are up-to-date on the new and trending information in your business. You can show them how your business product or service solves their problem.

Try writing articles about your industry, services and products to see how you can use article marketing to advertise, promote and market your business for no cost. Write and submit articles to the directories on a regular basis and watch how your website visitors multiply. Once you get people to your site and capture their contact information, you are in the perfect position to turn them into new paying customers.