It’s amazing to see that companies still don’t “get it” when it comes to customer retention. It’s tough enough to get people interested in your product or service and to get them to visit your site. More than 50% of commercial websites do not include a way for visitors to provide their simple contact details to enable them to keep in touch. In our Internet marketing age this should be job one.

Many people seem to think that a site visitor will return at some stage in the future should he or she not opt to buy your product or service at first glance. This is most often not the case and it is very important for you to capture their contact details right away. Through the use of a simple “opt in” box, you can get their permission to keep in touch via e-mail.

Once you have an e-mail address for a potential client this is where the fun begins. If you go about this the right way you can create a lasting bond between the customer and your contact. Many people refer to this as an “emotional” bond and it is one of the great things about e-mail marketing. Develop a relationship with your prospects and there’s a very good chance that they will turn into a client, and a repeat one.

When you are developing an e-mail campaign in this way make sure that you remember some fundamental requirements. Rule number one is to always make sure that the e-mail contains information, some tips, tricks, how-to’s, case studies, free stuff. You must come across as being the provider of valuable information and must not come across as somebody who is simply trying to sell.

Studies have shown that you stand a far better chance of “reaching” into the psyche of your potential client by being personal and not by being too corporate. If you try and share a little bit about yourself or your company and show the personal side, including pictures every now and again, then you will find that your prospect will be able to relate a little bit more. Don’t forget, that over a period of time you are developing a social relationship of kinds with your prospect.

Remember also that we live in the viral age. You can turn your prospect into a client and your client into an advocate for your products or services. Make sure that you use the power of social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter and over time you will find that your happy clients will be more than pleased to put in a good word for you and create valuable social proof for your business.

Are you keeping in touch with your customers by email?

Matthew Toren

People are being bombarded with marketing messages, from the time they get up in the morning and switch on the radio or TV, to the time that they venture out into the real world, to the time that they eat their TV dinner before crashing for the night. As an entrepreneur, you had better make sure that you have a message that people want to hear, with the ability to crash through all the other “noise”.

You might have a great product or service, one that you fully believe in, with all your heart. Your challenge is to create a marketing campaign around that product or service which causes everyone to sit up and take notice. You need to try and create social acceptance and viral buzz.

One of the first things that you have to bear in mind is that creativity does not have to be expensive. Some canny marketers make sure that they send out their direct mail message in an envelope containing an unusually-shaped gizmo. It doesn’t really matter what the object is, but the very shape of the package will cause the recipient to pay attention and open it.

One of the most important things to bear in mind is that you need to connect with your audience, in the right place and at the right time. Think about your product or service and the message that you want to portray and work out when and where you should communicate. Create an “ah-ha!” moment for them.

As you know, the Internet is your best friend. Get active. As a marketer, you can use the wonders of Facebook and Twitter to begin fan pages and create conversations. Always make sure that you provide great value and never hard-sell. Commence conversations with people of influence. Look for extroverts who use or would be interested in using your product or service and interact with them to tap their influence within the community.

Make sure that your product or service is socially acceptable and “cool”. Both your product and your message need to be realistic and beneficial. You stand the best chance of creating a viral buzz if you are seen as creative, giving, relevant, adventurous and trustworthy.

Make sure that your product or service can be transmitted or transferred to your prospect with little or no effort. You should also ensure that you can scale up your enterprise accordingly. There seems little point in trying to create a viral buzz if your infrastructure is not ready to handle the consequences!

Remember, that creating a marketing buzz takes some ingenuity and innovation. Above all else make sure that your message is authentic, as consumers will see right through this otherwise and you can create more damage than goodwill. Use the power of the Internet, wisely!

Leave a comment and tell us how you created a marketing campaign that everyone is talking about.

Matthew Toren

Word-of-mouth is certainly the best form of marketing available. In a recent study by the authority site emarketer.com, it was shown that fully 53% of online traffic comes from word-of-mouth – recommendations and referrals made by others.

The growth of the Internet has certainly enhanced the potential for positive results from word-of-mouth referrals. News used to take a lot longer to spread when the telephone was the most effective means of communication. News can now travel at lightning speeds through the many forms of e-mail, instant messaging, SMS text messaging and the Web 2.0 children – Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

Nowadays, in Internet marketing terms, it is relatively easy to prompt people for a recommendation. “Tell a friend” scripts are easy to promote and these messages stand a great chance of reaching their proposed recipients, due to the fact that they are coming from a trusted friend or acquaintance. Recognizable e-mail addresses normally sail past those pesky spam filters.

There are many ways to generate valuable online publicity through the use of press release services. You should have a clear strategy, defined and regular, and strive to incorporate different tactics. A series of written press releases should aim to show your product or service as relevant and “hot”. Create a buzz around your product. Inject some controversy and color and always aim to establish yourself as a credible expert in your niche.

One of the beauties of the Internet as we know it today is its ability to provide viral exposure. Whilst aiming to brand yourself as the credible expert, consider giving something of value away for free. Make sure that you research this well, however, so that your intended audience feels that you truly are giving away something of value and that this is not just your opinion!

Find out what value and what kind of information your target audience is looking for. Are they looking for inspiration, or simply a lighthearted message of some kind? Use the many Internet distribution channels to provide something of perceived value at little or no cost. Never employ the hard sell – but do make sure that you include subtle links so that interested people can find you.
In all your Internet Marketing Initiatives, aim for viral exposure and attract valuable word-of-mouth recommendations.

What do you think of Tell a Friend forms? Do you use this method of referrals?

Matthew Toren

Books have been written about it. And I mean big, thick books… Pay-per-click marketing, as best perfected by our Californian friends at Google, is touted as one of the most effective forms of online advertising. It’s quite a simple model really – advertisers show their highly targeted messages to potential consumers and pay a fee to the service provider only when a consumer clicks on their ad and goes through to their website. The ads are displayed if they are relevant to the search term, or keywords, entered by the searcher. Simple, really, and highly profitable to the Googles of this world.

Depending on the competitiveness of the niche, advertisers can pay as little as five cents per click up to more than 40 or $50 per click, such as in the case of certain personal injury attorneys. Pay per click marketing is itself marketed as a perfect form of advertising, yet it is pretty complex and takes a good bit of understanding on the part of the advertiser.

There are a number of things to remember when it comes to successful pay per click marketing. Essentially, you must make sure that your ad is correctly put together and is part of a well thought-out campaign. It is not enough to come up with an ad and expect to get the best rates, the best position, or the best display to click ratio. As far as Google’s Adwords is concerned, for example, the position that you achieve on the page of search engine results is based on the click through rate of your advert, and not just the bid price. The higher the CTR of your advert, the better position you will achieve, for the lower bid price.

You must make sure that your ad copy is very well thought out. First of all, you will need to make sure that your search phrase or keyword is as targeted as possible — the ubiquitous long tail — otherwise you will pay very highly and get few qualified results. Your ad copy’s title should be highly relevant and ideally contain your keyword. Not only will your viewers think this is more relevant, but the Googles of the world who are in the business of assigning a much maligned “quality score” to your campaign, will think so too.

Make sure that the page your ad points to, for click through purposes, is also highly relevant and matched to your keywords in the content of your ad. Otherwise you will get a penalty and your quality score will suffer, meaning that your ad will not show as highly on the page, and/or your cost per click will be higher.

Always track the success of a pay per click campaign, and test, test, test. Use a large number of targeted key words and be sure to track which ones are effective. Get rid of those that are not, as soon as you possibly can.

In short, pay per click marketing can be highly effective, but it requires a lot or preparation and attention during the running of the campaign!

Do you have any other tips on Pay Per Click Marketing?

Adam Toren

While getting traffic to your website is important, the most essential goal is turning that traffic into sales. If visitors are not buying your products or service, then it’s time to evaluate your website. There may be some roadblocks on your site that might be preventing visitors from becoming customers. Review these 6 essentials that a website sales page must have to ensure that it is positioned for profitability.

1. Less clicks.

How many times does a visitor need to click through your website to get to the product page? The less navigation tabs, the easier it is to land the sale because there are fewer distractions to take away from the viewer’s focus.

2. Convincing sales page.

Your sales page needs to be persuading in a concise fashion. Create a headline that will attract attention and encourage further reading. The copy that follows should show how your product or service will meet the customer’s needs. Illustrate why a visitor should buy from you rather than the thousands of others online offering similar products or services. Keep the tone causal and conversational. Use words that spark emotions and, where applicable, compare benefits to results. The sales page is where you need to establish trust and credibility with the visitor and show why you are far superior to all the rest.

3. Provide testimonials.

Testimonials from actual customers praising your product and service carry much more credibility than words in your sales copy. These testimonials can be either audio or visual, but it is essential that they are on the sales page and contain the customer’s name, hometown and photo in order for them to carry any persuasive weight.

4. Add a bio to the sales page.

Even if you have an About Us page, the goal is to prevent the visitor from having to navigate around the website by putting all the resources they need to make the buying decision on the sale page.

5. Bring value to your product or service.

People have no problem buying something if they know it’s a good value for their money. Your offer should be something that’s hard to refuse. Offer an incentive, such as a bonus or price break, for ordering during their visit. It’s also important, especially for entrepreneurs offering a service, to show how the purchase they are making is an important investment to them.

6. Have a strong call to action.

Your final step to landing the sale is to provide peace of mind. Offer a guarantee so the buyer is secured in knowing that there is no risk involved in buying your product or service.

Once you have the basic essentials on your sales page for converting website visitors into customers, you can begin enhancing your sales page to address any other strategies necessary to making the sale.

Do you have other sales tips to add? Leave a comment to share with others how you turn visitors to your website into customers.

Adam Toren

Based on the habits of online visitors to a website, many company websites are in for a makeover. It used to be that businesses would put all their resources into their Home Page, applying all the bells and whistles necessary to make it look professional and draw in customers. But as we continue to track online usage, we’re finding that what’s inside a website is as equally important as its welcoming page.

Content that has solid search engine optimization (SEO) is what makes every visit count. Having a pretty Home Page does nothing for profits if visitors have to work hard to reach your revenue-generating pages. Consider that when people use search engines to find a particular product, service, or information, they are searching on a specific word or topic. Search engines return results that link them directly to the corresponding page. If your SEO is not targeted to be among the results, then you will have a much lower conversion rate than your competition. In business terms, that means less customers are finding you.

With a business website, the goal is to be ranked high on search engine results. The way to get there is through outstanding SEO website content. So how can you improve your website content? Here are three essential SEO boosters your website should have.

1. Keyword is the Word.

It’s clear that doing business on the Web is here to stay, but if companies want to get a foot up on the competition, they need to redesign their websites with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO). Your website coding needs to be heavy on keywords and keyword phrases that people would most likely use to find your product or service. Incorporate these keywords into product descriptions, content about the company and other sections within your site.

2. Spread the News.

Adding real time news feed articles to your website is one of the more effective ways to attract a greater number of global search users. By publishing a constant stream of news articles about your industry, you can enhance your online presence and increase traffic to the revenue generating areas of your website. It’s also a way to keep your site fresh with new information to encourage visitors to return on a regular basis. The amount of returning traffic is another important factor when trying to attain high search engine rankings.

3. Get Blogging.

When you create dialogue, you engage an audience. Adding a blog to your site and regularly updating it with news, important information and interesting facts creates a dynamic opportunity for visitors to post their feedback and point of view. It’s an ideal way to achieve SEO success because each post and comment is viewed by search engines as unique content that is added to its search results.

When it comes to using search engines to increase traffic to your website, SEO should be at the forefront of your online marketing strategy. With good, thought provoking, keyword rich content you’re sure to realize valuable benefits to your online revenue. Take a few minutes to evaluate your current website in terms of its keywords, links and other features that promote SEO.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are enhancing your business website in order to obtain higher search engine rankings.

Adam Toren

I’m going back and forth about the concept of advertising on Twitter posts. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, it’s a good advertising vehicle and a good way to make some extra money. But there is a bit of apprehension because you wonder if you’re selling your relatives, friends and business associates short. Will they continue to follow your tweets if they know you’re making money from your posts? It’s something to consider as we explore REVTWT.com (formerly TWTAD.com) and TWITTAD.com, the two major providers of Twitter advertising programs.

While Twitter itself doesn’t offer a formal advertising program, there are two social media networks that are built off Twitter’s open API. Both advertising programs provide opportunities to profit from tweets and each offers entrepreneurs a cost-effective means of advertising on one of the most popular Internet and mobile phone applications.

REVTWT.com bills itself as the “largest social conversation ad network.” It has two components. The first are advertising links added to the end of a post. Tweeters register their Twitter account to receive advertising links. Each time someone clicks on the link, the poster earns money.

The second component is directed towards businesses. You can post an ad at a cost of five cents per click. To date, Revtwt.com has over 3 million Twitter users, providing an attractive advertising platform at a pay per view method.

TWITTAD.com promotes itself as a social media affinity network. Its approach differs greatly from Revtwt.com. With Twittad.com, the ad program is more focused in pairing advertisers with Twitter users. Rather than assigning ad links to Twitter users, Twittad.com enables advertisers to pick and choose which Twitter accounts to purchase for advertising. However, Twitter users can set their own price and are given the option to decline the advertiser’s purchase.

A new addition to Twittad.com is its Opt-In to Advertiser Campaign. It’s a searchable component where entrepreneurs with a Twitter profile can peruse advertisers’ campaigns and get paid to advertise something that interests them or complements their business. Think of it as Twitter networking!

A number of entrepreneurs are already realizing success with advertising programs on Twitter. The types of business promotions that have used Twitter accounts include the launch of an Internet business podcast, new features to a website, the unveiling of an online contest and program startups.

Advertising programs using Twitter accounts offer a number of benefits. They target the demographic you are seeking and bring your message to followers who are already engaged in the type of product or service you are offering. This type of targeted marketing for the reasonable price can certainly prove effective for many businesses.

Advertising in the digital social age is very much different from traditional advertising. Like the technology itself, ad results are instant and target driven. What will be interesting to see is how businesses will use Twitter advertising programs in conjunction with traditional forms of marketing and advertising.

We’re interested in hearing your thoughts. Leave us your comments about this ‘new age’ advertising concept.

Adam Toren

Many of us are enjoying the real time benefits of Twitter and the instant contact and feedback it provides. The advantages to technology like Twitter continue to be realized everyday. For instance, while tweeting is fun and puts you in touch with the latest news and information around the world, retweeting holds many profitable benefits for individuals and businesses with websites or blogs.

Retweeting is simply forwarding a tweet from another user’s Twitter account. For example, if you just read some celebrity gossip on someone’s Twitter account and want to pass it along to the followers on your Twitter account, you use a retweet button to instantly send the posting to your followers.

To make the most of your website or blog, add a retweet button to incorporate them into Twitter. The retweet button does all the work. When clicked on, it will handle all the coding and formatting for the retweet. More importantly, a retweet button will easily enable readers to retweet your content on Twitter.

The advantages of a retweet button are many. First, a retweet button allows you to easily share the link of an article or blog post. A retweet button also keeps count of how many tweets a story currently has, a great advertising booster. Many blog publishers use a retweet button to enhance the functionality of their blog posts.

But the key benefit of a retweet button is the traffic it drives to your online presence. All retweets include a back link to your website or blog, giving you a promotional and advertising advantage like no other. It means that everyone who reads the retweet has a means of visiting your online site. It’s a great way to enhance name recognition for a product or company, to gain more hits for your blog, to increase your website or blog page ranking among search engines, or to increase your Twitter followers.

A back link coming from a retweet has several advantages over one from other sources, such as a blog post or content article. With a retweet back link, the process is real time, which is a benefit for those tracking response time. Think of it as an electronic replacement for word of mouth, with the major difference being the ability to connect with people around the world.

A retweet button is an ideal way to build your individual or company brand and to enhance loyalty and trust among your Twitter followers. A retweet button can also help to build your credibility in a particular area, increase your website traffic or build your Twitter followers even more.

So if you’re not retweeting or taking advantage of a retweet button, it’s time to take your Twitter presence to the next level.

Don’t forget to ReTweet this post! Lets prove the power of the ReTweet here! Do you use any other methods of real-time updates for your followers? We would love to hear about them in a comment!

Matthew Toren