Click here to read part one of our series on SEO…

Once your site is search engine optimized, you can expect to get more traffic to your site from the search engines. People who may be interested in your site will find it easier if your website is search engine optimized. Most people use the search engines to find what they are looking for when they go online. By having your website optimized and easy to find in the search engine results pages, you can attract more traffic to your website through the search engines.

There are many internet marketing companies that will help you get your website search engine optimized and keep it that way. Some of the methods that they use to optimize a website include the following:

Ÿ Article marketing
Ÿ Blogs
Ÿ Press Releases
Ÿ Video ads
Ÿ Google ads

All of these can be optimized in order to incorporate keywords that will make the website appear in the search engine results pages or, in the case of Google ads, land them on pages where they are most likely to find people who will be interested in your website. The entire purpose of making a website search engine optimized is to make it easier for potential clients or customers to visit your site.

Those who may be interested in your products or services can only take advantage of them if the know about them and where to get them. You have, most likely, gone online in search of something that you wanted to buy at one time or another. Chances are that you put the information into the search engine toolbar to pull up search engine results pages (SERPs). You probably sifted through a few pages before you came up with what you wanted.

This is the basic concept of SEO. Those who understand how to use search engine optimization effectively to make their website more searchable are more likely to come up in the first two pages of the search engine results pages and are more likely to have clients visit their site.

There are probably many sites out there that offer you interesting information as well as products or services. Unfortunately, many of them are buried deep in the search engine results pages. Most people, when searching online for something, will give up after going a few pages into the search engine results pages. In some cases, a search may produce millions of hits. Needless to say, you do not want to go through every one in order to find what you are looking for. Most people have neither the time or the inclination to do this.

This is why it is so important for businesses and others who want to have their website noticed make sure that they use SEO techniques in order to do so. By using SEO, a website will no longer be buried in the middle or at the end of millions of results. It has a better chance of getting to the front of the search engine results pages.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is used in all aspects of web marketing. You need to understand as much as you can about how SEO works in order to get the proper marketing of your website online.

When you use SEO in all of your content – both text and visual, you can draw more traffic to your site. In order to understand how to use SEO, you need to know why people use this type of marketing and rely on it so heavily in order to get the desired traffic to their website. SEO is what gets a website noticed in the search engines.

So what exactly is SEO? This sets up your text, photos and videos so that they are easy to find when someone is searching for them using the various search engines online. While it is often said that Google relies more on SEO content than Yahoo, which relies more on link building, the truth of the matter is that in order for a website to be discovered online, it must come up in the search engine.

For example, if you have a website dedicated to a coaching business, you will want to make sure that you structure your site so that others who may be looking for the services and products you sell will be able to find it online. Those who are looking online for what you have to sell may do it in a number of different ways, although the easiest way for someone to find something online is to use the search engines. Most of the traffic to your website will come from search engine optimization.

You need to know which keywords will work for your website. These are the words or phrases that people will put into the search engine bars to receive the search engine results pages. Many people today are putting in longer phrases into the search engines to narrow down their search.

There are tools that the website owner can use to investigate the best keywords for their website, based on what they sell and what words potential customers are likely to plug into the search bars that will lead them to the site. In order to succeed at this, a website owner must not only know the concept of SEO, but also much about the target market, which is those who are most likely to purchase the products on the website.

If you are just starting out your website, or if you have a website up and running already, you need to know how to use search engine optimization in all facets of your marketing. While there are other ways to market your website and products without using SEO, the fact of the matter is that 60 percent of all traffic on websites comes from those who found the website in the search engines. These people are seeking out what you have to offer and are finding you online as long as you are accessible.

Click here to read part two of our series on SEO…

The term “guerrilla marketing” was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1984, the same year he released a book with the same title. The term refers to performing marketing and promotional activities on a low budget. The unconventional tactics are designed to provide maximum impact while using the most minimal of resources.

Guerilla marketing can take many forms. You can apply these tactics to promote your business both online and offline. This type of marketing can take the form of things you are already doing and are familiar with, as well as things you may never have thought of or are too uncomfortable to try.

With guerilla marketing, you will want to think outside the box and try new things (that don’t cost a lot of money). For instance, you can print flyers and start hanging them all over town.

Another cost-effective strategy is to create something of value and to give it away in order to attract more customers. Have you ever walked into a restaurant or store that had a box or fishbowl sitting by the register, and people could drop in a piece of paper with their name and phone number in hopes of winning a prize?

Try doing this online by approaching websites that offer a complimentary product or service to yours and asking if you can team up with them on a contest. Offer to give away one of your products or services to a lucky winner from their mailing list. The owners of the complimentary website will email their mailing list about your contest and provide a link to a page on your website that includes a form where people can enter your contest. In exchange, you can offer to give them some type of promotion on your website or through a mailing to your list.

Another topic featured in guerilla marketing is public speaking. This is something that many people do not care for. However, if you can get over that fear you can gain a lot of publicity this way. You can do this online by holding free seminars on whichever topics you have branded yourself as an expert in.

Doing this is very easy. You can search online for companies that offer free access to telephone conference lines or web conference rooms. Once you have the date, place, and time of your seminar set, you will want to start promoting it.

You can start the publicity process by emailing your list, putting a banner up on your website, and including a link to your seminar landing page in all of your signature lines. The trick is to promote the fact that you are giving the seminar. You can freely give out the information of the date and time. However, make people sign up for your list before you give out the phone number to dial into or the link to the conference room.

By using some of the guerilla marketing tactics, you will be able to grow your business without spending too much money.

There are almost 800 million members on Facebook today. With this vast web of interconnectivity, Facebook is fast becoming the leading way for ideas and content to spread on the internet. If you want to go viral, Facebook is one of the main platforms to pay attention to.

Two powerful tools to master on Facebook are Facebook pages and Facebook apps. Both of these are integrated in Facebook’s ecosystem and have access a wide array of tools.

Here’s how to use Facebook’s pages and apps to go viral.

An Idea with a Call to Action

Your idea for a page or for an app needs to have a call to action built into it.

Many of the protests in the Arab Uprising, from Egypt to Libya, were organized on Facebook and/or Twitter. Newly created pages literally got tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of followers in as little as a week or two.

They grew so quickly because there was a call to action. Share the page and let the world know what was going on. Even people in non-Arabic countries got involved, because of this strong call to action.

For a more light-hearted example, take a look at FarmVille, one of the most successful Facebook games in history. One of the reasons it was so successful was because there was a constant call to action. People were always being asked to share the game with their friends.

Your idea needs to not only be great, but have a call to action for sharing built into it.

Reporting

Facebook has one very unique reporting feature: it tells you about the viral aspect of your posts and of your app, as a statistic.

The statistic measures how often people share your content. If you primarily have three different kinds of content, say polls, videos and text, you could measure each post individually and see which one(s) people tend to share.

If you find that people share videos released on your page four times more often than text released on your page, you’ll know exactly where to focus.

While it’s possible to derive this statistic on other media platforms, generally they don’t give it to you in this clear-cut form. Facebook makes tracking and optimizing for virality easy.

Making It Go Viral

Going viral on Facebook is all about having a great core idea, then testing and testing until you reach the maximum viral velocity you can reach.

It means testing different messages, different kinds of outreach and different call to actions. If you find it extremely hard to get traction, it’s likely that your idea just isn’t striking a cord. On the other hand, if your idea is spreading, then your job is to accelerate the pace and make the idea go truly viral.

Credibility is the crux of any marketing message. Without credibility, the best content in the world will simply get passed over. On the other hand, an uninspiring speech by a highly credible person will be met with rapt attention and motivation.

For example, if an Olympic athlete was giving advice about how to lose weight, people would probably listen – even if the advice itself was hard to follow. On the other hand, if a homeless person gave great advice, chances are nobody would listen.

What’s the difference? Credibility. The athlete has credibility, while the homeless person doesn’t. Credibility gets people to listen to you. Credibility helps create emotions. Credibility helps create motivation.

Build Credibility In …

There are three things you need to build credibility.

First, you need to build credibility in yourself, the person speaking, presenting or writing. The more credibility can can build in yourself, the more you earn people’s attention.

Second, you need credibility in your company. Is your company a reputable firm? How long have you been in business? Do you have a recognizable logo? Do you have professional design?

Finally, you need to build credibility in your product. Even if you have a great brand and people trust you, that doesn’t necessarily mean they trust your product. When Coca Cola rolled out New Coke, it became quickly apparent that although they had a very strong brand, people simply didn’t want a product change. New Coke had zero credibility and quickly had to be phased out.

How to Build Credibility

There are many different ways you can build credibility in your product. Here are some of the most prevalent ones.

A demonstration – One of the most powerful ways to build credibility is to show people your product in action.

For example, the “Will It Blend” videos were essentially highly entertaining videos demonstrating the Blendtec blender. Blending the iPhone, marbles, lighters and other materials made the videos go viral quickly, which launched a multi-million dollar brand.

Photo proof – If you’re promoting a wealth product, take a picture with you and your Ferrari. If you’re promoting a health product, use before and after photos.

Use photos to show the results of your product. Photos are more real than similar claims with just words.

Testimonials – Don’t say it yourself. Instead, let other people say it for you. That’s much more effective, as others don’t have an incentive to promote your products. The more testimonials the better, especially if they are from authoritative sources.

Word of Mouth – If a friend hears about you or your product through a friend, that carries massive credibility. How do you generate word of mouth? By consistently putting out high quality products and content.

Before you run with any new marketing message, be sure to have a rock solid foundation of credibility in all three areas.

The second annual World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS) is set for June, 2012…

But before those dynamic coaching sessions begin, you have the opportunity to preview the best of the best at no charge.

Register for the free pre-conference sessions here.

The WBECS features an outstanding line-up of business and executive coaching thought leaders, specialists and industry pioneers…including:

• Verne Harnish—one of Fortune magazine’s “Top 10 Minds in Small Business”

• Sir John Whitmore – Pre-eminent thinker in leadership and organizational change

• Prof. Vijay Govindarajan – Voted World’s #1 strategic thinker by Harvard Business Review

And of course, Marshall Goldsmith, PhD, recognized last year by Harvard Business Review as “Most Influential Leadership Thinker in the World.”

The pre-conference sessions will be in a “TED-talk” style, in the sense they will be “punchy” (15-30 minutes) and pitch free…

They will set you up with takeaways that you can start using BEFORE the actual summit even starts!

Best thing, you can get to them whenever you have time… From anywhere. No commute necessary.

Click here to register for: World Business and Executive Coach Pre-Summit Series…

No sales pitches, just timely information your business needs to become unmatched in service and value…

Give your business the boost it needs. Register now – the calls start on May 1st.

WBECS has 1 simple mission in mind:

To dramatically improve the success of business and executive coaches the world over…

I’ll be listening to the calls and I hope you’ll join me!

Warmly,
Janet

You’ve just created a book and you’re ready to publish. Congratulations! The book market is still growing in demand. And publishing is a fantastic way to build your business and make money. However, it’s not enough to simply publish a book. If you want to sell books then you’ll need to do a bit of marketing too. Testimonials may be a key ingredient in your book-marketing strategy.

Before You Publish

Before you publish your book it’s a good idea to gather a few testimonials. These testimonials can be used on your website and sales page. They can also be used inside the cover or on the back of your book to help a prospect justify the buying decision. Collecting testimonials before you publish gives you the opportunity to hand pick the best testimonials to include in your book.

Who Gives the Best Testimonials?

Generally, it’s easier to ask for testimonials from peers and associates. They are the people you know and trust. If you have a sizeable rolodex of people in your industry or complimentary industries then you’re ready to ask the big question, “Will you write a testimonial for my book?”

People in your niche or in complimentary niches make the best testimonials because they add credibility. For example, if you wrote a book about “How to Get Started with CrossFit” and you have a testimonial from a personal trainer, that makes more sense than a testimonial from a home organizer. It adds more credibility to the testimonial.

Asking the Big Question

The best way to ask for a testimonial is via email. This is because it makes it easy for you to attach chapters from your book and sample testimonials. Write the email asking for the testimonial and describe the book and the book’s market. Even though you’re talking to people you know, they will still want to know what’s in it for them. So let them know how they benefit. Usually, the benefit is in the form of a link to their website and including their name on your book and/or website with that link.

It’s also recommended that you include the attachments already mentioned – a few sample chapters and a few sample testimonials. Let them know that they can modify the attached testimonials to meet their needs or they can write their own. Finally, give a time frame that you need the testimonial back from them and thank them for their consideration and their time.

As you gather your testimonials, don’t forget to keep the information organized and to send thank-you’s to each person who responds. These people have contributed to your future success and may continue to play a role in your book sales and marketing. Treat them graciously.

Pinterest is the latest social networking craze to take over the country. The concept behind Pinterest is to share photos and images. Users create boards with themes and categories and then “pin” images to their board. It’s a fun site for personal use and also a great way to build your business.

As a business owner you can create a Pinterest account and use it to drive traffic, build awareness, and connect with potential customers. Once you have a Pinterest business profile, it also makes good business sense to integrate Pinterest into your blog or website. That’s as easy as adding a Pinterest button to your website. Here’s how:

Step One: Sign Up for a Pinterest Account

This may actually be the most challenging step because you cannot simply go to Pinterest and sign up. They’re still in Beta, which means that membership is limited. You can sign up in one of two ways. You can get an invitation from someone who is already a member. Once you have that invitation you can sign up immediately. You can also request an invitation from Pinterest. Simply visit Pinterest.com and request a membership.

Sign up with your business email address and create a username that reflects you and/or your business.

Step Two: Add a “Follow” Button

Once you’re logged into Pinterest, click on “About” in the upper right hand corner. You’ll see a drop down menu. Choose “Pin It button”.

You now have a few choices. You can add a “Follow” button to your website. There are three button choices. Choose the one that you like the best, then simply copy the html code and paste it where you want the button to appear on your website.

If you’re adding a “Follow” button to a WordPress blog, get into your editor and add it to the code. Alternatively, if you use widgets then you can simply add a text widget into your sidebar and then cut and paste the code.

Step Three: Add a “Pin This” Button

You can also add a “Pin This” button to your website. This encourages people to add images from your website to their Pinterest boards. It’s a fantastic way to drive traffic and potentially boost your SEO.

There are also some truly wonderful plug-ins for WordPress that allow you to integrate Pinterest into your blog. And as Pinterest continues to grow in popularity, you can bet that there will be more developers creating ways to capitalize on Pinterest.

Pinterest also links to your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Each time you post a pin on Pinterest you can also link that post to your other networking sites. It can be a very powerful tool to grow and build your business.

Check me out on Pinterest, I’d love to connect with you there. No, I am not really marketing my business there (yet!), but I am getting familiar with the site and how people are using it for biz. Mostly, I am enjoying the variety of images. You can even see a few of my own travel photos there on my boards!

In the early days of the web, the only ways a marketer could build a connection with customers was either through email or through their website. Then came Web 2.0.

With the advent of social media, the potential depth and breadth of your connection with your customers has become virtually limitless. That is, if you know how to leverage social media properly.

Social media presents an incredible opportunity for the shrewd marketer. How can you use social media to deepen existing connections and attract new customers?

Build Relationships with People Who Don’t Give Email Addresses

It takes a lot for someone to give you their email address. Even top marketers rarely get more than 20% of the people who land on an email capture page to actually give them their email address.

Contrast that with what it takes for someone to “Like” or follow you.

In order to like you, people just need to see a piece of your content that they connect with anywhere on the web, or through their friend’s feed. It doesn’t take much and can be just a passing thought.

The same goes for tweets. If someone sees one tweet of yours that they like, they can decide to follow you.

You can reach a lot of people who wouldn’t have otherwise got in your funnel through social media.

Social Media Is a Two-Way Street

Email marketing and (most) website marketing is a one way street. That means that you’re the one who’s providing the content, while your customers consume the content. You put out emails, they read the emails.

While this can be an effective way to market a product, it’s nowhere near as effective as having a real connection with your customers.

Social media allows you to have a two-way conversation. They can comment on your stories, tweet back, answer polls, like, post on your wall and express their opinions however they like.

This gets people much more invested in your brand and in your product. Someone who just reads your emails versus someone who’s in active discussion with you are two completely different kinds of customers. The latter will vehemently recommend your products, buy from you regularly and share your content, while the former may only purchase every once in a while.

Access to People’s Friends

Finally, social media gives you access to other people’s social networks.

With email marketing, you only get access to one person. On social media, if you make a post or a tweet that someone strongly agrees with, your content will immediately be shared with hundreds of other people. Among those people are more people who might re-share your content.

Social media is a powerful tool for building two-way connections and reaching friends of your customers. If you don’t have a solid social media strategy yet, now’s the time to create one.

Do you want additional tips for using Social Media for business, join the Social Media Newsflash today!

Email marketing often involves a tightrope walk between selling and connection. If you sell too much, you’ll lose your customer’s interest and burn out your list. Focus too much on connection and not on selling and you won’t generate enough revenue.

What’s the right balance?

Between 10% and 20% Selling

Generally the right amount is somewhere between 10% and 20% selling, with between 80% to 90% of your content being focused on quality, solving the customer’s problems and making a connection.

80% to 90% content is enough to get your customers in the habit of opening your emails. They’ll know that by and large, emails from you will be of a high quality.

Having 80%+ of your content be connection-based also does one other thing: it essentially buys you the right to sell to them.

When someone gets immense value from the emails you’re sending, they won’t feel resentful when they read a sales message. In fact, they’ll read your sales messages with an open mind, knowing that there’s a good chance they might get value from the product you’re offering.

If you oversell, people will resent being sold to. If you consistently provide high quality content, people will look forward to your next product and eagerly read your sales message.

The 5 to 1 Email or the “At the Bottom” Style

There are primarily two different ways you can split your selling and connection content.

The first method is to send only emails that have connection and problem-solving content, then every once in a while send a 100% sales message.

If you use this method, make sure that your sales messages also provide value. Even if you regularly send out quality content, you still can’t just send out a spammy ad. Instead, you have to provide value even as you’re selling them.

By sending only one sales message every 5 to 8 emails, you keep up with the 10% to 20% rule.

The other method is to sell regularly, by putting an advertisement or one or two promotional sentences at the bottom of every email.

This method works very well, because instead of trying to get a home run of sales in one email, you’re getting a steady flow of sales with every email that you send.

Try to tie in your sales message with the email itself. For example, if your email talked about all the most common obstacles graphic designers run into when looking for clients, then pitch an easy way to find clients in your promotional sentence, even if your product covers a lot more than that.

Walking the fine line between over- and underselling in email marketing can be a little tough. As a rule of thumb, sell between 10% and 20% of the time to maximize customer connection while still pulling in strong revenues.