You Don’t Have to be a Genius to Master Internet Marketing

Something tells us you’re just … well … smarter than most people looking to market online.

You’re not interested in lame “get rich quick” schemes. You’re not looking for a magical silver bullet that involves no work, no time, and no sense.

In other words, you don’t have to be Einstein to “get” this stuff. But you’d have to be an idiot to believe some of the stuff peddled by traditional Internet marketing “gurus.”
Introducing Internet Marketing for Smart People

Here’s what we’ve got for you:

• A systematic, simple way to understand and implement effective online marketing.
• A clear tutorial approach to the “Copyblogger method” of creating a profitable online business or marketing your offline business online.
• An organized reference guide to the “best of the best” that’s appeared on Copyblogger over the years, and how it all fits together.

The four pillars of online marketing success

Top 3 Search Secrets for Maximizing Results

Search marketers are a breed of their own.  They know things about websites that most people glaze over at the beginning of the conversation.  They get as excited about new strategies as others may get at the new deal on Groupon.  So what are their secrets?  We’ve come up with a list of three top tips to help you maximize your results.

First, does your website have natural search visibility?

Businesses Have Something to Learn from Internet Marketers

A marketable database can be leveraged to drive revenue

For some of us the words “online marketer” makes us want to throw up in our mouth a little. Why? Because most people think of online marketers as those people who trick you into giving them your email address so they can spam you with crappy offers for things you don’t want. I’ve certainly run into my share of these. But here’s the reality. Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em, we all have something to learn from online marketers.

Internet Marketers are Master Email List Builders

Online marketers know most people don’t buy on their first visit to the website. So what do they do? They give you an amazing piece of content you really want in exchange for your email address. In fact, the best internet marketers don’t even try to sell you on their primary website pages. They work really hard to capture your email address because the goal is to build a marketable database that can be leveraged to drive revenue.

Πως οι χρήστες αλληλεπιδρούν με τις μηχανές αναζήτησης στο διαδίκτυο;

 Επιτυχημένες στρατηγικές διαδικτυακού μάρκετινγκ

 Ένα από τα σημαντικότερα στοιχεία για την οικοδόμηση μιας επιτυχημένης στρατηγικής διαδικτυακού μάρκετινγκ γύρω από το SEO (Search Engine Optimization) και κατά συνέπεια την υψηλότερη κατάταξη της ιστοσελίδας σας  στις μηχανές αναζήτησης (Search Engines), είναι η ενσυναίσθηση για το κοινό σας.

The Search Agency 2013 Predictions: Paid Media

Here at The Search Agency, we’re all about looking forward and finding a better way for advertisers to utilize their online space. Also, everyone here LOVES to talk. So, I did what any marketing manager with a good head on her shoulders would do — I made all our experts get in a room and discuss the future of search, hence the genesis of our two part predictions series. Is there really any better way to end the year than to make some online marketing predictions??

Today we’ll be tacking our Paid Media predictions, and tomorrow we’ll go over our thoughts about Earned Media in 2013, so stay tuned! 

6 Essential Questions & Answers About Content Marketing for 2013

For every social media, SEO or content marketing “expert” there are hundreds, if not thousands of smart business people that do not possess advanced knowledge in those areas. That’s not unreasonable, since running a business involves more than keeping up with the latest internet marketing best practices.

On this blog we often include the basics of search, social and content marketing because that’s where a lot of people need confidence and affirmation that they’re on the right track.  To support that approach, here are a series of questions my co-worker Miranda Miller shared with me as prep for an online radio show. Hopefully, if you’re responsible for attracting, engaging and converting new business for your company, you will find them useful.

What is content marketing and what is it not?

I’ll start with what Content Marketing is not. It’s not limited to creating compelling media. It’s not simply creating more content. Content Marketing also is not just a SEO tactic or poorly informed blogger outreach.

Is B2B Social Media Marketing Behind B2C?

The Perception

There seems to be a general perception that social media is better suited for B2C versus B2B marketing.  This view is supported by a general lack of easily accessible social media success stories in the B2B space; on the Internet and at conferences.  But it is a misconception.

The Reality

Online Marketing News: Holiday Spending & App Downloads in the Billions, Google Resolves FTC Concerns, Facebook #1

5 Types of Social Media Strategies
Social media is not a magic bullet. It’s an enabler. Social media won’t make an antisocial brand suddenly social. But it can facilitate and amplify the role that brands play with their audiences.

Whether in social media or any other domain, we need to focus less on how “awesome” we are and more on working toward making our customer’s more “awesome”.  Via Marketoonist. 

4 Simple ways to make AdWords perform better

If you’re in to PPC, I’m sure you would’ve come across situations where no matter what Ad text you try, the CTR just sits there, no traction, no improvements what so ever, and you think, what now?

Better performance or better CTR?

Better CTRs doesn’t always mean success though, it depends on what campaign you’re running. But obviously, better CTR means more eyeballs, more traffic and a better reputation. If you have remarketing/retargeting campaigns running better CTRs are a good way to build that initial volume of interested targets.

Well, here are four simple tips to increase CTR on SEM campaigns.

Four Online Tools to Help You Be More Productive Online

When you are a social media marketer or just spend a lot of time on the internet, there are several tools you can use to make the work you do much more productive. In some cases, if the tool is saving you a lot of time and energy, it is worth paying for. Peace of mind and higher output levels are usually worth the cost, especially if they are going to be used every day.

Buffer

Brand & Internet Marketing

Οι μεγάλες μάρκες δημιουργούνται με Μεθοδολογία
Τα δημοφιλή Εμπορικά Σήματα και οι μεγάλες επιχειρήσεις δεν δημιουργούνται έτσι απλά. Είναι αποτέλεσμα σκέψης και ανάλυσης, όπου δημιουργικές ιδέες συλλαμβάνονται και υλοποιούνται με μεθοδολογία.
Η επαναλαμβανόμενη στρατηγική που απαιτεί η μεθοδολογία, παράγει αποτελέσματα υψηλής ποιότητας.

Οι 5 βασικοί κανόνες του Branding και του Internet Marketing

1o βήμα: Να είστε διαφορετικοί
Ότι και να πραγματεύει η επιχείρησή σας πρέπει κατ' αρχάς να χτίσετε το εμπορικό σας σήμα. Δώστε στην μάρκα σας νόημα για κάτι σημαντικό και προπάντων διαφορετικό.
Οι πελάτες και οι συνεργάτες σας, έλκονται από τη δύναμη της μάρκας. Ένα ισχυρό εμπορικό σήμα, με νόημα, έχει μεγαλύτερη διοχεύτεση στο Internet και όλες οι εμπορικές δραστηριότητες της εταιρείας θα παράγουν καλύτερα αποτελέσματα με υψηλή απόδοση.

Inside Sales – 5 Steps to Use Social Media to Access Decision Makers

In past articles, we’ve talked about the benefits of getting direct dial numbers for decision makers in order to increase contact ratios. Well, here’s another tip to help boost your contact ratios and avoid gatekeepers:

Contact the decision maker via social media (LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+ specifically).

It may seem like an indirect form of interaction, but if done correctly you can build a relationship through social media that raises you up their trust ladder (read more about the trust ladder in this blog by Ken Krogue, here).

Here’s the process for reaching decision makers through social media.

Corporate Social Media Marketing Strategy Checklist for 2013

As we enter a hopeful new year, I thought it would be helpful to deliver my top five items in a corporate social media strategy checklist for 2013. And, as we also enter a new year of Google changes to the ever-important search algorithm, I will include, as any smart marketer will do, a review of SEO from a social standpoint. OK, so let's go…

Checklist Item 1: Internal Team on Board

Before you enter the brave new world of mobile and tablets leading the way of content consumption, quality checks all over Google, and global adoption of lightning-fast broadband with any social media strategy, you will want to make sure all key stakeholders are on board with your goals. As a key performance engine for client/customer engagement, social media activity takes into account all organizational activities that affect those relationships. And so, your sales teams, marketing teams, social teams, creative teams, brand ambassadors, and C-suite all need to be on board with the direction of your social strategy. The smartest way to move on this is to appoint one ringmaster within your organization to lead the way and be accountable to both your social media marketing goals and communicating any movements to the internal teams. If you represent an enterprise-level organization, having directors of important teams connect and agree on the direction and goals is a must.

Revamp Your Online Marketing in 2013 with These Savvy Strategies

Have you been trying to market your small business online and just feel like you’ve been spinning your wheels? You’re not alone. Even with all the hype over the Internet and social media, many small business owners still don’t get the whole Internet marketing thing.

Luckily, the end of the year is around the corner. It’s a perfect time to take a step back and put a critical eye towards your marketing efforts and to look for ways to ramp things up for the coming year. The following are several online marketing strategies that savvy business owners can employ to build up their brand and increase sales conversions.

Hot B2B Internet Marketing Tip for 2013

"According to internetworldstats.com, 2.3 billion people worldwide are online. That is a staggering one third of the entire global population! And it is a market that is growing at super nova speed. Building on a growth rate of 528% over the last 11 years, this astounding growth rate is accelerating, thanks to rapid advances in broadband and smartphone technology" explains Terrazas.

This phenomenal growth of the online market has certainly not escaped the attention of Business to Consumer (B2C) marketers, a fact that is evidenced by global e-commerce sales data from Goldman Sachs, which shows that online sales figures have grown from $572.5 billion in 2010 to $820.5 billion in 2012. And this market is expected to swell to an astounding $963 billion in 2013!
"Within this vast and rapidly growing online market there is a very distinct and lucrative sector that remains largely untapped: the large and constantly growing B2B online market" notes Terrazas.

2013 Online Marketing Trends: The Year Of The Consumer

Trend #1: Let Consumers Be Your Marketers

More consumers are being vocal about their product and service experiences. From Angie’s List and Yelp to Twitter and Facebook, consumers are sounding off about their good and more often than not, their bad product and service experiences with businesses. Businesses need to capture and communicate effectively with their consumer base in 2013 if it wants to succeed. Bad customer reviews can cripple a business. 2013 will be a “culture shock” for businesses that don’t take social media and consumer reviews seriously.

2013 Top Hotel Internet Marketing Strategies

Nature abhors a vacuum. The same holds true for search engines. This year saw major changes in the search arena with algorithms being constantly tweaked to provide the best results for consumers and to reduce the impact of spam. It is because of these changes that Milestone felt compelled to put together the following recommendations for hotels as they develop their online marketing plans for 2013.

An Internet Marketing Strategy 5 Step Research Plan

The efficiency of the classical methods of advertising through the traditional media (Television, Radio and on Newspapers) have recently come under scrutiny by both marketers and advertising firms.
That’s because of the reduction in sales been witnessed by major business organisations who employ these marketing strategies.
And the reason for this decline can be traced to two basic points which are:

7 Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Website

It can be a chore to drive traffic to your website. So, once you do gain a click through organic search, a referral or an ad, you need to you do what you can to keep them there long enough for them to dig in and see what you’ve got.

Below are a handful of tactics that can help visitors find what they are looking for, consume more content and enjoy a more engaged experience overall.

Three Steps to an Online Marketing Makeover

Marketing expert John Jantsch, author of the popular blog Duct Tape Marketing, recently shared with Entrepreneur his insights on how to create a comprehensive and compelling web presence. In a webinar hosted by Laura Lorber, Entrepreneur.com's executive online editor, Jantsch voiced his thoughts on the seven stages of a web presence: search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, social media, online advertising, mobile and analytics.

Here are three of the key strategies he discussed.