In email marketing, every word counts. You want to keep your customer and prospective customer emails concise, but you also need to use words that are proven to drive sales. From time to time, we’ll provide you with words that have been proven to create curiosity and motivation to act.

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According to a new report issued by IDC (idc.com), annual expenditures for Internet advertising are expected to reach over $51 billion by 2012. IDC’s study, entitled, “U.S. Internet Advertising 2008-2012 Forecast and Analysis: Defying Economic Crisis,” found that:

The Internet will go from the number 5 medium all the way to the number 2 medium in just 5 years, making it bigger than newspapers, bigger than cable TV, bigger even than broadcast TV, and second only to direct marketing. Video advertising will be the principal disruptor of Internet advertising over the next five years by attracting the most new marketing dollars. Its revenue will grow sevenfold from $0.5 billion in 2007 to $3.8 billion in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.4%. This growth will take place because brand advertisers will shift significant amounts of money into these video commercials, primarily from broadcast television and to a lesser extent from cable television.

A press release issued by the company noted that search advertising will still be the leader in Internet advertising. It said:

Search advertising will remain the one advertising format that will garner the most revenue over the forecast period in the United States. This means that for any media company, search must be a key part of its strategy. Any media company that is not Google cannot ignore this segment even if Google is towering above all others as segment leader with about 70% share of the segment’s revenue.

Perhaps this kind of forecast is why Microsoft and Yahoo! so desperately need each other.

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A local business listing in a directory listing service is advantageous in that you will reach millions of people from around the world at a fraction of what you would have used with traditional advertising such as classified ads, you will reach a targeted Web traffic, you will get search engine optimization (SEO) since you will use one way links, and you get to give contact information, a description (including pictures) of your business, and a map to your business, meaning you are more likely to attract Web traffic to your site. There are many local directory services and making a choice is not always easy. There are several tips that will help you get the best local directory service and these are:

Number of hits – you should only go for a directory that has a high number of hits. Look through statistics before making your decision. As an example, Yell.com gets over six million hits monthly.

Credibility and reliability – go for well-established local directory service since this is the only way to ensure that you get value for money. Some of the top local business listing directories are Google Local Search, Yahoo! Local Search, MSN Local, Ask.com’s Local Search Directory, Yelp.com, YellowPages, YellowBook, and CitySearch.

Your niche – go for local business listing directories in your niche to get a targeted Web traffic. If you go for a general directory, ensure that it has categories and subcategories so that Web users can find you easily.

Cost – only a few local business listing directories such as CitySearch are paid-only – most directories offer free listings. You should however consider paid listings since you get greater visibility. Different directories have different costs for paid listings and you should therefore compare different options, not forgetting the number of hits you are getting. Go for a directory that has incentives.

Tracking – go for a local directory service that enables you to track your progress and the campaigns of your competitors. This is important because you will then be able to make the necessary adjustments in your strategy.

You could get tips on the best local business listing directories from recommendations from people who have used such listings before or you could consider what your successful competitors are doing. You could also get tips on credible and reliable local directory services from online discussion forums and independent reviews.

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Email marketing can be a cornerstone of your business success, but sometimes it can have the opposite effect. Poorly written copy, too much hype, or too many graphics can either turn off potential customers or relegate your marking efforts to the junk folder.

Here are five tips that will help ensure that your email marketing efforts are a success:

1. A Punchy Subject Line – Everybody gets way too much email – even if it’s email they’ve requested. Make sure that your subject line stands out from the crowd. Whether you’re offering free shipping, having a sale, or introducing a new product, make sure your subject line packs a punch.

2. Keep it Short and Sweet – Resist the temptation to wax poetic about your product or service. Your customers and potential customers should be able to grasp what you’re offering in the first sentence or two. Don’t make them read paragraphs in order to understand your point. They’ll click “delete” and that will be the end of it.

3. Under-promise and Over-deliver – You may have the best gizmo on the planet, but your copy should hook them without promising the moon. When they get something more or better than they expected, they’ll be thrilled – and they’ll likely pass your info along to others. That’s viral marketing at its best!

4. Avoid Clutter – Email programs vary tremendously in what they display. Avoid excessive use of graphical elements and hyperlinks. They may not display correctly or be stripped out, or your email may be inadvertently diverted to the spam folder. Plain text with one or two hyperlinks is often the best way to reach the most people.

5. Working Links – If your email marketing message contains link, make sure they work. Send out test emails to people with different operating systems and email programs to ensure that your customers can click on links and they will be taken to your product or service.

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There are few who would argue that Google Earth is mind-boggling. It’s both majestic and a little bit creepy (the ability for ANYONE to look at your house is a bit unnerving). And, now, the Internet marketing and search engine giant is offering a browser plug-in for Google Earth. Here’s what Paul Rademacher from Google wrote in the Lat Long Blog:

When Google Maps was launched in 2005, few could have guessed the way map mashups would permeate the online world. Online maps had been just something you used to get directions or to find the ten nearest grocery stores. Google Maps and the Google Maps API proved that an online map was actually a rich canvas on which entire new applications could be built. Likewise, when Google Earth was launched, it revolutionized our view of the world, letting people fly around the planet at lightning speed and zoom in on rich high-resolution imagery, mountain ranges, and even 3D buildings. Yet there was a missing piece: there’s never been a way to build your own 3D web applications using Google Earth, the way you can with Google Maps… until now.

Today, I’m happy to announce the release of the new Google Earth Browser Plug-in, which brings the full power of Google Earth to the web, embeddable within your own web site. Driven by an extensive JavaScript API, you can control the camera; create lines, markers, and polygons; import 3D models from the web and overlay them anywhere on the planet. In fact, you can even overlay your content over different planets, stars, and galaxies by toggling Sky mode, letting you build 3D Google Sky mashups. You can also enable 3D buildings with a single line of JavaScript, attach JavaScript callbacks to mouse events, fetch KML data from the web, and more. Our goal is to open up the entire core of Google Earth to developers in the hopes that you’ll build the next great geo-based 3D application, and change (yet again) how we view the world.

But wait a minute… Google Earth has gotten all of the hype, but for over a year, Microsoft (maps.live.com) has offered 2-D maps and even 3-D maps with much more detail. Which company will ultimately rule the globe? Time will tell….

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Email marketing or advertising is a direct marketing method where emails are sent to people in carefully selected mailing lists. Email advertising campaigns are popular because you are able to reach a targeted audience, you will get instant feedback, you reach millions from across the world, you are able to track the marketing campaign, you get customer loyalty since emails are personal and emails are cheap to send, among other benefits. For email advertising campaigns to be successful, the email delivery rate needs to be high. A high delivery rate not only means reaching many people, it also means reducing the risk of email blockage. This can be achieved through:

1. Checking for blacklisted domain IP addresses – you need to determine if the domain IP addresses you are sending to are blacklisted if you notice a low email delivery rate. There are several blacklist databases where you could check for an effective email marketing campaign.

2. Check your attachments – ensure that the only script attachments you have are the ones with .pdf extensions. You should particularly avoid attachments that have .exe, .zip, .swf, and .avi extensions if you want to prevent being blocked by Internet spam filters.

3. Use filters – use spam filters to run all the emails through before sending them so that you can identify emails that are likely to be rejected. This will help you find alternatives.

4. Join feedback loops – joining feedback loops enables you to identify the recipients who are marking your mails as spam. This is important because you will then be able to remove them from your mailing list for your email advertising campaigns to be successful. Some ISPs allow you to join feedback loop through them.

5. Use an address book – have lines of copy at the beginning of all your emails. These lines of copy should act as reminders to subscribers to add your email address to their address books. Belonging to address books is important in email marketing since your mail is less likely to be marked as spam if you appear on an address book.

6. Select your subscribers carefully – you should only go for subscribers who are not likely to complain and those who will give you greater return on investment or ROI. Creating your own mailing list is the best option for successful email advertising campaigns since you will have complete control of who is in the lists. Consider having unsubscribe links (opt out links) in your emails to improve your mailing lists.

7. Consistency – giving consistent information, especially when it comes to your company’s information and your name helps in brand recognition.

8. Email software – you could use an email software program for the email delivery in your email marketing campaign to be high.

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As promised, here is more information about the email marketing features you should look for in order to maximize your Internet marketing efforts:

Affordability – Email list management software should allow you to send up to 50,000 emails a month for under $100. There are even some email list management software systems that periodically offer introductory rates of $1 for the first month.

An intuitive, Web-based interface – Web-based software is the wave of the future; a Web-based email list management system means you never have to worry about software maintenance or upgrades.

Limitless email lists – You should be able to maintain as many addresses as you wish and as many lists as you want without incurring extra expense. Beware of companies that charge based on the number of database entries you have!

Rollover credits – If you don’t use your allotted number of emails during a given month, a good email marketing package will allow you to roll unused credits over into the next month, or to purchase additional credits on the fly, in real time.

Importing lists – You should be able to import entire mailing lists into the online system with a few clicks of your mouse. You should also be able to rent or buy opt-in email lists and migrate them into the system.

Sequential mailings – The best email marketing software systems allow you to import a series of messages and set up sequential mailings to be sent at the day and time you desire. In other words, you should be able to implement a six-month email marketing campaign in one sitting.

Flexibility – Look for software that allows you to edit your lists and messages right up to the minute your mailing is scheduled to be sent.

Automated list management – Email marketing software should automatically handle bounced emails, bad addresses, and requests for removal. It should also allow you to remove any blacklisted addresses and build opt-in email lists.

Great email marketing software can be the great equalizer, allowing small- and medium-sized businesses to compete with the corporate giants in the world of Internet marketing and advertising.

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According to Business Week, Microsoft still hasn’t let go of the possibility of an outright buyout of Yahoo!, while the latter is facing stiff pressure from shareholders to cut some kind of deal – whether with Microsoft or Google.

What Microsoft really wants – and what experts in Internet marketing are watching for – is a piece of the search engine advertising pie. According to BW, though, Yahoo! may opt for a nonexclusive partnership with Google to outsource search-related ads.

Either way, it looks like Yahoo! is staged to make a deal with one of the other giants, if only to avoid a proxy fight at their upcoming annual meeting.

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Blog marketing or advertising is the creation of blogs on topics on your niche to market your company or the products/services you sell. This type of online marketing involves the building of links leading to your website’s landing page, the creation of quality content that is updates daily or weekly, the use of text links featuring important keywords, social bookmarking of blog content, blog pining to top blog directories and search engines, and blog promotion to top RSS feed directories. Blog marketing is important because it leads to greater product and corporate exposure, it is cheap, and it leads to greater ROI. For a blog to be successful, you need to optimize its post titles, not just the content.

You should note that blog post titles have 2 audiences. These titles have human readers and they also need to be friendly to search engines. When appealing to your blog readers:

1. Ensure that your titles are interesting – the title of your posts could be asking a question, it could be sharing a scoop, or it could be a cryptic title that will peek the curiosity of the blog readers. Blog titles that sound like scoops/scandals are particularly effective in blog marketing, an example being ‘Facebook Buying Yahoo!?’

2. Keep the title short – the title should be short and sweet. This is important because you will not confuse the blog readers and you will not give them too much information that they will not see the need of reading the blog.

3. Use the right keywords – consider using keywords such as Google, Apple, Blue-Ray, and Wii in blog marketing since they have a wide appeal to keyword scanners. Popular keywords in the titles ensure that you attract high Web traffic.

Appealing to search engines with your online marketing blog is important because it leads to search engine optimization (SEO). To do this;

1. Change the post title – simply changing the word order of your blog titles will help in your blog marketing endeavours since search engine robots will think that you have a new blog post.

2. Optimize the title for search engines – optimize the title by using title tags for effective blog marketing. You could use the SEO Title Tag plugin if you are using WordPress. The optimization could also be done by including a keyword in the title.

3. Do not use slugs – do not use slugs or permalinks even as you change your post title.

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Here’s the lowdown on features that you need in email marketing software:

• An intuitive, Web-based interface
• Limitless email lists
• Affordability
• The ability to import lists
• The ability to do sequential mailings
• Flexibility
• Automated list management
• Limitless number of email lists

Check back tomorrow, when we’ll explain why each of these features is critical to email marketing success.

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