Internet marketing, a.k.a. email marketing, web marketing, web site marketing, or even search engine marketing, is a form of marketing that involves marketing products and services using the Internet as the primary medium of display. That means people use email advertising, web site promotions and advertising and other online tools to promote the sale of goods and services on the internet.

Email marketing and internet marketing have exploded in recent years. The benefits include:

* Lower costs associated with distributing goods and services to customers

* The ability to distribute goods and services to global customers or a market without borders

* Web linking, a tool that allows the promotion of one’s website or products and services by sharing links, content and information free of charge, much like a bartering service

* Lower costs and higher ROI associated with email advertising

* Instant response associated with email advertising, email marketing and web querying

* Possibility of affiliate marketing to increase website promotions and web site marketing efforts

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

The staff at Majon International would like to wish all of our U.S. friends a happy and safe Thanksgiving. We are thankful to work with wonderful clients and colleagues, and look forward to continuing to serve you to the best of our ability.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Largely in response to the scuttlebutt surrounding Yahoo’s deal with Google, the online giant is giving advertisers a seat at the table in its newly formed Digital Advisory Council. According to Yahoo!, “the Council will work collaboratively to explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising.”

According to the company’s press release:

The Council will serve as a vehicle for soliciting feedback and will supplement Yahoo!’s daily conversations with advertisers. Active discussion with key customers is an important pillar in making Yahoo! a partner of choice, particularly during a time when competition for ad dollars is as robust as ever. Yahoo!’s Digital Advisory Council will first meet in the fourth quarter of this year.

“As Yahoo! partners with publishers to extend the reach of our network, we have formed the Digital Advisory Council to identify innovative ways to improve advertiser performance, particularly in anticipation of the rollout of Yahoo’s new advertising management platform in the coming months,” said Hilary Schneider, executive vice president, Yahoo! U.S.

Given the revenues generated by Internet marketing and advertising, it’s good that Yahoo! acknowledges advertisers’ contributions to the online landscape.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Although there are many Internet marketing strategies that you can do yourself, there are times when you need to rely on the professionals. When it comes to finding an Internet marketing company that fits your needs and that will bring you the best return on investment, you should look for three things: attitude, communication, and reputation.

Attitude: Ensure that the Internet marketing service you’re considering will take an interest in your company’s product and understand your target audience. The company should also be enthusiastic about Internet marketing and communicate that their success depends upon your success.

Communication: When choosing an Internet marketing company, make sure that there are mechanisms in place for good two-way communication. There should be an atmosphere of mutual respect, an absence of egos, and a true sense of partnership. In addition, the agency should talk about its services and results without using jargon, and answer all of your questions in a straightforward manner. Finally, they should also be willing to inform and advise you about Internet marketing options you may not have considered.

Reputation: Be sure to select a company that has a stellar reputation. Don’t just look at their portfolio; consider what other clients are saying about the company. Do they deliver the promised results in a timely fashion? Are their staff members professional? Are client concerns thoroughly addressed?

Before entering into a contract or purchasing the services of an Internet marketing company, it’s important to know that they are going to do a good job for you and do everything in their power to make your company a success.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

On Friday, we talked about the importance of finding the right balance between finding keywords that are popular and those that will allow you to gain traction in a competitive marketplace. Once you have found the right keywords for your business, you need to implement strategies that will use your keywords to their best advantage. The first step to take is to make sure that you incorporate those keywords into your website.

The use of keywords is crucial in search engine optimization. Although keywords aren’t the only criteria that search engines use to rank websites, they are an important component. Today, we’ll discuss the use of keywords in your site’s title tags.

The title tag is what you see at the very top of your browser window. This is premium real estate, and search engines look for these tags. Make liberal use of your keywords in title tags, keeping these two caveats in mind: a) make sure the keywords in your title are relevant to the content of the web page; and b) use a unique title tag for each web page. Resist the temptation to simply duplicate page titles throughout your site; instead, use your creativity to think up relevant keywords and keyword phrase variations for each page.

You can, however, utilize more than one keyword in each title tag. Keep the tag to 70 characters, and use “pipes” (the | symbol above the backslash on your keyboard) to separate the keywords. For example, if you have an Internet marketing site, your title tag might look something like this: Internet marketing | Search Engine Marketing | Website Promotion. You’ve managed to squeeze three keyword phrases into your page title.

Keywords are an important part of any Internet marketing strategy. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the use of keywords in your domain name.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

When it comes to building traffic to your website the best approach can be described as “all hands on deck.” In other words, you have to use a variety of Internet marketing strategies. Although working with an Internet marketing company and using their tools is important, there are also steps you can take to organically move your site up in search engine rankings. Blogging is one of them.

Although it seems as though the media talks nonstop about blogging, many ecommerce sites are slow to embrace blogging as a means to increase traffic. However, writing regular blog entries and including an RSS feed so that readers can subscribe to your blog can help increase traffic to your site, increase the number of one-way backlinks, and thus improve your search engine rankings.

The phrase, “content is king,” is often bandied about when it comes to site content, but it’s also true when it comes to blog entries. Write interesting - and sometimes provocative - blog entries, and you’ll pique the interest of your readers.

Using a blogroll, or a list of blogs that you like or that you think would be useful to your readers, is also a way to gain traction. You can also write a favorable blog entry about a tangentially related blog, and then drop that blogger a note letting him or her know that you like their work. You can even offer to be a guest blogger for their blog and cross-promote your site.

In Web 2.0, blogs are the currency of the land. Let your blog help build your website traffic - write on!

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Writing a great press release is a good start, but unless you get your press release into the right hands, it will never see the light of day. That’s why press release distribution is key.

Web-based press release distribution services have a wide reach, but little depth. It’s analogous to scattering seeds across the soil and hoping one will take root. Highly target press release distribution has a narrower reach, but puts your release in the hands of the journalists most likely to take your story and run with it. Instead of scattering seeds, you’re taking care to plant each and every one, increasing the likelihood that many will sprout and grow.

It’s best to select a distribution company that has an up-to-date database of hundreds of thousands of media contacts, and that will target and personalize your press release for maximum effectiveness. For example, if you’re promoting your new line of office furniture, it doesn’t do any good to send your press release to sports reporters or those covering automobile trends. A good distribution company will target those reporters who cover business, office furnishings, and so forth, and deliver your release directly to their current email address. This way, your release gets to the proper person every time. Plus, the journalist doesn’t have to go hunting through releases generated by an online newswire to find one that fits his or her beat. The easier you make the journalist’s job, the more likely you’ll get coverage.

A sound media strategy is more common sense than rocket science. When you meet the needs of journalists while promoting your company, products, and services, you have a winning combination.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Once you’ve selected a newsworthy topic for your press release, it’s time to start writing. Keep in mind that press releases are read by writers and editors, so it should go without saying that your press release must be well written. If you’re not a writer, don’t be shy about contracting with a writer or a marketing services company to write your release for you.

Press releases are written according to a formula. The placement of various elements depends on the distribution outlet (which we’ll discuss tomorrow), but the key elements are:

Contact information - The name, phone number, and email address of the person who will be handling media inquiries.
Headline - A clear and catchy headline that conveys the essence of the release topic.
Place and dateline - The city, state, and date where the release originated.
First paragraph - The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the release.

One way to think of a press release is as a pyramid, with the most important information at the top, and the supporting information below. Theoretically, a press release should be able to be reprinted as is, with the length cut to fit the space available without sacrificing important information. In practice, of course, that rarely happens, but it’s a good strategy to keep in mind while writing.

A press release often includes quotes from someone in the company, but these quotes are almost always manufactured. Essentially, you write the quote as you’d like it to appear, and then get the approval of the person to whom you’re attributing the quote.

As was the case when you decided upon the topic of your press release, write the release from the perspective of the audience of your recipient. What information would they like to know? What will be helpful to them? Avoid both stating the obvious and being too abstract. A good balance will ensure that your release is both interesting and informative.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Yesterday we discussed the importance of selecting a press release topic that will pique the interest of the media. That’s just one part of the equation. An element often overlooked by companies seeking media coverage is the press kit.

Essentially, a press kit makes journalists’ jobs easier. Their time is at a premium, so you’ll be more likely to receive media coverage if you can give them background information that will help them in their reporting and writing.

A press kit can contain a variety of materials. What you include in yours largely depends on your industry and the kind of coverage you’re hoping to garner. For example, a press kit might include:

• Your most recent press releases
• Clippings of other favorable media coverage
• A backgrounder or FAQ that explains the basics of your industry and why it’s relevant
• Historical information about your company or industry
• Short biographies of the company principals
• High resolution, professional photos that can be reproduced
• Suggestions for interesting story angles that haven’t been covered in the media

If you provide journalists with this kind of information, they can save valuable research time. You should have your press kit online, and offer it in a downloadable format. You may prefer that the public not have access to your press kit; if so, you can password protect that area of your site.

The bottom line? Don’t make journalists work too hard. Your press release might be wonderful and compelling, but if you give them the background information they need, you’ll be several steps ahead in the media game.

Check back tomorrow for tips on writing an effective press release.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Yesterday, we talked about media stories and spin control. But what about when you want to make the news? Effective press releases are the most efficient way to break into the news cycle and get what is effectively free advertising for your company. The key word here is “effective.” All too often, businesses send out press releases that never gain traction.

What separates the best from the rest? In one word: perspective. Companies that get media coverage from press releases understand what the media is hungry for, and feeds the beast. When you understand the perspective of the media and give them what they need, you’ll come out on top every time.

So, before you write your next press release, ask yourself these two questions:

1. Is the topic of my press release newsworthy? You may be excited that you’ve expanded the color selection of your widgets to include blue and yellow, but will the media even care? Unless you’re Apple in the late 1990s and are announcing that your new iMacs will come in a variety of candy colors, your press release will elicit annoyance, rather than interest. Think about your recipient’s audience and make sure your press release covers a topic of interest to them.

2. Can you piggyback on an existing hot news story? For example, we all know that the price of gas has shot through the roof, and we’ve all seen too much B-roll on TV showing price signs at gas stations and people pumping gas into their vehicles. Journalists are scrambling to find new angles on a story that feels old. If they receive a press release that makes a new connection to gas prices, they’ll jump on it. The bottom line: Thinking of an angle that relates to a hot news topic will pique the media’s interest.

Having a compelling topic is only one part of the equation. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss another factor that can increase your chances of getting media coverage.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites