7 Proven Strategies for Improving Your Alexa Ranking

After spending two years building my own website, I was very disappointed that my Alexa ranking was still higher than one million. Alexa ranks each website based on the number of visitors it receives. The top ranked website, Yahoo! has an Alexa rating of 1 or 2. Less popular sites could be ranked up to 5,000,000.

In order to improve my Alexa rating, I spent about three weeks combing the web to find tips, secrets, and proven strategies for increasing my Alexa ranking. Unfortunately, many of the sites offering advice didn't even have a high ranking themselves. Finally I discovered a number of sites ranked within the top 100,000 that were all applying the same Alexa techniques to improve their ranking. I’ve begun implementing a number of these techniques and have improved my Alexa ranking by 250,000 spots in just one week.

Here's what you need to know. The basis for many of these techniques is the fact that your Alexa ranking is based reach and page views. However it only counts those who visit your site and have already downloaded the Alexa toolbar. Anyone can download the toolbar for free which is automatically added to your browser and tracks the sites you're visiting. Increasing visits from those who do not have the Alexa toolbar installed will not help your Alexa ranking.



I've summarized the 7 strategies that I've discovered and applied to my own website to increase my Alexa ranking. Apply these strategies to your own website and see your ranking climb towards the top.

1. Download the Alexa toolbar and use it every day to visit your own website. Alexa even gives you the ability to co-brand the toolbar with your own logo and give it away. You can download the toolbar here: http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/associatetoolbar.html

2. Use Alexa redirection whenever you can. No matter when or where you provide a link to your website, be sure to use the equivalent Alexa redirect URL. For example, when providing a link to my website, I use http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?marketingscoop.com.
If you copy this URL into your browser, it will take you to MarketingScoop.com. To use this technique, simply replace the name of my website (marketingscoop) with yours.

3. Encourage your website visitors to add their positive testimonials on Alexa's detailed listings page for your website. This can be done by placing a link to the appropriate Alexa page on your website and asking visitors to "Click here to rate this website". You can find your detailed Alexa page here: http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=marketingscoop.com. Again, just replace the name of my website (marketingscoop) with yours. By clicking on the URL, visitors will be able to reach your detailed rating page and write a review using the review link located on the left hand side of the page.

4. Write your own site reviews on the top 100 rated Alexa sites and include your redirect URL. The top 500 domains, according to Alexa can be found at http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500 When you write a review, be sure to use the redirection URL we discussed in number 2 above specifically for your website (http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?marketingscoop.com).

5. Download the Alexa ranking button, traffic history graph, info links, and other traffic counters onto the page of your website that receives the most traffic. For example, at the bottom of my home page (http://www.marketingscoop.com), I've added the Alexa ranking box. You can do the same for your own site by visiting Alexa Signup. You'll notice that I haven't added the traffic history graph. This is because it wouldn't look appropriate on my home page and because Alexa is only providing detailed history on the top 100,000 sites. So if you're not in the top 100,000, site stats would not be available.

6. Take an inexpensive advertisement out on the ExactSeek search directory for only a few dollars per month at ExactSeek.com. Search engine results are directly correlated with Alexa rankings. You'll notice that if a website is highly ranked on ExactSeek, chances are that it will be highly ranked on Alexa.

7. Get listed on as many search engines as possible by placing a free listing in DMOZ. This is the largest human edited directory on the web and is co-branded among hundreds of thousands of sites. Be patient though, it often takes up to 5 months before you see your website listed after submission. Even though it takes longer than it should, you have little say in the matter because it's so widely used across the Internet.

These simple Alexa strategies are easy to implement and will make a huge difference in your Alexa ranking. Ultimately you want visitors to do more than visit your home page, you want them to interact with your site. Be sure to optimize your home page for SEO purposes, ease of use, and interaction. Creating a positive user experience will get visitors to return again and again.

*Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com. Visit today for free marketing information and marketing blog directory. Michael has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit his marketing blog for further details.

What are Affiliate Programs?

Are you looking for a simple explanation of affiliate programs? If so, this article will tell you everything you need to know about affiliate programs and making money on the web. Simply put, affiliate programs allow individuals promoting specific products or services to receive a commission each time they are successful in selling someone elses product.

Affiliate programs give you an opportunity to promote someone else's products or services using Google Adwords, your own website, email, or other forms of electronic communication. When prospects turn into customers (i.e. someone purchases the product you've promoted) you receive a commission, usually as a percentage of the selling price or a fixed sum. For website owners affiliate programs are one of the fastest ways they can generate revenue.

For example, let's take a popular affiliate program called Affiliate Cash Vault. This very popular online product uses hundreds of individuals to promote it through online advertising. When these advertisers drive traffic to the product’s website or registration page, the referring URL is recorded. When those browsers turn into customers, the individual that drove the traffic to the website (that converted) receives a commission.

Legitimate affiliate programs benefit everyone. The customer receives a good product at a fair price. The product developer/website owner sells his product or service, and the individual who drove the lead receives a sales commission. This is why affiliate programs have grown in popularity over the last few years. New tools have made the implementation of affiliate programs even easier.

A number of websites bring those with products to sell and others who want to promote products together to facilitate the development of online affiliate programs. ClickBank and Commission Junction are the largest and have been around for a number of years.

If you're looking for products to promote, or are publishers looking to sell a product or service on the web, I suggest looking into these programs. If you're new to affiliate programs, I suggest using ClickBank. I've used both websites and ClickBank does a much better job of explaining each step and getting you up and running easily. Select products to promote that are most closely aligned with your web site content!

Once you’ve registered with an online affiliate network and selected the products you wish to promote, you need to focus on traffic generation strategies. You want the traffic that sees your product listing and promotion to be targeted. There are a variety of techniques you can use to find the right traffic interested in purchasing your affiliate’s products. Here are just a few:

1. Google Adsense. I know what you’re thinking… it’s just too expensive. Well, that doesn’t have to be the case. With pay-per-click advertising, you can set you spending limits and get the most targeted traffic available. Learn about Google Adsense if you wish to become a successful affiliate marketer. There are also a variety of tools you can find on the Internet to help you find the best keywords for promoting a given product or service at a reasonable price.

2. Article Marketing. If the product you’re promoting is about a given subject or area of expertise, than write an article about it. Be sure that you offer some information of value versus simply promoting a single product. You want others to read your article and see your advice as credible. This can create an additional platform for marketing your affiliate products.

3. Link Exchanges. Are there websites that attract the type of users who would potentially buy the product you’re promoting? Email these sites and let them know that you’re interested in exchanging links with them. Often times these sites would like to increase their traffic as well. When a site receives more links, it ranks higher in search results.

Once you begin learning more about affiliate programs, you’ll discover new and innovative ways to generate traffic to your website or affiliate’s product site. Don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with different types of products and services. You may find a niche that you’re particularly good at promoting.

Looking to become an affiliate and generate some serious cash? Open the Affiliate Cash Vault by Clicking Here.

How to Increase Web Traffic

By Michael Fleischner Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

To succeed on the Internet, you must learn how to increase web traffic. Without getting targeted visitors to your website, you don't stand a chance of selling your products or services to any large degree. There are a variety of tactics, tools, and resources you can use to increase web traffic. In this article, I'll share with you the specific resources I've used to increase my website traffic and generate a large annual income online. More specifically, I'll tell you some of the secret tools I've used to drive targeted web traffic.

Google Adwords

If you want to know how to increase web traffic instantly, then learn about Google Adwords. This is the most targeted form of marking on the Internet. However, it requires that you have a marketing budget and can realize a positive return on your investment.

Google Adwords allow you to drive traffic to your website using a specific keyword or phrase. Your ad appears across the Internet on websites displaying relative content. When users click on your ad, they are redirected to your web site. You must pay each time a user clicks on your ad which can get expensive, especially because a click does not guarantee a sale. Therefore, before using Google Adwords, you must fully understand how to increase web traffic using online marketing techniques such as cost per click and generating a positive ROI.

Optimizing your Webpages

A much simpler method to increasing web traffic is to optimize your homepage using on-page and off-page optimization techniques. The best part of this method is that it costs nothing! Learn to employ on-page optimization techniques such as using your selected keyword phrase in your meta tags (page title, description, etc.), as the title of your page using h1 tags, and sprinkling your keyword phrase throughout your text. Lastly, you want your keyword phrase to appear as the last thing on the page. These techniques alone are sure to increase your web traffic by improving search engine results.

Off-page optimization techniques are quite simple, yet more difficult to achieve. If you want to improve your search engine results and therefore increase your web traffic, then you must build links to your web page. This can be done through a link exchange program, directory submissions, or purchasing one-way links to your website. Don't forget how to increase web traffic by combining on-page and off-page optimization techniques.

Low Budget Online Marketing Techniques

If you don't have a budget to throw at online marketing, you may want to use some tried and true marketing techniques that require little or no investment other than your time and some basic HTML programming knowledge:

• Build an opt-in list that you can market to over and over again by offering something of value in exchange for an email list.
  
• Use viral marketing (referrals) to have your website visitors generate links to your website such as “email a friend”.
  
• Generate compelling “one-time-offers” to get users to take action and optimize these offers on their own web page so that the search engines can pick them up.
  
• Focus your website copy using the WIIFM concept (what's in it for me?). By doing so, users will find your site engaging a recommend others to visit your site.
  
• Develop an affiliate program and get others to generate traffic to your website by offering a commission when selling your products or giving you referrals.
  
• Use testimonials one your site and see your on-site purchase rates skyrocket! Using this technique alone to increase web traffic has generated thousands of conversion that I otherwise would not have had.
  

These are just a few of the marketing techniques I've used over the past few years to generate serious online income. I learned these techniques and a number of others from a report I read online about web marketing techniques. I usually don't recommend someone else's products, but if you're serious about generating an online income, you should check out the Butterfly Marketing Report. It really helped me understand basic marketing techniques and apply them quickly to generate a steady monthly income. If you want to check it out, just click here or serch on Google for traffic generating strategies in your specific market niche.


Increasing Web Traffic by submitting your site to Web Directories

I couldn't believe how many websites offer free directories for those seeking specific information on the web. After doing a number of Google searches, I quickly found one powerful way to answer the question of how to increase web traffic, Search Directories. You can submit to a lot of web directories, but the most popular is DMOZ. Dmoz is the Internet's largest human edited directory. The drawback is that it takes a long time to get your website listed. So if you haven't already submitted your site, go to DMOZ.org to find a relevant category and submit your site.

Using these techniques and a number of others, I have learned how to increase website traffic. What's great is that I do so without spending a large sum of money. The best investment you can make is to read all you can about online marketing techniques that show you how to increase web traffic and apply them.

* Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet's biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for further details, Internet marketing secrets, or more FREE reprint articles at http://www.marketingscoop.com/increase-web-traffic.htm.

This article also available at GoArticles.com

Online Marketing Made Easy

By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

For anyone interested in growing their business or maximizing the return of their marketing spend, online marketing is one of the most effective means of doing so. Online marketing is effective as a part of a well developed marketing plan.

What is Online Marketing? Online marketing has come to mean many things. You can consider online advertising, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, and even SEO (search engine optimization) as online marketing. It has also changed and evolved over the last decade. With the advent of Google Adsense and other forms of targeted, pay-per-click advertising, online marketing means a whole lot more than 468 X 60 banners.

When thinking about the types of online marketing available today, you really need to think about the objectives of your online marketing spend. Are you looking to sell a product? Drive prospects to your web site or marketing pages? Create awareness for your company? The most important thing to remember is that your online placement, creative, and offer must be consistent across the web and your own website or retail establishment. This creates a seamless buying experience, increasing the odds of a purchase being made once a browser clicks on your online marketing creative.

As mentioned previously, online marketing also includes affiliate marketing - a method of utilizing partner sites to distribute your products or services. One of the best methods of developing an affiliate network is by providing content in addition to an aggressive affiliate commission plan. Other web sites seek out content and useful information. If you can provide meaningful content to partner sites with an opportunity to earn money at the same time, they're likely to participate in your affiliate program.

It's important to realize that Search Engine Optimization is also a component of online marketing. Too often, SEO is not considered part of the online marketing mix. However, it is one of the most important aspects of an online marketing campaign. When launching a new product or marketing an existing one, make sure that it's easy for individuals to find your website and offer page. Browsers who see your online ads may not click right away. Rather, prospective buyers may later be searching for your promotion when a specific need arises. Think about the keywords prospects may use to search for your offer and optimize your pages accordingly. Also, be sure to link to your promotional pages from your web site's home page to optimize search result rankings.

Why is Online Marketing Important? Online marketing often provides direct responses and the ability to measure campaign effectiveness. This immediacy helps you to test your offer(s) and creative, as well as measure the overall return on your marketing investment. Having the ability to evaluate effectiveness in real time allows you to reposition your marketing spend or switch out creative to increase results.

With more than 68% of homes having internet access and about two-thirds of them having a high speed connection, the web has become a reality. If you wish to reach the majority of consumers, you need to include online marketing as part of your overall marketing mix. Online marketing also gives you the opportunity to segment your market, providing highly targeted positioning. Unlike traditional advertising, online advertising allows you to select the sites upon which you run your ads. There are also many services which help you deliver ads around appropriate topics or contextual pages.

Best know for contextual and pay-per-click advertising, Google allows you to choose specific keywords around which your ad can be displayed. When individuals search on the keywords you've selected, your ads will appear. The power of Google is the affiliate network they've created which displays their contextual ads across hundreds of thousands of websites. Despite recent allegations of click fraud, Google still provides one of the most targeted online marketing options. Other services, like Overture, owned by Yahoo! provide similar services that deliver targeted online marketing.

Who Can Benefit? Anyone who is interested in improving their marketing results should think about the role that online marketing plays in their marketing mix. Because there are so many ways to engage in online marketing including advertising, contextual ads, pay-per-click advertising, affiliate programs and more, the practice is sure to benefit anyone who is seeking a measurable return on investment.

Before beginning any online marketing campaign, you should always determine your budget - how much you're willing to invest in your marketing efforts. Ask yourself how much you're willing to spend? What type of conversion will you need to break even? What you anticipate your click to purchase ratio will be? Understanding these fundamental financial metrics is essential to determining how much you're willing to spend on your online marketing efforts.

How to Begin. Starting your online marketing campaign can be as simple as bidding on a few keywords or as complex as developing a comprehensive online marketing campaign that consists of multiple buys across a network of websites. As with any new marketing venture, it's best to start small and work your way up to more intricate marketing campaigns.

My recommendation for beginning your online marketing initiative is to focus on your own site (developing promotional banners, buttons, and content), creating an affiliate program, and pay-per click advertising. The first two methods should cost little or nothing to implement and will propel your online marketing forward. Supplemented with pay-per-click advertising, your marketing message is sure to reach your intended audience.

* Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of online marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit Marketingscoop.com for further details, Internet marketing secrets, Marketing Blog Directory, and more FREE reprint articles.

Marketing on a Shoestring

By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

In the ever-changing world of marketing one thing remains constant, the high cost of traditional marketing. If you're a small business, or even a medium to large size business with a small marketing budget, then you need to explore marketing tactics that cost little or no money but have the promise of generating large returns.

It is possible to create effective marketing campaigns on a small budget. The most cost effective techniques can be found in print and online. In particular, affiliate programs, link building campaigns, and post card/landing page campaigns can generate significant returns at little or no cost. Depending on your list and offer, such campaigns can generate a better return than some traditional forms of media.

1. Affiliate Programs

Established affiliate programs like Commission Junction (CJ) charge publishers
hundreds, even thousands of dollars to join their publisher network. However, you don't need to join an established affiliate program to begin affiliate marketing. Although sites like CJ provide many benefits such as a large pool of potential websites who can display your ads and manage commission payments, the expense may be too large for those on a tight budget. A simple alternative is to start your own affiliate program and market the program through your own website, business cards, and email.

Beginning your own affiliate program is easier than you think. Although it does require some programming knowledge, there are many examples out there you can follow. Additionally, a quick Google search on affiliate programs can produce information on affiliate program software vendors that can help you get up and running in as little as 2 to 3 days for a few hundred dollars.

Once your program is up and running, you can easily advertise it on your web site. Additionally, you should think about other touch points (email signatures, receipts, etc.) where you can communicate your affiliate program and the benefits to others willing to sell your products or services.

2. Link Building Campaigns

Increasing your natural search results is a surefire way to increase web traffic. The more targeted traffic you receive, the more transactions you can potentially create on your site. One of the most effective ways to improve search engine results for your website is to increase the number of in-bound links. To do so, begin a link building campaign.

Simply start your link building campaign by visiting Google and typing in the keyword or keyword phrase that you have optimized your website for. Write down the top 10 URLs that appear in the results list. Now, visit a Google search box and type in the name of the first URL on the list preceded by "link:" For example, "link: www.marketingscoop.com", this will show you how many sites link to that URL (your top competitor's website) and who they are. Follow the same procedure for the remaining nine websites and enter the information into a spreadsheet.

Once you've identified the top competitive sites, and the sites that link to them, you can take a variety of approaches to receive a link from those sites. The simplest way is to visit the sites and contact the site administrator requesting a link. Your message can simply state that you would like a link to your site, providing access to free content or information. You can also proactively place a link for the site you're contacting on your website's partner page (or a link page that you create) and note that you have already linked to them and say that you would appreciate a reciprocal link.

The second way to receive a link is to actually call the website, if an 800 number is provided, or send a letter requesting a link. Although time consuming, this could generate some important links for your website.

3. Post Card/Jump Page

Direct marketing experts say that results are 40% dependant on your marketing list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on your creative. This is a good rule to follow when thinking about a direct mail campaign. Post cards provide a good way to reach a targeted audience at a low cost. Even if you are not a designer, it's relatively simple to create a post card. Search the internet for a provider who can design a post card for you. Be sure to shop around though, pricing varies a great deal among online designers and printers.

An effective way to leverage your post card campaign is to provide an online offer. If you target individuals appropriately and give them a compelling reason to visit your website, then you will generate traffic and transactions. Be sure to capture an individual's name, address, and/or email once they hit your website and ask for permission to market to them on a going forward basis.

Track your campaigns carefully and continue to experiment with new lists and offers. It's best to develop your own marketing list with an opt-in on your registration pages or by offering free information - usually in the form of a newsletter. Many sites are now offering RSS feeds, a great way to get information to your registrants in real time.

Making Your Marketing Work

The key to making your marketing work on a shoestring budget is to begin with low cost, effective marketing tactics. Once you've begin your marketing campaigns, you can expand your success by trying different things with your audience. Don't be afraid to experiment, try new tactics - new lists, new offers, new partnership opportunities. Track your results and continue to refine your approach. Follow the suggestions above and before you know it you'll have more than a shoestring marketing budget to work with!

* Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit Marketingscoop.com for further details, Internet marketing secrets, Marketing Blog Directory and more FREE reprint articles.

Where to report spam violation (link techniques to fool search engines)?

If you spot unethical spam techniques on website (whether it is your competitor or not), you can report to search engines directly using the following email address/website:Search Engine Contact:ask.com reportviolations@askjeeves.comOpen directory staff@dmoz.orgGoogle www.google.com/contact/spamreport.htmlMSN support.msn.com/feedbacksearch.aspxYahoo! add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/

Good linkages are important for your page rank too!

Wondering why some pages are very well optimized (with lots of keywords) and still not rank as high as the other pages that has less keywords?The answer might lie here.. the pages which rank high might have a lot of good links (will define good below) to its pages. Many search marketing experts claims that as little as 25 high-quality links to a site can increase its ranking in search engine

Integrated Marketing Delivers Results

By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

If you're looking to maximize the return on your marketing spend, than you need to develop an integrated marketing campaign. An integrated marketing campaign uses more than one medium to communicate a message to your audience. Integrated marketing can also mean a marketing campaign that leverages the power of different media types to move a suspect through the process of becoming a customer.

The most successful marketing campaigns begin with the media type that particular prospects use regularly. For example, generation Y is very engaged with direct mail. Studies have shown that individuals who fall within this consumer segment spend a lot of time opening and reading their mail. That being the case, you want to make sure that your first contact with generation Y prospects is aligned with their messaging preference of direct marketing.

Once you've decided where to start, you need to think about other media regularly used by your target segment. Following the example above, let's assume that the same individuals who read their mail also check email regularly. With at least two marketing mediums identified, you're ready to begin planning your next integrated marketing campaign.

Begin with the end in mind. If you are looking to sell a product, you need to think about the audience, message, offer, and timing of your campaign. Having identified the proper marketing vehicles/media you'll be using, develop marketing pieces in a consistent manner. You want the look, feel, and tone of your communications to be related across all media types if not identical. Most importantly, communicate your unique selling proposition throughout all marketing touch points.

To continue with the example above, let's assume that we're going to be selling widgets to a sub-segment of our generation Y audience. We will begin with a direct mail piece describing the needs of our audience and how our widgets are the only ones that come with a money-back guarantee. Recipients of the piece are asked to visit a special web page that provides a product demo. The same message is sent via email to the same audience- ensuring maximum exposure.

When visitors log on to our specialty web page, they enter a code to access the demo. At the conclusion of the demo, browsers are offered a discount if they place an order online and an inquiry form. Prospects wishing to delay their purchase can request additional information through the inquiry form provided.

For individuals who entered their code to access the demo but did not purchase, an email is generated with an even more aggressive offer - attempting to convert them. This can be accomplished through unique tracking URLs or codes that prospects need to be enter prior to viewing a demo. This is very similar to those marketing campaigns that take advantage of abandoned shopping carts! For those individuals requesting more information, a telesales representative would contact them, again stressing our key message points such as the money back guarantee.

This integrated campaign utilizes mail, email, a webpage, and phone. However, similar campaigns could use any additional media types that are appropriate (advertising, public relations, outdoor, etc.). The key is to produce an integrated marketing campaign with a consistent message. Once you've completed your campaign, its time to quantify results and determine what generated your greatest response. Did your direct marketing piece generate visits to your webpage? Did those users convert? How about your email? This information will be helpful when doing similar marketing campaigns in the future, providing guidance to fine tune the media used, the messaging, and/or your offer.

It is again important to stress that integrated marketing should be driven by the communication preferences of your audience. Develop a deeper understanding of how your audience makes decisions and the types of media they use to gather and analyze product information. Then be sure to put these media types at the center of your integrated marketing campaign. Never forget, "The Media Is the message."

* Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit Marketingscoop.com for further details, Internet marketing secrets, Marketing Blog Directory and more FREE reprint articles.

The best image host for your blog, website or e-bay store!

Need to host images for your blog, your website or your e-bay store? Seriously, I have tried many different image hosts until I found this one: Allyoucanupload.com. Personally, I think this one is the best!!!The upload time is fast and it is extremely easy to use. All you need to do is to select your file and click the "upload" button. You can then copy the html code generated (the one

Marketing to Generation X and Y

By Michael Fleischner | Marketing Expert, Internet Marketing Secrets*

If you're trying to market to adults who were born between 1965 and 1994, then you need to understand the best method for reaching generation X and generation Y.

Who is Generation X? Gen Xers were born between 1965 - 1976 and make up about 17% of the U.S. population. As a whole, this group is both independent and skeptical, existing in the shadow of Baby Boomers. As this group moves into their 30s and 40s, Gen Xers are establishing themselves as consumers who are starting families and buying homes.

Who is Generation Y? Individuals born between 1977 - 1994 are considered Gen Yers and make up about 25% of the U.S. population. This group is generally idealistic, optimistic, and patriotic. They consume media in extremely fragmented ways, representing the next big wave in our demographic makeup.

Gen Xers and Gen Yers have a number of things in common. Both groups grew up with recessions, single-parent households, cable TV, the Internet and other personal technology. Consequently, these groups consume media differently than earlier generations. Communicating with them through traditional marketing channels can be difficult. So, how can you reach these groups, communicate your message, and get them to take action?

The answer is more traditional than you think. In combination with online marketing, direct mail is one of the most powerful ways to market to both Gen X and Y. According to a recent study conducted by InnoMedia, NuStats, and Vertis, 87% of Gen Y and 86% of Gen X bring in the mail the day it's delivered. 73% of Gen Y and 68% of Gen X retail direct mail readers have used coupons received in the mail. Gen X and Y consumers rate 75% of the mail they receive as valuable.

To reach Gen X and Y with direct mail, there are number of basic marketing practices you should keep in mind. Before discussing these tips, keep in mind that your direct mail efforts can be supplemented with online marketing in the form of targeted site advertising, key word buys, or perhaps giving consumers a reason to visit you online via email (contests, sweepstakes, discounts, etc.).

Direct Mail is most effective when you understand your audience, time your campaign appropriately, provide a compelling offer, and develop a relevant message.

• Audience. Knowing your audience is essential for the success of any direct marketing campaign. Having information about Gen Xers or Yers in general terms is a place start, but you need to dig deeper and develop a fuller understanding of the segment. You should know what motivates them, what there greatest pains are, their latent needs, and what products or solutions they currently use. Once you've gotten to know your audience, other marketing criteria can fall into place.
  


• Timing. Communicating your message at the right time can make all the difference in your marketing results. Selling tax software immediately after April 15th won't produce the results you're looking for. Therefore, you need to have an understanding of your audience's timeline and when they are in the market to buy your product or service. Be sure to reach them with enough time to respond to your offer, but don't leave it open ended.
  


• Offer. Many consumers need a reason to buy, especially Gen Xers who are normally skeptical. Your offer should provide some benefit to the buyer as well as provide some level of comfort in moving forward with a purchase. This can be in the form of a satisfaction guarantee or something similar. One great technique is to place your offer on the outside of the envelope that contains your marketing materials. This can help to differentiate your mail and get your envelope opened by prospects.
  


• Message. Your message needs to resonate with prospective buyers. Do you understand their needs? Have you communicated benefits as well as features? Are you solving a problem for them? Have you provided a simple, yet compelling message? Many direct marketers talk about the "long" letter versus the "short" letter. There are a number of studies that validate the use of both long a short letters in a direct marketing pieces. As long as your message resonates with buyers, it doesn't matter how long it is. Be sure to test your messages on an ongoing basis.

If you're marketing to either Generation X, Y, or both, use direct mail in your marketing mix. Individuals in these groups respond to direct mail. Keep in mind however, that a direct marketing piece should be supplemented with other forms of marketing - Internet marketing, search engine optimization, advertising, etc. Direct mail is your key to success with Generations X and Y when used as the main vehicle of your marketing campaign.

* Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit Marketingscoop.com for further details, Internet marketing secrets, and more FREE reprint articles.