Universal Search - Changing the Way You Use the Internet

Have you heard of Universal Search? It could very possibly changes the way that you use the Internet. Scott Buresh - SEO Giant, shares his views with us on the topic...

Organic search engine optimization, until recently, had been a fairly straightforward endeavor. The goal was to optimize the content on a website so that it would show up in the organic results on one or more of the major search engines - results that were comprised of nothing but other websites. However, in the middle of May 2007, Google began rolling out its new "Universal Search," something it had been working on behind the scenes for several years. This new search option may have long-term repercussions for every search engine optimization company in the industry if it is something that is preferred by the public at large and if it becomes the standard going forward.

What is Universal Search?
Someone using Google's Universal Search will find that a query brings back results that encompass not only web pages, but also videos, blogs, images, news articles, and other media available online. While Google already had in place options for searching each of these areas individually, many searchers did not notice those options or did not know how to use them, a phenomenon that became known as "invisible tabs."

With Universal Search, there's no need to select a separate menu item - the search will return results that encompass many different types of media. For example, a search for "breakdancing" might bring up not only web pages about breakdancing, but also blog posts about it, videos showing technique, and news articles about it. It would not, however, give you the reason why you were wearing parachute pants and trapped in the eighties.

However, Universal Search hasn't been rolled out fully yet. Currently, certain terms will give Universal results, while other searches will remain the same as before. This is a classic Google move - roll something out gradually, see how it plays in the public eye, and then decide what to do from there. Basically, Universal Search as it exists right now is very likely to change, depending on user feedback.

And if the limited queries that now return Universal Search results do not garner positive responses, it's likely that Google will revert to its previous, webpage predominated results. They obviously don't want to lose market share, and they already learned a valuable lesson not long ago when they released a new algorithm that was poorly received and which was subsequently dialed back.

What are the Benefits of Universal Search?

Universal Search brings several benefits to searchers. A searcher no longer has to specify the media he or she is looking for - one keyphrase search will cover everything. And the results from a search will be more comprehensive in many instances, giving a well-rounded picture to the searcher that may include better information than would previously have been found in a search of just one type of media.

What are the Drawbacks of Universal Search?

The problem with Universal Search is that it can muddy the results, and it can also introduce irrelevant results that a searcher cannot use. A search for "Paris Hilton" (ever heard of her?) will bring up news, videos, and other information about the heiress. But it will also bring up a map of the city of Paris showing locations of Hilton hotels, something most searchers that typed that exact phrase probably did not have in mind. Plus, 28% of Internet users are still using slow dialup connections according to RVA Market Research. Many of these people are likely not interested in videos or other results that require much bandwidth, and such users may turn away from Universal Search entirely - there are, after all, other search engines. No, really - there are.

In addition, there is no way to turn off Universal Search; as it exists right now, it is part of the standard "Web" search, eliminating the ability to simply search web pages and introducing a new wrinkle in search engine optimization efforts. Now, a website is competing not only with other websites, but also with all the other media that will be included in the results that an average searcher achieves. And Universal Search makes it difficult for Google itself to determine the relevance between different types of media, since the factors that determine a web page's relevance are much different than those that would determine a video's relevance, for example.

What Can You Do Now to Make Sure Your Site Is Ready to be Found in a Universal Search?

Clearly, Universal Search will change how an SEO campaign is run if it catches on. But this is a real if - users' search habits are hard to change overnight, even if you are Google and you essentially define what searching is and how it works. If it does catch on, you'll need to analyze the industry you are in and figure out which types of media might be most important for you. For example, if you are a real estate firm, images of the buildings and homes you are selling might become a very important part of your site, and so you will want to focus on adding alt tags to each image so that not only does your site show up for certain keyphrases, but your images do as well. If you are a business services firm, you instead might want to focus on news items produced by your company - press releases and white papers - and make sure that those are available to search engine spiders and optimized for critical phrases.

If you are working with an outside search engine optimization company already, now is the time to ask what they plan to do in regard to Universal Search. Your search engine optimization company should at least have an awareness of the magnitude of this new way to search on Google and should be able to present you with some sort of plan of attack, even if they plan to wait to embark upon the plan until they know for sure that Universal Search is going to catch on. If you are looking into hiring an outside search engine optimization company to launch a new campaign, the same holds true - ask your contacts at the firm how they are planning to handle Universal Search. They should at least be familiar with the concept and have a general outline to present to you.

Conclusion

If you thought that it was just Google that was working on what it calls Universal Search, think again. Yahoo, MSN, and Ask, as well as several minor search engines such as A9, are all working on their own versions of a universal search that will display different media types. These versions are currently still in the testing phase, but they could be rolled out at any time. What all this means for you and your search engine optimization company is that the face of SEO will be changing dramatically over the next several months - or it won't. Only time will tell.

About The Author
Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue Search Engine Marketing, which was recently named the number one search engine optimization company in the world by PromotionWorld. Visit MediumBlue.com to request a custom SEO guarantee of your company's search engine performance.

3 Techniques for Improving Your AdWords Campaigns

To succeed with AdWords think differently

By Chris McNeeney DayJobKiller

Three techniques that will instantly improve your chances

Being an affiliate in 2007 is not all it's cracked up to be. Take it from someone who knows - the products you promote, the ad groups you create, the pre-sell you choose ... it all has an impact on the level of success you attain as an affiliate.

The "old school" techniques that worked two years ago will not set you up for life ... not any more, with the level of competition being what it is.

And now for the solution: "Think differently."

Rather than give you a general "how to do this" article, what follows are three techniques that will instantly boost your chances of success by a sizeable percentage, each time you heed my advice.

If you are a newbie affiliate, you should refer to the free material on the web to familiarise yourself with basic concepts such as how to use AdWords, how to write pre-sells, etc.

Here are a series of techniques I use to leveraged myself from zero to seven figure success in less than 12 months. The list is not exhaustive and I do not have time to cover them thoroughly here, but to many of you they will be the extra trick you need to start generating affiliate income, be it from ClickBank or another network.

Advantage 1 - Limit yourself to the Daddy of all keywords

If you are promoting affiliate products on AdWords and tend to lose hundreds of dollars at a time, never making a sale (and then repeating the process, sound familiar?), here's a technique which will (1) ensure you rarely lose on AdWords, even if you don't always win big, (2) increase your chances of finding a winning campaign 10 times over. Ready for it? Only ever bid on the keyword that relates to the product you are promoting. Selling a Sony DVD recorder? Only bid on the keyword [sony DVDR550] or whatever. Selling a ClickBank product? Only bid on the keyword [affiliate project x] etc. Do not try to bid on broad keywords to start.

Rather than spend $100 promoting one product, spend $5 on 20 products (there are far fewer searches for product names, but when you do get clicks, they often convert at 5% to 20% or more). Typically you will find many of these campaigns are profitable, even if the volume is far less than you would otherwise want. Deal with it. It's better to get rich slow than go broke fast.

You can in turn promote the product via pre-sells, squeeze pages, or whatever you like... but if you only ever promote the product via the super-targeted [product name] keyword, you will get a small amount of consistent super targeted traffic. You should expect to pay more per click, but the chance of someone searching for the product name and buying is extremely high. In summary, if you are losing cash on Adwords, restrict your promotions to a very narrow band of super-targeted, highly profitable keywords: only bid on the product brand name.

You can get clever and open up your keyword list only when you are making money from the campaign. This instantly stops you getting into the "get lots of clicks, lose money fast, stop and repeat" dynamic that most affiliates fall prey to.

Advantage 2 - Tracks keywords religiously

One thing I have found is that the majority of ClickBank affiliates throw up Adwords ads on a dozen keywords, lose cash and give up. Very often, they will get a few sales but still make a loss.

At first, I just thought this was due to mediocre niches or products. The affiliate could try to lower his or her average cost per click, or give up on the product altogether. Nothing else could be done, I thought. However, what I now realize is that a large part of the problem is the keywords the affiliate is bidding on. You now know that the [product name] keyword is a great one to bid on. What you might not know is that there is a huge amount of variance between even GENERIC keywords.

To give you an example, I set up two ad groups for an ebook on how to date beautiful women. I had two ad groups - one based around the keyword [seduce women] and one based around the keyword [attract women]. At first glance, both appear pretty similar. You would imagine the conversion rates wouldn't be too different. Same consumer, same generic key term - same conversions - right?

Wrong.

What I have found is that my [seduce women] ad group converts at over FOUR TIMES the rate of the [attract women] ad group.

Why is this the case? There are various reasons - it could be that the [seduce women] searchers are far more qualified as they are older / richer / more interested in the niche. And there could be a million and one other reasons. I also found that the keyword [get laid] converts at a reasonable level, somewhere in between the first two. In truth, it is sometimes difficult to work out exactly why the conversion rates differ AFTER the stats come out. And if you try to guess before you start the ad running, it will even tougher - especially if you know nothing about the niche.

In short, you need to track, track, track. Luckily, ClickBank now allow for a tracking code - so you can use one code per ad group to see EXACTLY where your sales are coming from.

Even generic keywords are not created equal, and you will find it difficult to turn a profit with AdWords unless you use one tracking code per ad group as a raw minimum. If you don't, you are probably wasting 30% to 70% of your ad spend - and giving up on niches thay may well be profitable.

Advantage 3 - Cheap ClickBank product selection - the easy way

The hottest products to promote are invariably the new ones - that is true for physical products (PlayStation 3 anyone?), but it is also true for ebooks, which brings me to the biggest affiliate network for digital products, ClickBank.com.

ClickBank lists its latest products in a separate category, titled "New products". Here is a simple technique that fits in the above guidelines - each week, 50 to 100 new products are added to the ClickBank marketplace.

In our experience, do you know what factor precedes a product about to blow? The number of brand searches for that product. If five people search for [affiliate project x] today and 50 tomorrow, it's about to blow, BUT you wouldn't be able to see this by glancing at the ClickBank marketplace until it's too late...

So, that's the background; here's how we are going to do market research on new products AND only promote on super targeted keywords. First, each time a new product is launched on ClickBank, set up a single AdWords ad for that product targeted the [product name] keyword. Chances are, at this early stage there will be no other affiliates there (and often not even the merchant).

We simply throw up a direct affiliate link (going straight through our hoplink). Ideally, cloak the link and upload it to your website (so you get around Google's "double serving" rule). We insert a bid price of $0.50 - and let it run. For 90% of the products there, you will get very few searches (but quite a few clicks). However, every so often, the product will suddenly start go gather steam - which is the opportune time to go to the next step and write a full pre-sell for the product, or start promoting it on broader keywords (as now it has been proven to convert). You can see which products are getting popular by looking at the impressions for each product - if any product suddenly starts to get lots of impressions, you should take a closer look.

This method allows you to use AdWords impressions to track market research, and also to pay cents for super targeted clicks that no one else is bidding on. It's a time consuming technique, but it works.

Chris McNeeney is the author of three hugely popular ebooks, AdWords Miracle, Affiliate Project X and Day Job Killer. For in-depth advice on how to profitably promote affiliate products using AdWords, get his ruthless new ebook, Day Job Killer.

Finally - A Top Secret Way You Can Get Google AdWords Pay-Per-Clicks FREE

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of pad advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved.
Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines.
One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique ... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

It is currently available at:

Free Google Ads

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in targeted advertising now made freely available to the rest of us?

To your success,

-Michael

Page Rank... What Does it Mean? What Does it Matter?

A lot of website owners are upset or puzzled when their website's Google PageRank goes down or does not rise. Is it worth losing any sleep over changes in that green line and number that appear in a Google tool bar at the top of your browser? I think that excessive worry or thought about PageRank is not constructive, and it is better to put it all in perspective by taking a rational look at what PageRank is and what it is not.

First of all the concept behind PageRank is indeed at the heart of Google's ranking process. The Google founders came from academia and they noticed that in many academic documents some sources were continually cited. They reasoned that if a particular document such as a book or research paper was mentioned in many places then it must be important. They applied this to the web and assumed that if one website links to another it is in fact, giving a "vote" for that site. A website that has many incoming links must have a certain degree of importance. In the current Google algorithm the quantity and quality of incoming links is certainly a factor in deciding the ranking of a particular website for any given search-query.

Think about it. In the early days of the web people would build websites and then they would tell their visitors to chëck out other "cool" sites and they would link to these sites. This is the process of natural linking and it still goes on. If you really have good content, people will link to you without letting you know. Similarly, if your name is Bob Dylan and your website is BobDylan.com, thousands of people will link to you without you having to send a cheesy email begging for a link.

Various government agencies, educational institutions, established companies and anyone else who is "big" in the "real world" is likely to also be big on the Internet simply by virtue of their previous fame and accomplishment. Google's ranking system took this into consideration and this is one of the reasons why Google is currently the number one search engine. It gives better results and that is why people use it.

But, does that mean that only the big players can be seen on the net? Far from it. While there is a difference between one guy working in his house with one computer and a corporate giant with a whole staff, and this is indeed reflected in rankings, the Internet provides a much leveler playing field than in yesteryear.

Prior to 1995, it would have been very hard for someone to spread their news and views far and wide as bloggers do today. It costs millíons of dollars to publish a daily newspaper or to print and circulate a magazine, but it costs far less to publish a website or a blog, and lots of "little guys" have taken advantage of the power of the Internet.

But what about PageRank, how much of it do I really need to get my site noticed? For those who are not familiar with the PageRank system. Google supplies a tool bar which you can download and install on your browser. If you make a complete installation with all the advanced features, then every time you open a new website you will see a green and white bar with the label PageRank. Put your mouse on the bar and you will see a number from 0 to 10. If a website is not indexed by Google or banned by Google, the bar may be grey or all white.

But what do the numbers mean? I had a client who was worried about his number 3 PageRank figure and based on my observation I answered him with my unofficial view on the rankings.

Here is how I currently see it:

PageRank 0-2 shows that a site does not have many links and needs work, However, and this a big "however," it may not really affect your search engine rankings. I have a client with a page rank of 2 and his site ranks well, even number one, for several search terms in a fairly competitive industrial category. So PageRank is not everything; it may have an impact on your rankings and traffíc, but in some cases it may not matter. In any case if you have a PageRank of 0-2, you can work on it through proper link building activity which I will explain at the end of the article.

PageRank 3 can be OK in some cases but in highly competitive industries you should work to improve it.

PageRank 4 is quite a normal number and indicates that you have enough links in either quantity or quality to make your site competitive.

PageRank 5 indicates that a site has many links or links from authoritative sites, and that Google has good "trust" in the site. It is a respectable and attainable PageRank.

PageRank 6 is very difficult to attain. This rank indicates that the site has many links and links from respected places. Remember the example of BobDylan.com which I mentioned above; it has a PageRank 6, so you can get an idea of the difficulty involved.

PageRank 7-10 is usually earned by large and established institutions or websites which have tremendous authority, due to the quantity and quality of the incoming links. It is extremely difficult to attain this ranking. You really have to be special to get it.

So, don't worry excessively about PageRank. First look at your traffíc, then look at your sales and finally at your bottom line. They are the important numbers to watch. If you want to íncrease your traffíc and also PageRank, then here are a few steps that you can take:

1. Add content to your website. Make your website so good and so useful that people will link to you without you asking for a link.

2. Write articles and get them published on other websites and blogs with a link back to your site.

3. Distribute online press releases

4. Judiciously exchange links, or even better, exchange content (containing links back to your site) with other websites.

5. Get your site listed in online directories.

These efforts will certainly help you to build targeted traffíc, and they most probably will also help you to increase your PageRank as well.

Special thanks to Don Nelson for the post!

Web 2.0... Is It Here to Stay or Passing Fad?

If you've ever read my blog you know that I'm a big believer in what's called Web 2.0. Social media is at the core of the web. It's all about sharing information and Web 2.0 is here to stay.

The term Web 2.0 has come to dramatically increased usage over the past few years. Many people have since begun to appropriate this hot new buzzword for their own websites while others are not quite so eager to embrace this new concept, considering it little more than an inappropriately named web-marketing gimmick. It has clearly polarized the web into two opposing camps, of adherents on the one hand and skeptics on the other. Yet in spite of all this - or perhaps because of this - there is still plenty of confusion and controversy surrounding Web 2.0. What is it exactly? And are the changes to the way the Internet has come to be used in recent years really significant enough to warrant this name?

The phrase itself is attributed to O'Reilly media, the company who coined it in 2003. Subsequently, the first Web 2.0 conference, which was held in 2004, brought it into widespread public consciousness. A series of conferences hosted by O'Reilly media has made the term even more popular than ever and facilitated the adoption of it by many industry pundits. The term as it has come to be used by O'Reilly media, refers to what many in the Internet industry perceive to be the second wave of Web-based communities and hosted services, following the first wave of communities which flourished during the initial Internet boom. These web sites encompass social networking sites, wiki sites and folksonomies - all of which share the trait of encouraging and facilitating content collaboration and sharing among its many users.

Perhaps some of the confusion surrounding the use of the term Web 2.0 stems from the fact that it does not actually signify a change or an update to the technical specification of the World Wide Web as we have come to know it. Instead it more appropriately describes the widespread changes that many systems developers have implemented in the way that they use the existing web platform. The founder of O'Reilly media, Tim O'Reilly has himself termed it a business revolution in the computer industry that was caused by the move to the Internet as a platform. He further goes on to say that attempts to come to grips with the rules for success on that new platform is an integral part of Web 2.0.

On his own blog, Tim O'Reilly wrote a compact yet more detailed definition of the term and refers to Web 2.0 as his view of the network as a platform that encompasses all the devices that are connected to it. According to him, Web 2.0 applications are the applications that are in the best position to take advantage of most of the inherent benefits of that platform. The means by which they can achieve this is through the delivery of software to the public that is continuously updated and generates its content through the merging of data from many different sources, which may include the individual end user. The Web 2.0 applications in turn generate their own data as well as services in a way that other users can readily mix according to their own needs. This paradigm clearly goes beyond the nature of Web 1.0 into a network that is built upon as O'Reilly calls it "(an) architecture of participation". The end result is a richer web experience for the end user by way of applications that actually get better the more they are used.

To further illustrate the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, it may help to view Web 1.0 as primarily focused on the connectivity between computers and a way to make technology work better for computers, while Web 2.0 strives to link people together and make technology work better for people.

While some people would disagree with this last illustration - and indeed claim that the opposite is actually more accurate - the fact remains that the Web 2.0 is increasingly reliant on the varied input from its users and the dividing line between people and technology is becoming more and more blurred as time goes on.

While computer mediation is still - and will probably remain for the foreseeable future - an integral part of the new paradigm, the utilization of the collective input from its users will bring about a continuous improvement of the particular application based on the same users' interaction with it.

The clear shift in focus from "technology" to "people" is perhaps no better illustrated by the change in technological demands from the '90s to the present. While many users previously focused their requests on solutions to very specific technological demands, the overwhelming clamor nowadays is for applications that allow for far more end user intervention and input.
The controversy rages on as to the validity of the term Web 2.0, but by all indications it seems that it is here to stay.

About The Author

Mikhail Tuknov is a search engine optimization specialist providing web site search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) management and web analytics services.

Woman and Men... Marketing Differences

We all know that men and women are different. After a recent discussion with my wife this weekend I was reminded just how different - from a marketing and servicing perspective of course. My wife described a recent visit to the eye doctor for a regular checkup.

The doctor she has been seeing for the past few years wasn't available on the day of her appointment. So she saw a new doctor who had been practicing for a while but wasn't her "regular doctor". My wife very carefully described how this doctor did everything wrong. "This doctor didn't have the eye chart straight... this doctor didn't make sure I was sitting at the right height in the seat.. this doctor didn't ask me to follow his finger prior to checking my vision".


At the end of the appointment, my wife was extremely dissatisfied and asked the receptionist to schedule an appointment with "her doctor". She complained that she didn't feel right and didn't trust the perscription/information she was given.

A few days later my wife went back to have her eye exam with "her" doctor -the one she's been seeing once a year for the past couple of years. This time, the doctor did everything right... the chair was perfect, the chart was positioned correctly, and she even had her follow her finger with her eyes prior to viewing the chart. When I asked my wife, "So was the perscription any different?" She replies with a "NO... but I felt so much more comfortable".


Now that's a real eye opener. Most men, if they're anything like me, they want to get in and get out. As long as the doctor was pleasant, made eye contact, and didn't annoy me, then I'd be happy. For my wife however, her needs were significantly different. She wanted a doctor she was comfortable with. One that knew her and one she was familiar with (trusted).

Think about this story the next time you're making a marketing promise or watching how the folks in your call center respond to an inquiry. Are they building special relationships with customers? Are they establishing trust and a connection with the customers who need it? Maybe its a function of male versus female or maybe not. We could all use a little attention once in a while.

Affiliates... fact or fiction!

If you're an affiliate or sell affiliate products, you know the benefits and challenges of selling online. Many businesses have made a living selling other company's products and or services and I support their efforts - this is what makes online marketing great. In fact, in my daily business, we rely heavily on affiliates to reach segments or sub-segments that are either too difficult or too expensive for us to market to.

That said, I'm learning that there are a number of affiliates that aren't affiliates at all. Rather, these sites provide little value to potential customers or the companies they promote. What I'm talking about are affiliates that are dipping into our very own marketing efforts or leveraging our brand to guide buyers through their websites or affiliate channels unnecessarily.

One example of this is when a website buys our company name (which is a trademarked term by the way) and redirects users directly to our website. This is misleading because once redirected, the "affiliate" is taking a 20% commission on all sales. Of course we come up organically for our company name, so the affiliate is in essence taking away a prospect/customer that is already ours. I just think this practice is bordering on legitimate.

There are other issues I ponder about when it comes to affiliate marketing. Let me know your thoughts...

7 Search Engine Optimization Tips

Although the concept of SEO can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization practices you should note before starting any SEO related activity. These basic principles are essential for any web page or website for which you are attempting to optimize. Keep in mind that these are just some of the fundamental SEO practices you should consider. For a more complete list, visit the Search Engine Optimization Specialist at MarketingScoop.com.

1. MetaTags

Metatags are simple lines of code at the top of your page (source code) that tell the search engines about your page. I recommend that you be sure to include the following meta tags: title (no more than 7 words and unique for each page), keywords, description, author, and robots tag. The robots tag instructs the search engines to read all or some of your website.

2. Create or update your sitemap

Developing a site map is a simple yet highly effective way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. This ensures that the engine has an up-to-date record of your pages and content. The key to improving search engine results is making it easy for your website pages to be located and crawled. There is free software on the web (like www.xml-sitemaps.com) that helps you generate a sitemap. Once you create a sitemap for your website, submit to Google and Yahoo. Additionally, place a link to the site map on your home page.

3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML, not images

Too often I see navigation in the form of java script or images. Even though the navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. The benefit of creating your navigation in HTML is that you consistently build internal links throughout your website by keeping the navigation constant and easily identified by search engines.

4. Check that all images include ALT text

Your image alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in your alt text, your missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placement. Be sure to label your images appropriately and they may even show up as the number one result on Google. Additionally, Google has a database of images (Google Image Search) that indexes pictures as well.

5. Use Flash content sparingly

As mentioned earlier, content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. It’s okay to use sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic SEO in mind.

6. Make sure that important page elements are HTML

Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. Anything you've put together using an image or other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search engines. Therefore, the most important elements of your page, where the heart of your content is presented, should be presented in W3C optimized HTML source code.

7. Place keywords in your page content the right way

I’m sure you’ve heard the importance of placing the right keywords or keyword phrases in your content. To show the search engines that your article is focused on a particular keyword or keyword phrase, be sure to sprinkle it throughout the content. Additionally, include your keyword in headers and sub-heads. That is to say that your keyword should be contained in an h1, h2, or h3 tag.

Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and most of all, patience. Start with the basic principles I’ve outline here and you’re off to a good start. If you’re new to SEO, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important for you to optimize. Sometimes people think that they need to optimize all their pages right away and the task becomes too overwhelming.

Start small, begin with your primary and/or secondary pages, and go from there. For more help with your SEO efforts, visit the Search Engine Optimization Specialist at MarketingScoop.com.

Using Social Media Marketing to Increase Your Search Engine Results

Before I get started, it is worth defining social media. It has become a widely used and abused term that means different things to different people.

My definition of social media is:

'online technologies and practices that people use to share their opinions, insights and experiences with each other. Information can be shared as text, images, audio or video via blogs, message boards, wikis, RSS, podcasts and social networking sites'.

At the heart of social media is the ability of individuals to interact with other people so that they feel involved and part of a community. A big part of this phenomenon is the activity of finding, sharing and recommending products, services, events and experiences to like-minded people. This is where social media crosses over with marketing.

Social media can be a great way to have your website promoted by word-of-mouth.

If you can get people to talk about and recommend your services to their peers, it is more powerful than any marketing you can buy. So how can you get started?

How Can You Make Social Media Work for You?

The good news is it is easy to start the process of using social media to promote your website.

1) Create a MySpace Page

MySpace (www.myspace.com) is the largest and best-known social network. Individuals create profiles about themselves and then invite similarly minded people to become their online friends. When someone becomes a friend, you can communicate with them and subtly direct them towards your own website.

Setting up your own page is simple and free. Go to www.myspace.com and follow the instructions. Put up a brief description about yourself and a link to a more detailed biography page on your own website. Remember, the goal of this page is to drive people to your own site so make sure you get plenty of links included without overtly promoting your website.

Spend an hour every week developing your site and building your líst of friends. Invite relevant people to comment about your website.

2) Add Bookmarking Links to Your Article Pages

A big part of the social web is the ability for people to build lists of their favorite sites or articles. People with similar interests can then share their lists and benefit from other people's recommendations. If your website has free content, you should make these articles easy to bookmark or add to favorites lists. There are a lot of internet sites that now host and share bookmarks. You can add links to these sites to your article pages.

There are two ways of doing this. You can go to each of the leading bookmarking sites and download their code and links onto your site. The ones that you should include are:

• Digg - www.digg.com
• Technorati – www.technorati.com
• Del.icio.us – del.icio.us
• Reddit – www.reddit.com

However, if you go this route it can be time consuming and you will omit many of the potential bookmarking sites. The alternative is to put a link to AddThis.com on the foot of each page. This gives your users access to over 30 bookmarking sites.

3) Add an RSS Feed

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Syndication, depending on who you ask. RSS allows people to be notified every time new articles are added to your website so they can keep up to date with your content.

Ask your developer to create some RSS code for your website and then put a link on all of your pages to the RSS code page. The link should be a small orange rectangle with the letters RSS in white.

Publish your RSS feeds at Feedburner to encourage distribution and interest.

4) Email to a Friend

Enabling people to easily email an article to a friend is not typically bundled under the heading of social media marketing, but in my view it is another way to encourage people to share and recommend your content. Add an 'Email a Friend' link to all of your content pages.

5) Add a Forum

Having a Forum on your website is a great way of building a community around your subject area. Monitoring the forum will both give you a chance to understand what people are discussing and promote your expertise by adding your own comments.

The downside of a forum is it does need to be carefully managed. You need to allow people to make negative comments so they don't feel they are being censored, but you have to stamp out aggressive behavior, personal insults, sp@m and meaningless rubbish. This can be time-consuming work, so don't bother with a forum unless you have the time to do it properly.

Non-technical people can pay to use vBulletin. More technical people can use a free open ource solution such as PHPBB.

You can register your forum with BoardTracker to make it easier for people to find.

6) Create How-To or Product Review Videos

It has never been easier to create short videos that can demonstrate your expertise. How-to videos are very popular. For example, if your website is about Making Money on eBay, you could create a short video on "How to Take Perfect Photos for Your eBay Listings". Make sure you have your website URL on the opening and closing sequence of your video to promote your website.

Post your videos on YouTube and Google Videos. Give it a catchy title and teaser to get people interested. Also link to the videos from your own website.

7) Share Your Photos

If you have photos related to your subject area, post them on photo sharing websites such as Flikr and PhotoBucket. For example, if your website is about steam trains, take a camera to your next steam train show and post the pictures on these sites. People searching for steam train images are likely to try these sites. They can then follow the link on the photo to your website. P.S. Remember to include links back to your own site from the images.

8) Create a Blog

Blogs are very simple content sites where short articles are listed one after the other on the home page. They are usually used to write about current events or comment on news.

Some successful content websites are blogs. Some are much more like magazines with feature articles. If your site is more feature-based, consider starting a separate blog that can be more informal and brief. Update the blog every day even if it is with just one- or two-sentence comments. Blogs that are infrequently updated quickly löse their audience.

Use the blog to drive traffic to your main website.

You can get basic blogging software for free. Try Wordpress or Blogger. For a managed service, try Typepad.

In many ways, today's social media technologies are still fairly primitive, but I can say with confidence that the phenomenon that they have created - of customers taking control of the buying process – is here to stay. Customers will continue to get stronger, so publishers, manufacturers and anyone else with customers better start listening to what they are saying.

One last point before I finish. It's really a word of warning. Once you adopt the social media marketing techniques, you are inviting people to comment about your service. You must be ready for negative as well as positive feedback. Good companies listen to the feedback and make positive changes. Poor companies ignore it or worse still, call their lawyers to fight it. If you jump into the social media world, be ready to participate, listen, learn and take action.

About The Author
SubHub provides an all-in-one solution to enable you to rapidly design, build and run your own content website. Publish for profít on the web. Website: SubHub.com Feed: SubHub Articles Feed

Website Writing Tips From a Copy Veteran

Today's post is all about copywriting for your webpage. Often times, the difference between marketing success and failure online (and off) is copy. Here are some tips from copywriting veteran Pat Quinn...

When I joined my first London ad agency 40-something years ago, the copywriting department was presided over by a lapsed genius who beat into me a number of immutable copy principles. These precepts, which are as valid now as they were then and which have helped me shift truckloads of product worldwide, apply to all types of promotional writing. They apply even more so to selling on the Internet, where do-it-yourself copy is the norm rather than the exception. In the old days, very few serious advertisers wrote their own material. Today, they do so as a matter of course simply because the technology allows it.

Anyway, this little article is aimed at those who write their own web pages and also at those who hire a writer and may wish to check that he or she is working on the right lines. Below you’ll find just a few principles of good promotional writing. If the editor wants more, I’ll gladly provide them.

Keep it very simple

All copywriting should speak to its audience in everyday, uncomplicated language. People don’t like to be talked down to. And they grow tired of clichés and buzzwords. Also, keep your sentences short and punchy, with the minimum of clauses. Long and involved sentence structure is death to readership. (The six sentences above are examples of what I’m talking about. They are easy to scan and understand.)

All web pages should carry a headline

But this must be a pertinent headline. A selling headline. This headline will be, or should be, powerful enough or intriguing enough to draw your target into the compass of the body copy. If it can do that, you are on a winner.

It may go without saying that the entire thrust of your webpage should revolve around an offer or a promise. This offer or promise will be unique to you – it’s your unique sales proposition. It’s the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors; and it can be price, performance or service related. Given this, the headline should be a snapshot of the sales message – a précis of your offer or promise. In other words, a headline that says: Buy this product and get this benefit. I’m sure you already know that people don’t buy products, they buy the benefits of owning those products.

And when I say that every page of your site should carry a headline, I mean every page. Experience shows that a person will read a headline before looking at any accompanying pic or body copy. They do so preparatory to scooting off to someone else’s site. But if your on-going headlines tell them things of interest, they will almost certainly hang around to explore the site more fully.

Keep headlines relevant

Around 30% of all headlines on the Net are both useless and irrelevant. The worst of them are so convoluted, so desperate to say everything all at once, that they are unintelligible. The offending lines also employ tired buzzwords. The word ‘leverage, for instance’, in completely ungrammatical context; and words like ‘solutions’ and ‘focus’ are thrown around like generous confetti. The moral is this. State your sales proposition cleverly, wittily, stridently or emotively, but never, ever employ a cliché device simply because it’s the easy thing to do. If you can’t be original, at least be positive. And if you honestly don’t have very much to say, there are some really clever ways of saying nothing that will endear you to your audience.

Emphasise the benefit

Copy should be more than just a description of your product. All body copy should make some kind of selling proposition. If it doesn’t, it isn’t advertising – it’s an announcement. So many writers these days fail to understand that copy is nothing more than salesmanship in print. They describe every conceivable facet of their product, what it does, how it does it and why it does it, without once producing a decent argument for buying the damned thing! They lose sight of the fact that they should be trying to sell something.

Thus, copy must use the psychology of the salesman; and it must say, right up front: Here’s what’s in it for you. Nobody ever went broke promoting the benefits of owning their product.

Raising value

All copywriting should be geared to fulfilling one very important task. And this is to raise the value of your product or service in the potential customer’s mind. This has nothing to do with a policy of low pricing or, indeed, cut-price offers. But it has everything to do with making a sales pitch that immediately demonstrates the outstanding value of your goods and services – no matter how much you are charging for them.

Look at it this way, a gallon of petrol costs around £5, but if your car runs out of gas on a lonely, rain-swept moor in the middle of the night, with the prospect of a 30-mile walk to the nearest filling station, how much would you pay for a gallon of petrol from a passing stranger? £10? £20? £50? It all depends on how badly you need it and how the circumstances have raised its value to you.

Raising value isn’t difficult to do when people are in the market for your product. They come to you with certain preconceived notions, they are excited about owning whatever it is you make, they can already picture themselves using it, they want it now. All you have to do is exploit their desire. Bear in mind that advertising doesn’t create desire, desire creates advertising.

Say it, then say it again

It has been scientifically proven that most of us take in only around 40% of what we actually see. Our brains edit out the other 60% of visual information as unimportant. On these grounds, if you have a serious proposition to make in your website it would be wise to repeat it. And not just once, but several times.

Just because you are deeply immersed in your offer or promise, it doesn’t follow that your market will be likewise informed after only one reading. Websites are the most negligently read materials on the planet. Aside from you, nobody has any real or abiding interest in them. Always remember that you are preaching to the indifferent.

Resist the urge to talk about yourself

A lot of website writers seem compelled to talk about themselves. They talk about their business, when it was founded, why it was founded and by whom. Not content with this, they tell us all about their employees one by one; about the size and location of their offices or plant; and about the lengths they go to in order to satisfy their customers.

A little of this sort of thing goes a long way, but a lot of it goes right over people’s heads. And they lose more customers than they gain with such naval-gazing.

The simple truth is that nobody gives a damn about other people’s achievements. All most of us are interested in are our own achievements. Good enough reason, then, when writing your next website is to talk more about your potential customers and what you can do for them, than about yourself. Six-to-four, you’ll get a bigger response.

If this has been helpful, maybe you’ll let me know.

---

About the Author: Pat Quinn is an award-winning UK copywriter who also operates a search engine optimisation service. Because it’s all in the writing! Here: http://www.search-engine-mechanics.co.uk.

Is Google Page Rank Still a Valid Marketing Tool? You Bet!

Google Page Rank (PR) is the foundation of Search engine optimization. I personally use this as the basis for much of my SEO and internet marketing activities. In this post, Titus Hoskins, gives the details on Google PR and it's importance.

The Google PageRank Toolbar in SEO circles is a hotly debated item, as are most issues dealing with Google. Some say it's useless, others say it gives you a general overview of your site's standing in Google. Regardless of who is right, this Toolbar shouldn't be ignored nor worshipped, just closely watched.

The Google PR Toolbar is a simple tool you can download and place on your browser. When you surf the web, this toolbar will give you Google's PR or Page Rank for that particular site or page. Google ranks all web pages from a scale of 0 to 10. This Toolbar is more like the Richter scale than an ordinary scale. There's a big difference in the rankings as you go up and they are not proportional.

You must also realize each of these ranking points are further divided and only Google knows the exact placement of your site or page within your shown PR number. For example, if you have a PR6 site your site could be at low end of the PR6 scale (closer to PR5) or at the top end which would make it more of a PR7 site. Big difference.

• PageRank Confusion

Many suggest Google is not giving us the real value of the page in the first place and this toolbar is often out of date and more of a smokescreen than real information about a site. There could be some truth in this as Google nevër gives up all its secrets. Does any company? Certainly not the company that holds the keys to the most powerful economic force on the planet: the Internet.

Complicating matters even further are webmasters and marketers who try to manipulate their own PageRank by buying or exchanging links with other high PR sites. Many are now doing Three-Way linking to try to influence their site's rankings in Google.

A whole SEO industry has been built up around PageRank for the simple reason that the stakes are extremely high. If you can deliver first place rankings for your client's targeted keywords in Google it means frëe organic traffíc or visitors delivered directly to your site.

Many SEO experts believe Google has a whole líst of ranking factors which determine how well your page is ranked. Among others, these ranking factors include Google's PageRank algorithm (voting system) and Hypertext-Matching Analysis (analyzing page content).

• Google's Position

If you check out Google's own corporate site for an explanation you will find that Google clearly states its patented PageRank™ algorithm is the heart of their web ranking system which was founded by Larry Page & Sergey Brin in 1998. You will also find that Google says it uses numerous factors including PageRank to examine the whole web and find the most relevant and important pages to match a specific search.

PageRank takes into consideration over "500 million variables and 2 billion terms" when finding the most important pages. Google makes it clear that each page casts a vote for another page and this is reflected in the PageRank. Votes from particular sites or pages might have greater value than others. "Important pages receive a higher PageRank and appear at the top of the search results."

• The question still remains, is the Google PR Toolbar a valid marketing tool? Should you use it?

One can only speak from experience, I have always used the Google PR Toolbar and find it helpful in assessing what Google thinks of a site or page. I rarely link out to sites anymore but if I do I always check any potential linking partners to see their PR. Any site with PR5 or over I will link to it if that site is related and has high rankings for my site's own targeted keyword phrases. I also check out the number of outbound links on that page. Lower is better because the amount of PR passed along is divided equally with the other links.

Sometimes I will link to a lower PR3 or PR4 site if I find the content on that site is extremely good and I know it is only a matter of time before Google upgrades that site to a PR5 or higher. You must be very careful not to link out to any type of 'link-farms' as Google will penalize you for it.

In my opinion, many SEO experts worry too much over the exact PageRank or Value Google is giving to a page. Whether or not we can really know the true value of any page? Well, the true value of any web page is staring you in the face in Google's SERPs for if over time a page consistently holds the Number 1 spot then that is Google's true PageRank and Value for that page for a particular keyword or keyword phrase. If your page is consistently in the 1000th spot, then Google doesn't think your page has much value for that keyword.

Your site's overall value or PageRank within the Google ranking system may be a little harder to figure out if you dismiss the PR Toolbar as a good indicator of your site's overall worth within Google. Maybe Google has put into place filters and blinders to discourage the online marketers and SEOs who try to abuse and manipulate PageRank.

• Let Your Own Experiences Rule Your Judgement

Again, one can only speak from experience, I believe the Toolbar is very helpful in showing what Google thinks of your pages. Over the years, I have experienced my main website at a PR1 level and I have experienced it at a PR6 level. Believe me, the PR6 is much better. Can't imagine what a PR8 site would be like to run or the kind of lifestyle it would provide.

Higher PR means better rankings for your site and your keyword phrases. It simply means more traffíc and more salës. If you're optimizing for Google, you should do everything you can to get the highest PR you can possibly get. More importantly, you should be doing everything you can to íncrease the PR of the pages where you have your long-tail keyword phrases as organic traffíc from these pages will usually turn out to be your site's main revenue source.

I have found one of the quickest ways to raise your Google PR is to get one-way links from high PR6, PR7 and PR8 sites (Think Article Marketing). Google considers these links as votes for your site and ranks your site or page accordingly. Consistently get enough of these incoming one-way links over the long haul and your PR will go up if you have high quality unique content pages that are well optimized with good navigation and formatting.

• Where To Get The PR Toolbar

If you're not using the Google Toolbar - use it! You can download it here:

http://toolbar.google.com

Another great way to see PR in action is to use the Visual PageRank tool here:

http://www.iwebtool.com/visual_pagerank

It will show you the PageRank of all internal and external links on a webpage at once. Extremely helpful when you're checking out any site or page. At a glance you can see the current Google PageRank of all these links.

Google's PageRank system, including the PR Toolbar, is something every webmaster and online marketer should be aware of in their struggle for higher rankings. Don't become obsessed with it, instead use this system to your advantage to build better pages and sites. For despite all the misconceptions and intricacies of such a complex system, no webmaster can deny that if you conquer the Google PagePank system, it will deliver the goods.

About The Author
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the most effective web marketing tools try: MarketingToolGuide.com . For the latest Google Marketing Strategies go here: GoogleCash File 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

New Blog Launched for Job Seekers!

Hello all... quick post today. I just wanted to let everyone know that we've launched a great new resource (The Resume Writing Blog) to help guide you on your path to finding that dream job.

Although you can find all the marketing jobs you want on our main site at MarketingScoop.com, the folks behind this blog at ResumeEdge.com are good friends and provide GREAT resume writing and editing resources for those seeking entry level jobs, professional or executive careers.

If you want to ask any career related questions, don't hesitate to use the discussion boards on MarketingScoop.com or visit the ResumeEdge blog at http://resumeedge.blogspot.com.

That's all for now... speak with you soon. Until then, "keep marketing".

Why You Should Start Blogging Today!

By Michael Fleischner Marketing Expert, Search Engine Optimization Specialist

Perhaps you've heard of blogs, maybe even read a few, but haven't started blogging yourself. A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although many focus on photograph (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting).

Today blogging has become a phenomenon, and for good reason. Blogs give individuals the ability to communicate to mass audiences whenever they feel the urge in a simple manner. This ability is what makes blogging truly unique - not requiring any technical knowledge of web development, design, or management.

Maintaining or posting to a blog is very rewarding a carries a variety of benefits, here are just a few:

1. Blogs are easy to create. Unlike starting your own website, weblogs can be created in just a few minutes. Sites like Blogger allow you to register and start your own blog for free. All you need is an email and a topic to start blogging about.

2. Blogs provide a dialogue with prospects, customers, and friends. Blogs are now being used as a communication vehicle to share important information with customers. Because blogs can be updated in real time, businesses are finding weblogs to be one of the quickest and most accurate ways to distribute their message.

3. Blogs are here to stay. Blogging gives you the ability to publish your thoughts in real time, whenever and where they like. If you enjoy writing, want to share your ideas, or even learn more about a particular subject, contribute to a blog on a regular basis. Now that blogs have become popular, you can find blog directories that can help you locate weblogs by category. Find one aligned to your interests and post your comments.

4. Blogs can drive traffic to your website. Using a blog, associated with a particular topic, can drive additional traffic to your website. This is essential for anyone seeking new leads for their business or interested in generating online sales.

The benefit of using a blog to generate traffic is that weblogs attract a different type of user - one that is very focused on a particular subject. These users are more prone to take interest in what you have to offer and convert into customers.

5. Blogs give you the flexibility to post whenever, wherever, 24/7. When authoring a blog, all you need is an Internet enabled PC to post an entry. This level of flexibility removes many of the barriers associated with traditional forms of communication. Some blogs even allow you to make a post via email. Simply construct an email and send it to the blog address and the result is an instant post to your blog.

6. Establish yourself as an expert. By keeping a blog up-to-date, and contributing in an area where you have experience, you can quickly build your reputation as an expert. Once you've establish yourself as having knowledge in a particular subject area, you can begin contributing to other web sources such as news articles and interviews.

7. Generate Ad Revenue. The beauty of a blog is that you can attract those interested in a very specific subject area. This is an ideal market for online pay-per-click advertising like Google Adsense. You can easily integrate Google Adsense into your blog - many blog hosts provide it as a built in option- and generate ad revenue. This is a great way to provide value to your readers while generating revenue for your business.

These are just some of the benefits of creating and contributing to blogs. You will find that weblogs are a great way to share information with others who share similar interests. Its also a great opportunity to learn. Although I've been hosting my own blog to provide expert advice on marketing, I have learned a great deal from others who comment on my posts. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of creating your very own blog. So what are you waiting for, start blogging!

*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.

The Increasing Power of Publicity

...and how it can benefit your business

The call came into my office and the voice on the other end was very energetic, almost giddy: "I have finalized my marketing budget and need your help launching an advertising campaign for my new product," he breathed. "Congratulations," I replied, "but before we implement an ad campaign, I want to make sure you have explored potential PUBLICITY opportunities that could generate some cost-efficient media exposure first." Then, silence. "I nevër thought about that," he sighed. "Frankly, I don't know much about it."

He is not alone. It's a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the majority of them simply don't understand the full benefits of "publicity placements" or how to go about generating them successfully. Publicity placements have always been a cost-efficient way to market a product/business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what publicity is and does, many entrepreneurs don't take full advantage of publicity opportunities -- and that can lead to missed marketing chances.

I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in some newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of "publicity placements" in the media. I found out that only 37% knew that a simple "product profile" in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.
Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, expensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses, like your competitors, are turning to publicity/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use publicity placements to help your business:

Editorial Placements/Media Notification
What some entrepreneurs might not realize is that we see editorial placements from publicity efforts everyday in the media: product profiles, feature articles and contributed by-lined articles in magazines, newspapers, trade industry newsletters or on TV/radio/cable newscasts & shows. This is not advertising, this is "EDITORIAL Placement" or "Media Notification" of a product, business or industry expert. Notify the appropriate media that your newsworthy product is on the market or your business is offering a unique new service and let them run a feature placement that will spread that message to your consumer market. These placements can detail your product or business very effectively, giving consumers some objective, pertinent information that may well entice them to become future customers.

These editorial placements are looked upon much more credibly than ad placements. That is not a slam on advertising. Paying for advertising placements is indeed an effective way to market your product. But the fact is, a positive editorial placement such as a product profile in a magazine or a newspaper can be much more persuasive than a glossy, over-hyped advertisement - and a fraction of the cost. My point is that editorial placements are an often time overlooked marketing vehicle for a business, and that entrepreneurs should understand the full benefits of these placements to make the most of their marketing efforts.

Editorial placements are a wonderfully reciprocal way for you and the media to work together for the betterment of your business. The media needs to fill its pages and airtime with interesting information -- and you need to get the word out to your market. Research the media market to find those media outlets and editorial contacts with which you can forge that mutually beneficial relationship. But you have to do your part and do it right - or the media will forge that relationship with your competitor.

Make sure your media message is solid, contains newsworthy angles and isn't disguised as overly commercialized ad copy. Have high-quality photos and media samples available and do all you can to make the media's job of featuring your product as simple as possible. It also helps to have some sort of clipping service in place to track your placements and get you copies so you can use them in your secondary marketing programs.

Expert Branding
This type of publicity placement generating takes advantage of the expert knowledge within a particular business. It is an effective tool for entrepreneurs whose businesses are more service related, like consultants or specialists. Expert branding basically treats the expert like a product.

Alert the media as to your expertise on a specific topic and avail yourself to serve as an expert interview resource for future articles or news feature segments. Additionally, the expert should write a few brief articles on a specialized topic and make them available to editors for review and possible publication.

The challenge of this type of publicity placement is the tedious task of finding out which outlets accept "expert editorial contributions" or contributed by-lined articles in their publications. Again, it comes down to meticulously researching your media market to find those media outlets that may be in need of the editorial content that you can provide them.

With some creativity, expert branding can be effective for product-based businesses as well. One client of mine runs a fresh wild salmon distribution business in the Pacific Northwest and was looking to increase consumer awareness of his products. Based on his more than 20 years of experience in the wild salmon harvesting business, we are expert branding him as a viable interview resource to health/food editors for features detailing the differences and benefits of wild salmon over farm-raised fish, as well as other related topics. In this case, my client (the expert) is identified and quoted in features and the name of the business and even a link to a website are often included for consumers to chëck out. This is great credibility building exposure at little or no cost.

Overall, when using the media to help market your product or business, take advantage of as many Frëe media opportunities as you can. If you lack the expertise or time, a PR agency or publicist can generate the editorial placements for you. But the fee you pay them is a FRACTION of what it would cost you to buy similar sized ad placements. And those publicity placements typically lead to a much better consumer response right out of the gate - which is just what you need to boost your business to the next level.

About The Author

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions. http://www.spreadthenewspr.com/ todd@spreadthenewspr.com (785) 842-8909. Todd Brabender (c) 2007