Similar to when the popular kids in high school got to choose their team members in gym class, Google Blogsearch leaves the weaklings and so-called losers behind. If your blog isn’t popular, it won’t be part of the elite blog group that is ranked by Google. In other words, your blog won’t be on page one of Google Blogsearch. It will be on page 570—or worse.

If you want to rank high on Google Blogsearch, it’s time to start playing Google’s game. It’s all about popularity when it comes to ranking high, and there are a lot of factors that determine your degree of popularity. But, how does one become so admired? You must prove to Google that your blog is high quality.

• Approach popular, like-minded bloggers, and ask if you could be a guest blogger: Google looks highly upon blogs mentioned on other blogs because it illustrates that your blog provides intellectual material that ignites curiosity and discussion in the online community. Aside from other blogs, if Google finds your blog’s URL on emails, chats, and social bookmarking sites, Google considers this a positive indicator that your blog is high quality.

• Attach the RSS feed widget to your blog: RSS feed stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a file containing a brief amount of information—a headline and synopsis—and a link to the full content on the blog. Voluntary subscribers to specific blog RSS feed will receive this information through their RSS readers. Google can detect if your blog is high quality based on how many people subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed. In addition, Google can detect how many people visit your blog from their RSS readers and how many times they click through your blog. And, don’t try to trick Google by subscribing to your own blog numerous times. Google’s mind readers have already devised a way to detect this type of blog fraud!

Watch the above video for a funny take on Facebook etiquette

One of the greatest challenges companies face with their online presence is lack of time and effort to market their company online. One of the most important aspects of growing a booming business is to market your company online in the most efficient way possible.

Using social media resources to promote the presence of your business online drives website traffic, reaches thousands of potential clients, and gets you involved in your industry’s online community.   

Since social media marketing is one of the most important ways to grow your business online, it’s important to set aside a minimum of three hours a week to promote your business on various social media sources. You can reach out to thousands of potential clients by simply adding three hours a week of social marketing to your schedule. Your business will thank you.

Below are important social media marketing vehicles to utilize.

Video Posting

Videos are an excellent way to allow customers to see the face behind the business. According to comScore, a global internet information provider, internet users in the U.S. watched 13.5 billion videos in October 2008, which was a 45% increase from October 2007.

Video provides a personal connection to customers and allows you to show them how certain services are done, how you work, how the company works, how your product works, and so much more.

YouTube is one of the most popular sites to post videos, since thousands of potential clients view them. Developing a video for YouTube is simple and benefits your company tremendously. You can place the YouTube video on your website or blog to further promote your company.

Blogging

Posting professional advice, information relating to your industry, company projects, and more on a blog, shows customers you’re an expert in your field and are passionate about getting the word out to the online community.

Commenting on other blogs relating to your industry, adding companies to your blog roll and vice versa, and using interactive media on your blog, all create an excellent haven of company / industry information. Using a call to action at the bottom of each blog post and linking it back to your website is an excellent way to bring in potential clients. 

Social Networking

Social media is the key to successful networking. There are many social media websites where you can post your company profile, interact with other companies, integrate yourself into the online community, and share information. Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, MySpace, and discussion forums are just a few places worth checking out. Facebook, for example, allows you to create a company page with your mission statement, basic information, photos, events, video, a place to put your logo, and an area where your blog is fed directly onto the page every time you add a post. Stay active on these sites by posting comments, joining groups, joining causes, and becoming a fan of company pages.

NOTE: Social media sites are not a place to simply promote your company / product / service. They’re a place to build relationships and network with others.

A year ago, many businesses could safely assume what worked for one successful business worked for all. This is not the case today.

Business practices and marketing strategies, which made a company successful last year, aren’t the same ones companies should implement today. It’s important to understand the pros and cons of this economic downturn and change the way you do business. It’s about marketing your company in a unique fashion and flipping past practices upside down.

The businesses succeeding during this time . . .

• Don’t simply follow trends—they’re ahead of the trends.
• Think outside the box.
• Educate themselves on the economy as a whole and in niche areas, not necessarily related to their industry.
• Analyze what other successful businesses are doing and put a unique spin on it.
• Acknowledge the negative aspects of this economy but do not dwell on them.
• Go the extra mile to discover what their competition isn’t doing.

Don’t let this recession frighten you into hiding. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to get on top. Use your mind as your main tool and resource for creating a successful business during this time. This will help you exercise your creativity for the future benefits of your business.

Change the way you do business today, and succeed in this troubled economy. You won’t regret it.

Feeling overwhelmed, stressed, scared? Here are five simple ways to avoid freaking out:

1) Stop listening to the news. If you listen to the news, read papers, participate in negative gloom-and-doom conversations, then stop. Try taking a week break from listening to the media reports. You’ll be amazed how much happier and less-stressed you will be.

2) Treat yourself to something nice. Take a walk, take a bath, take yourself to dinner. Whatever you do, do something for yourself. 

3) Sit down and write a list of what’s going right in your business and what’s going wrong. Take the list of what’s going right and focus on ways to do more of that. Evaluate what’s not going right and ask yourself why. Brainstorm a bit. Either stop doing what’s not working or find a way to make it work.

4) Surround yourself with positive, like-minded people. 

5) Ask mentors for advice. Every business owner should have a mentor. You cannot operate in a vacuum, and seeking the advice of someone outside of your daily struggles will help you refocus and stay on track.

Now is a critical time for businesses to invest in their marketing.

According to a McGraw-Hill study, businesses that maintained or increased their marketing during the 1981-82 recession:

–Averaged higher sales growth during the recession and over the next three years, and by 1985, had increased sales 256% over those companies that cut marketing…

–Then in 2001, another study found that aggressive marketers increased market share 2½ times the average for all businesses in the post-recession!

Those who stepped up their marketing were the big winners during and after the recession.

The time to grow your business is now. 

The most effective way to grow your business is to invest in your online presence. If you don’t have a website, now invest in one. If your site is stale and the content is outdated, now is the time to revamp it.

Your website is the easiest and fastest way to advertise your services or product. But there’s a catch: you have 3 to 5 seconds to grab a prospective client’s attention.

One. Two. Three. And they are gone.

And with millions of websites to choose from, the competition is fierce. Want to stay ahead of the crowd, rank high on search engines, and reach millions of prospective customers? 

You must have compelling web copy.

Having a clear business message on your website is the #1 action you can take to attract ideal clients online and skyrocket your sales. 

Your marketing message must speak to your target audience. Give them what they are hungry for. Get them to take action. Communicate in a clear, concise, informative way.

In-store selling allows you to make useful observations, helping you to better understand the customer’s wants and needs and helping you to interpret ways to satisfy these needs. You’re able to answer questions immediately in person, observe if the customer seems confused and notice what the customer’s attention is focused on. In-person communication can also help you to use different selling tactics to sell the product / service based on customer objections.

Observing customers online is difficult since there’s no direct interaction with the consumer. There are now excellent online tools that allow you to collect data on where customers are looking on the website. One such tool is a heat map. A heat map is an excellent way to help you make positive changes to your marketing campaigns, selling tactics, advertisements, website element positioning, and web copy changes.

Heat maps track eye movement on a website page to show where viewers are looking the most. Knowing the key areas where consumers are focused allows you to understand where important links and information should go. “Hot spots” are color-coded areas on the webpage, showing where consumers are looking the most.

Let’s say there’s a great deal of eye movement toward a certain area of your site but not many clicks in this area. This is a hint that perhaps the link isn’t enticing enough to click or it’s not important to the user. At this point, you’d either change the phrasing of the link or switch the link with a more significant one. Heat maps can help you redesign your website and try new additions, replacements, and more.

A great website offering heat maps is Crazyegg.com. It provides heat map services for a low price. 

How would you like to be able to keep growing your business no matter what the economy does?

Sign up for expert online copywriter Michelle Salater’s Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners, and she’ll show you everything you need to know to go where the customers are—online—and grow your business by maximizing your marketing efforts.

And do it in any economy. 

Over the course of 8 weeks, you will work one-on-one with Michelle as she shows you the same tips, tactics, and strategies she used to take her own business from flat broke to so busy she has to turn customers away…and she did this all within one year.

 

Because Michelle really wants to help you grow your business online without struggling so you can skyrocket your sales in 2009, she’s offering a $200 Early Bird Discount to those who sign up before January 4, 2008 (midnight PST). 

 

— https://www.marketingonlinebootcamp.com/

Now is A CRITICAL TIME for businesses to invest in their marketing. And the best way and most cost efficient way to do this is to market online.

A 2001 McGraw-Hill study found that aggressive recession advertisers / marketers increased their market share 2 ½ times the average for all businesses than in post-recession.

How would you like to increase your market share 2 ½ times?

If you’d like to skyrocket your online sales, increase website traffic, and save thousands of dollars by implementing online strategies on your own, NOW IS YOUR TIME to sign up for Michelle’s Online Business Marketing Bootcamp for Beginners. The course begins January 21^st.

She can’t make it any easier for you than the 3-payment option she’s made available and the Early Bird Special (save $200) that ends at midnight January 4, 2009.  

Remember, this special offer won’t be available after January 4…

–https://www.marketingonlinebootcamp.com/

When the economy is in crisis, it’s not the time for you to sit back and coddle your money to the point of suffocation. It’s the time to invest in your business and stand out above the competition.  

While competitors cut back spending, you have a great opportunity to rise above them. The economy will eventually rebound, leaving your business at the top of its game.  

It’s important to strategically spend money during this time. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a ton. Just know what to spend it on.

Focusing on customer behavior will ensure your marketing campaigns are worth the money. These tough times are a great opportunity to come out ahead of competitors by placing your focus on customer behavior. Be careful, but don’t be frugal. 

Provide customers with something of value to sell to them. Consumers don’t ever stop buying. They may cut back but never completely stop. They become more choosy than they may have been in a booming economy, which makes focusing on the value of a product in tough times an important aspect of selling your products / services.

 

Sell benefits to your consumers, not features. The more benefits customers see from your products / services, the more likely they’ll buy from your company as opposed to a competitor who has cut back on his marketing campaign. You’ll stand out to potential clients and bring in competitors’ clients as well.

 

Investing money into marketing campaigns to rewrite web copy, revamp web design, and rework selling points can take you way beyond your competitors. While they’re cutting advertising expenses, you’re strengthening yours, increasing SEO, staying up-to-date, showing customers you have a fresh outlook.  

 

Focus on customer satisfaction and customer service. Show them you’re there when they need you and you’re worth the money they’re investing into your products / services.

For more helpful tips on marketing in economic crisis and to learn about our many marketing services, visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC.

The number of internet users has dramatically increased in recent years and is still climbing. More people are using RSS readers to provide them with new articles, blogs, website updates, and more from their favorite sites.

RSS feed stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is a file containing a brief amount of information (a headline and synopsis) and a link to the full content on the website / blog. Voluntary subscribers to the website / blog RSS feed will receive this information through their RSS readers. Some examples of RSS readers are My Yahoo, NewsGator Online, and Bloglines.com.

If a website has an RSS feed, it will alert people who have subscribed to it with links to new articles, information, and blogs, which have been posted on the site at that time. This saves people the time and aggravation of going through all the websites they enjoy to search for the newly added elements.

If you know you have a great site with useful information and excellent products / services to offer, then it’s important to recognize all the ways in which you can help increase traffic to your site and reach out to thousands of potential clients.

Bottom line: having an RSS feed on your website / blog will greatly benefit your site.

* It will bring people up-to-date on your achievements, tips, hints, industry news, and express your expertise to clients.

* Viewers who love your site will subscribe to your RSS feed and click on fresh updates from your site on their RSS reader, increasing traffic to your site.

* Newly added information will reach thousands of potential clients and increase SEO.