7 Secrets of Internet Marketing Millionaires

Internet millionaires don’t acquire their wealth and success by luck of the draw.  They know the secrets to success.  These secrets are so valuable that if you implement them, you will succeed in your own Internet business.

There are two general types of secrets that Internet millionaires know which include external and internal secrets.  We will discuss these secrets in detail in hopes that you will use them to your advantage and become an Internet millionaire yourself.

First, let’s look at the external secrets that Internet millionaires have in their tool kit.

Internet Millionaire Secret #1:  Internet millionaires recognize that strategy should be the foundation of any marketing plan.  It is critical to have a marketing strategy and not just jump into marketing techniques.  For example, we don’t have to use mass advertising anymore because mass advertising doesn’t have strength because consumers have choices.  You would have wasted valuable time and money if you used mass marketing techniques without first strategizing about the state of the market.

Internet Millionaire Secret #2:  Internet millionaires are not generalists.  They focus on selling their products and services to specific niche markets.  The business market in general is going in the direction of niche markets because customers have more choices regarding places to buy their products.

Internet Millionaire Secret #3:  Search for and grab untapped markets.  Seek out people that have not been able to have access to your product in the past.  In untapped markets, you don’t have to deal with competitors which helps keep the marketing costs down.  In addition, you will be able to establish a rapport and trust with your customers.

Internet Millionaire Secret #4:  Your backend strategy is crucial to success.

You want several profit centers that allow you to sell your products and services to more customers.  The backend part of your company supports these profit centers.  It diversifies your business so you are bringing in money through many different areas.  You can’t rely on retiring early if you only have one profit center.

Internet Millionaire Secret #5:  Try to automate as many services as possible.  This will allow you to sell services 24 hours a day 7 days a week online.  Automate your service centers to cut down on costs and help your customers at all hours of the day.

Internet Millionaire Secret #6:  Set up your business so that you are replaceable.  You can make yourself replaceable by branding.  Branding encompasses yourself or the value that you provide.  Branding yourself is lucrative, but it doesn’t allow you to take a break because you have to make every decision.  Branding your value, on the other hand, sells your expertise and not your time.

Internet Millionaire Secret #7:  Don’t work alone; build a team to support your business venture.  Create a team of marketing, business, a mentor and accountability individuals.  Remember, two heads are better than one so you can discuss ideas and strategies you have for your business.

Internet millionaires also have internal secrets.  An Internet millionaire has self confidence and believes in their product.  They are able to make decisions quickly.  They have learned the correct information and modeled others that have proven success.  They are not afraid to make a mistake and realize that their job doesn’t define who they are.  One of the most vital secrets is that Internet millionaires persevere and never give up no matter what obstacles cross their path.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Grow Your Home Business - Three Types of Sites You Must Have

There are a lot of things that go into running a successful home business; and having an online presence is one of the most important.  This is not necessary for all home businesses, but the majority of home businesses are the type that should have one.  In many cases, the bulk of revenue of a home business comes from online activity.

A good place to start when it comes to online marketing is to learn and understand the three types of websites used in creating an identity on the internet. The three sites are: a branding site, sales letter and a squeeze page. Listed below are these three types of sites and a brief description of each. This will give you a better understanding of each one and help you decide which ones, if not all, will help your home business grow.

Branding Site- This is a site typically used to promote the individual behind the business, or the actual business.  This type of site usually will contain link titles such as home, about us, products and affiliate links.  To help you understand this site a little better just look at the name branding site, the word  "brand" means to trademark or label. So if you decide to do a branding site keep that in mine, let people know who you and/or your business are.

Sales Letter- This type of site is quite simple.  The sole purpose of this site is to sell a specific product or service.  A sales letter is one seemingly long page that explains all of the benefits of whatever they are selling.  A good sales letter should have 12-15 order now buttons, meaningful testimonials and a well written description of the product or service being sold. This site is very important to have because; a good sales letter can generate a ton of sales for your home business.

Squeeze Page- This is without a doubt the most important page to have.  The purpose of the page is to do one thing and one thing only; capture a person’s information, such as, name and primary email address.  A squeeze page will help you build a huge mailing list that you can market your products to.  A good squeeze page should be able to grab the attention of anyone who sees it.  Squeeze pages usually consist of a headline, sub-headline, testimonial, and a sign up box.

Having these three sites listed above really is a great way to get started on the internet. Each site is completely different and has their own individual purpose.  Use the one’s that you feel will benefit your business; although, it is not uncommon for a home business to implement all three into their internet marketing plan.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

How to Set Yourself Apart In The Sea Of Online Marketers

Do you feel odd when you write marketing material to publish online? Do you read over old marketing items and wonder why in the world it says what it does? Do you think, “I can’t believe I published that!”? Do you hire a copywriter and just accept whatever they come up with? After all, they are professionals!

If your online marketing material stimulates an image in your mind that is just not you, likely you’ve been trying to model your approach after someone else or you’ve been using work produced by someone else without giving them the benefit of knowing you, learning your approach, sharing your ideas and interjecting your personality into the material.

Let’s admit it. We all do it!

When we get ready to publish something online we surf the net. We look for articles, ezines, web pages or auto-responders that resemble what we are working on, usually those published by direct competitors or sometimes published by mentors that we admire – successful online marketers.

While everything is fresh in our minds, we start to work on our own online marketing materials, thesaurus at hand, and we sometimes use words we don’t even know the meaning of. We end up with something that sounds really good to us because it is comparable to something we’ve read. We publish it.

So what happens?

We end up with a hodge-podge of material on the internet, published in our name, that doesn’t sound a bit like us. What’s really interesting is the mixed image that results. Two articles on the same topic may even reflect different points of view or different personalities.

So, what’s the solution?

The solution to this dilemma is to be ourselves and let our personalities show through in our online marketing materials.

If you are a Texan and the word “ya’ll” is prevalent in your vocabulary, use it! If you are writing a blog entry in the midst of a snow storm and it is “a bit nippy outside” don’t hesitate to say so. When you let your personality shine your image will be your own, not one you have crafted that will change from day to day depending upon what you have read most recently.

There’s lots of talk about branding in regard to online marketing. The basic principles of branding are to decide on the image you wish to portray and what message you want to drive home.

While some people could write a book on how to brand your business, there are really only a handful of factors to consider – 1) your image; 2) your purpose; and 3) your marketing message. The purpose of a brand is to craft something that will stick in the minds of people and help them to remember your business.

Creating and building a strong brand does not have to compromise your personality. The only real decision is whether you want to be casual or professional. We all speak differently when we are in a business setting than we do when we are hanging out with friends, but either way, our whole personality doesn’t change when we walk from one setting to the other.

In the world of online marketing, retaining your personality and your identity will go far in branding your business. You’ll be much happier with the long-term effects of your online marketing if you don’t try to be someone you are not. Be yourself and have fun!

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Expanding Your Online Business By Building A Website

As business grows, it can be a good idea to support your eBay sales with a website.

The first step is building a web presence outside of eBay by creating your own website. Building a website is not a difficult task. These days you don’t necessarily need the know-how to do it all yourself – there are plenty of people who will do it for you.  Turnkey stores are an option, or you can have a designer create the basic design for a website and then purchase shopping cart software separately.

Either way, you need to think carefully about branding at this point. Branding is recognizable design features that are carried across your entire business from product to business cards, to your website and brochures.

A brand helps your customers associate your products with an over-riding concept and identify them as part of their lifestyle. For example, some brands are associated with natural and organic concepts while others are associated with fine quality or a particular lifestyle. When establishing your online business, take care to make sure the branding you have already established on eBay remains consistent across your new website.

There are thousands of stores on the web, so to be successful, you’ll need to do something to make people visit your site and stay there for longer. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by providing people with information about your products. For example, if you sell small kitchen appliances, why not add articles to your site on how to use each appliance, tasty recipes to make with each, how to fix problems, and so on? Not only are you giving your users a reason to come back to your site, you are also increasing your chances of being placed in the top search results for keyword searches relating to the items you sell. Search engines give higher priority to good quality, unique information, so this is an effective way of keeping rankings high and getting traffic from organic search results.

Another way of getting more traffic to your site is by carrying out link exchanges. Just remember to limit yourself to related sites, otherwise you may find that you end up with a lower rather than higher search engine ranking! Linking to sites not related to the content on your site can actually give you a lower search engine ranking, so stay away from sites that offer hundreds of links for a fixed price. The best idea is to link to other sites that relate to what you are selling. For instance, keeping with the appliance example above, a site such as this could exchange links with sites selling china, cutlery, linen or recipes.

Finally, you can drive traffic to your site through advertising. Your ebay listings are one way of advertising if you add your site URL to your About Me page. Google Adwords is another very effective way of getting traffic to your site. A targeted campaign can do wonders for your website.

Done well, a website should increase overall sales, increase traffic to your eBay listings, and increase your reputation as an expert in your area.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Building Your List with Give Away Ventures

With the awareness of the importance of list building, comes a recent Internet Marketing trend which was started just a couple of years ago for the mutual benefits of all Internet Marketers and mailing list owners.

This method is more recognized as a “starting a Give Away venture”.

In a real sense, a Give Away event is much like a big time version of ad swaps. In a nutshell, a group of mailing list owners partner together and pool in their individual gifts in one limited-time event.

Each participating partner contributes a gift to the event. The gift can be a free product, membership pass or a product he is already selling (if he is kind enough to offer into the event).

The participating partner prepares a Lead Capture Page where he gives the gift in exchange for the subscriber’s email address. In other words, in order for a visitor to download the digital gift, he must opt in and subscribe to your mailing list.

When the gifts are pooled together into one event (site), every partner will then endorse the Give Away event to their own mailing lists.

The result: lots of visitors to one event as a collective effort of several participating partners!

With so many visitors downloading gifts from one focused event, it is a true win-win situation. This is because the visitors get to download several free gifts for their own use and every partner gets to build their own mailing list!

You can easily get notified about a Give Away event in the making by communicating with other Internet Marketers often or participating in Internet Marketing discussion and Joint Venture boards.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Take Control Of Your Future And Start Your Own Business!

New businesses are the backbone of the American economy. They provide new innovations, new jobs, and fresh concepts to the business industry. And owning a business is the dream of many Americans as well. Being your own boss has been ranked as one of the key goals of many Americans. The attraction of the freedom of running your own business, with no limitations or glass ceilings is impossible to deny. This mutualism has created a huge growth of small businesses in the nation, and today, many more people think about owning their own businesses than ever before. But starting a business requires money. Without startup capital, very few people have the resources available to launch a successful business idea. A new business needs a dependable source of income until it can generate the profits it needs to cover its own costs and produce an income. A unsecured start up loan can alleviate a lot of stress.

If you’re thinking about starting your own business, you are probably in need of a start up loan. Unless you have a significant amount of money saved up, a unsecured start up loan is the first step in turning the blueprints of your new business idea into a reality. With a start up business loan, you can get the tools you need to make your first start the right start. You can build a strong customer base right from the beginning, a key factor in initiating and maintaining a successful business.

If you're starting a business, it's more than just a job. It's a personal dream and a quest for success. This idea may leave you feeling simultaneously liberated and inspired. But it also has an edge. Specifically, it's also your obligation to finance it beyond the "I've got an idea" stage. Starting a business requires so much more than an ingenious idea, and even more than planning, marketing strategies, and a well thought out future. How do you get start up business financing that will either advance your idea to the point where it can attract outside capital, or perhaps jump - start you into profitable operations?

There are several options that an individual may take into consideration. If you have nothing, you may find it's difficult. If you have personal assets, the hard part is putting them at risk, and doing so is the rite of passage to both success and failure.

Obtaining financing can sometimes be the most grueling part of starting a new business. The loan approval process for a business startup loan sometimes seems like a maze, with stringent credit requirements, complicated business plans, and paperwork full of terms that are like a foreign language to the layman prospective business owner simply trying to get a loan. Options can be rather slim and unfitting when it comes to financing for the new business owner; unrealistic collateral requirements and proof of projected business profitability can sometime seem more like a joke than a reality.

Collateral is often the biggest obstacle to the prospective business owner. Not only does a new business not yet have any commercial collateral to provide; but it is asking a lot for an entrepreneur to put his hard earned personal assets at risk in order to start a new business venture. Yet, without collateral, getting a business financing can sometimes seem impossible.

The good news is, though rare, some companies to have specialized programs for exactly this scenario. An unsecured business start up loan can get a new business owner the funding he needs to cover initial business costs, without having to provide collateral and place his or her assets at risk. With this type of financing plan, the lender utilizes something the borrower has worked hard for and should be able to take advantage of - his good or bad credit. With this approach, the lender can still lend an unsecured start up loan at great rates and with a variety of programs.

Applying for a unsecured small business start up loan is easy, all the business owner need to do is just go on line and submit their loan details. Then the lenders will refer back to you with the loan decision in a few days.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Tips for Small Business Costs

Many first-time business owners are completely overwhelmed or unprepared by the amount of small business costs associated with operating a business. Small business costs often lead to the failure of many businesses, especially during the first year, or they even prevent them from getting started in the first place. Through a wide array of government and private programs, however, many small business owners have helpful options to help them finance their mounting small business costs.

A business plan is a necessity for obtaining business startup loans and funding for your business. Without one, most banks and investors will not even consider providing you with business startup loans or other funding for your new business. But a business plan provides more than just the opportunity to receive funding. Properly done it is also a blueprint for you to map out your future success in a written plan that you can stick to.

A business plan for the sole purpose of receiving a small business startup loan must contain several components. The first few pages include the Executive Summary and the Table of Contents. After this is the company description. This is one of the most important sections of a business plan. Your company description will give potential investors a short history of your small business along with the future you are planning for it. It describes plans you might have to expand your business. For purposes of getting small business startup loans, this is one of the sections that loan providers and investors are most interested in.

In the company description, you will want to avoid mentioning that your business is a startup business. Startup businesses are considered very risky investments by most investors. As an alternative, outline details of what you have contributed to the industry that you are currently in or plan on entering. Without sounding arrogant, mention some details or things that you have changed or something you have done differently than others in your market that has proved to be successful. Also, discuss how your business has grown in recent months or years and don't be shy about your predicted growth. Your excitement and passion regarding your new business needs to be seen in the writing of your business plan to help increase your chances of getting a business startup loan.

One of the last parts of a well-written business plan, but certainly not the least important, is your marketing plan analysis. This is an explanation of your demographics using facts and figures and a study done about your new, potential customers and clients. This section also explains your advertising plans, especially your target market and how you intend to reach them. This section must show that you have done extensive research, appropriate with your market to ensure that your product or service has a large demand. In order to obtain small business startup loans, you will also need to include a sound financial plan, including pro-forma financial statements for your new business.

Small business costs can be a large concern for entrepreneurs and first-time business owners. Fortunately, small business owners have access to business startup loans as well as other forms of business startup funding to help them overcome their financial stress. A business plan is an ideal way to show investors that you are serious about your new venture and that you know how to make it a success. With a some extra financial help, most small businesses can pull through the tough times and remain a viable business.

Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business

Small Business Startup - The 90/10 Rule

Small business startups require a lot of work.  You might however, be surprised by what type of work should be taking up the majority of your time.   Computer consultants, when they contemplate small business startups, tend to focus on the technical aspects of the business.  The rational is that they want to offer a decent service and must have great technical skills before anyone will be willing to pay them.

In fact, the 90/10 Rule tells us that during small business startups, 90% of your time should be spent on direct marketing activities and only 10% on building technical skills. The types of small business startup activities to spend 90% of your time on include:

·         prospecting

·         lead generation

·         going out on sales calls

·         preparing proposals

During the small business startup phase you must be much attuned to the need for acquiring high quality clients. Every non client hour that does not have to go into administrative or organizational duties should be plowed into prospecting and networking.  This can ease up a bit once you start to get beyond the small business startup phase.  For now though, client generation is your priority.

The Bottom Line on Small Business Startup

For small business startups, following the 90/10 Rule is critical.  Spending 90% of your time on direct marketing and business development activity versus 10% on technical skills development is a trade-off that is well worth it.  There is no point gaining technical skills if you have no clients to practice them on.  Small business startup is a time that will make or break your business.  Put your training and certifications on hold for a while and get out meeting people and making as many contacts as possible.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved.

How to Choose a Name for Your Brand

In order to build a powerful brand, you must have a powerful name. But how do you choose the right name? Well in this article we're going to talk about choosing a name for your company or business name; your product or service line.

So what name have you decided upon for your company? You have given a great deal of attention to your company name and believe it speaks to who you are and what you do, right? Great! As far as branding goes, the name is an important part of your business acumen. But what name did you use? Did you decide to use your family name?

Again, great, but did you do your due diligence and research whether you have the right to use your family name for your brand?

That may sound like a strange thing to say, but remember some of the most successful businesses don’t use the owner’s names. For example McDonalds, may have been started by two brothers named McDonald, doesn’t mean they were the ones who turned it into the Golden Arches. In fact they sold their first and only hamburger stand to a man named Ray Crock, who put a patent on the “boy’s family name” and now owns it as a part of the brand. Oops. Great brand option for Ray not so much for the brothers McDonald.

Entertainer Thomas Dolby lost the right to use his family last name due to copyright infringement brought on by a lawsuit from the Dolby Digital Inc. the wonderful makers of the surround sound you hear in movie theatres and now on your own home stereo equipment.

So while it may seem logical to name your company after yourself, you might want to hire an attorney or work with a trademark research firm to do some checking. No need to spend all your time and money building your brand only to have it stripped away from you because someone else owns the patent and rights to your “name”.

The bottom line here when it comes to selecting a name is, that it’s better to spend money up front to keep from losing everything in the back end.

Okay now that you’ve chosen a proper name, you need to wrap a graphic image around that name to carve out a prime piece of real estate in your target customer's mind. That is exactly what a great logo can do. Be sure to read the 7 Elements of Powerful Logos.

This post provided with permission of TuxedoBranding.com

SEO Tips for Small Business Blog Admin

Great Part Time Small Business Startup Goals

There is a trend growing in today's workforce where a large number of people who want to try their skills at a small business startup company. With the flexibility and lucrative rewards available with your own small business startup, you can devote more time with your family, attend all of your kid's recitals and team sporting events without the need to ask your boss for the time off. Those people who begin a small business startup will also have more potential income than what they would have if they work at a normal job. Today, the internet and many other technological advances, entrepreneurs have many more options for starting their very own business with little cost.

Gift baskets are a superb idea for a small business startup. Being that you can build gift baskets at home and then have them delivered anywhere in the world, it is the perfect way to enjoy the luxuries and responsibilities of owning your own business while still owning the potential for a good deal of income. The internet along with websites such as eBay have helped to contribute to the popularity of this small business idea since people, your customers, can shop for gift baskets from the convenience and comfort of their own home. If you have creativity and you can turn these creative juices into product which is sent out in a timely manner, you the qualities to be successful with this kind of small business startup for many years.

Selling new and used items on eBay has become another one of the many popular business start up small information resources in recent past years. If you are a person who can sniff out something valuable at rummage sales, yard sales or in the attic, putting these items for sale on eBay can be a very profitable small business start up. Basically, you buy the items at various sales, clean them up, and turn an easy profit by selling it on eBay for a higher price. If you are good with crafts, you can make your own things to sell on eBay. If you know basic product marketing and how to attract customers, you are very much on your way to making a moderately to excellent good income by selling things on eBay from your home.

Other opportunities people have decided to start include a cleaning service that they manage on their own. Only a few cleaning supplies are required along with a little basic know-how, and a cleaning service can be a very nice profitable small business startup for self-starters and motivated individuals. With societies busy lifestyle nowadays, more professionals and even multi-income non-professionals are hiring services to clean their homes for them and you can quickly cash in on this trend with very little or no training. This is an excellent idea because you can schedule your clients on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis so you can have a regular, steady income. If your business continues to grow enough, you can hire employees who will do the services for you while you manage the company from home.

Working at home with your very own small business startup is fast becoming the new standard in today's electronic society. People are worn out from the busy lifestyles and long work weeks and have chosen to pursue different opportunities. If you have small business startup ideas with a strong desire and motivation, you can create a profitable business which could eventually take the place of your normal "day" job. Or maybe you simply want to keep it part time to supplement your regular income. However, depending on your levels of motivation, experience, and passion, it is possible to create a small business startup which could generate an unlimited amount of income for you and your family.

Good luck out there.

5 Key Success Element

When you are starting out in business it's easy to become down hearted and give in to failure. This is also true if you've hit a rough spot in your business and the sales are down or you haven't had a client in a month. But take heart. Here are some elements that will help you keep your chin up whether you're starting out in business or you're in need of a little business mental pick me up.

1.       What's Your Reach? There are only so many hours in a day and that means only so many people you can speak to. So how can you maximize your reach and speak to as many people in your target market as possible? Check your channels.

2.       Who's Your Target? We can't stress this enough. If you don't have a defined target, you don't have a business. Who is your target market? Can they afford you? Where is your target market located?

3.       What's Your Level of Engagement? How long can you keep your customer occupied? Is your solutions designed to help them with one problem or does it expand in complexity as the customer grows or their life changes?

4.       Are Your Viral Ready? What's your "super distribution" index? What are your customer's saying about you and your service? Have they left comments, are they sending your referrals? Have you placed tutorial videos that are getting views? How many? Check your links both in and out. More in means you're getting more visitors. The more they visit the better your chances of making money off of them.

5.       How's Your Mobility? Well if your clients can buy from your website that's great; but what about your mobile customers? Can they buy with the same security and ease? Make sure, many people now spend most of their time living mobile lives and conduct shopping and business from their iPads and Smartphones. Make sure your business is keeping up with technology.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's Success Tips for Women in Small Business, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

SEO & Logos & Branding...Oh My!!!

Remember all those color psychology books that told you the color red symbolized power, strength and passion? Well have you ever wondered why so many stores use that color? Seriously how powerful do you think your hamburger is? Granted it has the right "stuff" when it comes to increasing your waistband but it's not going to be leaping any tall buildings or stopping bullets.

Well then why do so many businesses and restaraunts choose that color? It should be stated that you that you don’t’ have to have a red logo to be successful; granted it may help in some instances. You see even though red is known for its association with power and strength, in advertising it’s actually used to indicate ease of use and quickness. (Now think what that says for why you haven't seen too many lipstick ads lately featuring bright red lips and nails...)

Anyway, if you remember in our last blog about the Americana cuisine group? Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr, Hardees, Jack in the Box and Bob’s Big Boy all use red as the prominent color. Aside from making fast food (even though you still have to wait in a line for it) they’re known for being quick. But let’s take a look at Target. The red bull’s eye in their logo is distinctive as the use of red in the Target name.

As big box retailers go, all Target stores are pretty much laid out the same way no matter the location and you can easily go through them and find what you want and get out fast (again after waiting in a line on occasion). So using the color red works great if you’re providing a product or service you want associated with quick and easy. Whether you are talking about food or retailing. Taco Bell’s name is red in most cases now, In & Out Burger’s name is red, CNN’s logo is sometimes read indicating fast news reporting as it happens so you don’t have to bounce around to get all the news from everywhere; Coca Cola’s name is red or the cans are red – quick easy liquid refreshment that quenches your thirst fast.

But let’s say you want to show quick and easy but you also want to show affordability? Well say hello to the combination colors usually blue and red. Think Pepsi, the taste of the new generation. It’s still quick and easy but its saying I’m affordable since I’m catering to the younger generation just starting out. Walmart, yes it’s a big box retailer but it’s offering low prices and rollbacks.  Kraft, fast easy and tasty products that is affordable on most budgets.

Do you want to show you care? Then look for blue or variation of it. Kaiser Permanente, Health Net, Nokia, Gillette, Samsung, Visa all use blue because it says “I care” and is a comforting color. If you want fast and expedience then go for purple and orange, just like FedEx. Stability? Grounded? Think brown like UPS. Girly girl? Go with pink.

You see using color is about what statement you are trying to make and what emotions you want to evoke within your customers. It’s not only about the graphic image itself. 

Hallmark's memorable crown logo is one of the reasons that Hallmark comes to mind so quickly when you need to buy a greeting card. It is simple, bold, looks good in either color or black and white, and bespeaks the quality required for something to be stamped with a hallmark, so it works well with the company name.

But think about it Burger King also has a crown and so does Imperial Butter. Now we’re talking using the same “logo” but in different styles. Again, each crown represents, quality, superiority over a competitor and implies an emotional attachment to being thoughtful for using this product because of its impeccable and imperious quality.

Now, is a good time to bring up the little matter of environmental conditioning. But that's another post.

Blog Administrator

Seo Tips for Small Business

6 Ways to Make Your Website Keywords Count

Yes the buzzword is still keywords only know they're more important than ever. With Google launching its new Penguin algorithm to determine whether your website if "legitimate or littered with bogus" keywords it's a good idea to rethink how you're using them.

Here are 6 ways to make the most of your keywords and not get dinged and penalized by the Penguin.

1.       Research, test and learn. Don't be afraid to do some research on which keywords are getting your website the most attention. You may have to play around with them for a month or two and see when you get the most traffic and log it but you'll find your happy medium.

2.       Use Specific Phrases. The more specific the phrase - the more likely you are to attract targeted visitors. After all SEO Tips for Small Business is a pretty specific term for a company, so what do you think people visiting that site are looking for?

3.       Mix and Match. Use broad terms and industry specific keywords to give you a good cross section of visitors.

4.       Don't Overlook the Obvious. The HTML title tag and the top of the browser should include search terms and call to action enticing prospects to click.

5.       Run a Quick PPC campaign. PPC campaigns can teach you what keywords are optimized.

Use Industry Buzzwords. Okay most experts will tell you not to do this, however, if you want credibility within your industry you have to attract the attention of people in that industry. So they'll be searching for very specific industry terms. Guess what they'll find your site that way. Remember you are not just building a customer list from people seeking your solutions you are also building a name for your business and self as a thought leader in your industry. If someone from the inside finds you and your site is offering top notch industry information or advice or comments on trends and innovations; word will spread quickly.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's Success Tips for Women in Small Business, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

7 Visual Branding Keys to Make Your Business Memorable

Okay assuming your product is a mind-blowingly fabulousone and you’ve gotten your tag line down to reflect and reinforce what your company product or service line is and does, it all comes down to image.

This means your logo.

A logo isn’t just a picture. It can be a word or name too. This is known as a word mark. Again, this is the visual representation of your company. This is the symbolic icon that will forever conjure up your company’s name, product or service line and all the fun tag lines you’ve created to reinforce your brand with customers. This image will become the symbol that readily pops in their minds when they think of the product or service line your company offers; making your company the one they contact before all others.

That’s the aim of any logo. So how do you get a great logo? Well graphic design can play a huge part in that image. Let’s take a look at the key components of a great logo and see if we can’t help you with yours.

Here are 7 key elements to a powerful logo:

1.       The image is strong and balanced with no little extras that clutter its look;

2.       It is distinctive and bold in design, making it easy to see at a glance;

3.       It has graphic imagery that looks appropriate for your business;

4.       It works well with your company name;

5.       It is done in an easy to read font;

6.       It communicates your business clearly; and

7.       It looks good in black and white, as well as in color.

So now you know the 7, the next blog we'll talk a few minutes about logos and color.

This post was posted here with the permission of TuxedoBranding.com

5 Ways to Operate a Secure Website

When it comes to doing business on the web nothing beats great security for making clients and customers visit, spend time and subsequently money. If they know that you are taking precautions to ensure they are not going to lose their secure data then they will have trust of your websites and your ability to do business.

Step 1.   Make sure your client data is secure by using SSL encryption. Many hosting companies offer this              as an "add-on" service which is well worth the investment. Most people only use it if they are making sales for merchandise but anytime you are dealing with clients fill out forms it's best to               make sure you are using a secured site. Identity thieves lurk around every corner and you won't        just be protecting your clients you will be protecting your company's reputation. After all bad                 news spreads twice as fast as good news and who wants to be associated with a site that has been hacked or that has lost people's sensitive information?

Step 2.   Do regular backups. This will make sure that your website content is secure and that you can      easily perform site recovery should there be a problem with a server.

Step 3.   Check for unusual "spikes" in your bandwidth. If you notice an inexplicable jump then you've    been hacked. Contact your service provider and take steps to have them block your current site   and reload your "backed up" site onto your URL.

Step 4.   Hire a security professional to monitor your sites. It's better to spend money "proactively"          securing your clients and company data then to spend it "reactively" after a law suit brought         about by losing your clients' secure data.

Step 5.   Limit administrative privileges. The less hands in the "cookie" jar the better. Only allow                 administrative privileges to people who are in charge of handling the IT for specific areas on a          website. It may seem silly to have them calling you every 5 minutes for changes to their site or               to order something but it's better than having them download something carrying a virus, worm                or Trojan onto your mainframe and destroying your site or retrieving clients' data for external use.

Taking these simple steps will get you happy and relieved customers and clients. After all can you imagine going to your banking website and not seeing that it's secured? Would you really want your money in that kind of establishment? Probably not.

Well think of your company's website like a bank. Make it secure, show your customers and clients it is and you'll have happier and returning clients.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

3 Ways to Keep "Crawlers" on Revisiting Your Website

When you are trying to get to the top of your Google search page and dominate your niche it's important to do it systematically so as not to upset the Penguin. But as long as you follow these 3 tips you shouldn't have to worry about losing your search engine ranking (or running out of "fish" to feed the Penguin).

1.       Keep website fresh. Change looks as often as you need to. Some sites change daily (film, video, multi-media); others change weekly (content sites); bi-weekly (retail) or monthly (services sites).

2.       Make sure discounts are marked. If you offer coupons or discounts on your site, make sure that they are clearly marked and that either their codex works when applied on the "purchase" screen or that the discounts are "given" and show on the "cart" page at checkout. If they don't make sure you tell the customer that the discount will show in the cart at checkout. Many customers will leave a site if they aren't not told this and don't see a discount "in the cart" when they click on a discount or sales item. And they don't come back. Worse they'll mention it to friends who also won't patronize your site either.

3.       Include your URL in ads. This is a biggie. There's nothing worse than creating an ad whether a direct marketing; email or Yellow page ad and you don't have your website URL on there. How are people supposed to check you out? Today people visit your online presence before they stop into your store, unless you are right next door to where they receive their mail, and even then they still may research you online, just because. If they like what they see, they'll shop or at least browse, if they can't find you - you've wasted money on the marketing campaign and you've lost potential customers.

Crawlers especially like sites that show a lot of activity. So as long as people are visiting then you'll get their attention. As long as you are doing it ethically the Penguin won't ping you for bad conduct and you'll gain some added SEO growth as well as some new clients.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

8 Ways to Market Your Website Intelligently & Ethically

When it comes to marketing your website you can find all kinds of tips and tactics on the web. The problem is some are worthwhile and others are just plain unscrupulous. So how do you know which is which? Well here are 8 easy to implement ways to market your website ethically (meaning you won't get attacked by Google's Penguin) and intelligently.

1.       Answer customer's questions. This falls under the "relevant content" moniker. But it takes it a step further. Be bold, be fearless and answer your customers' questions. Don't just do the FAQ, if they want to know how much, address that with an article. If they want to know your opinion about a trend in the industry, give it. They'll respect you for that and you'll become the thought leader in your niche because they know they can go to you for the "truth" and nothing but the "truth" and that's what modern customers want.

2.       Add interactivity to your site. Put an IM- chat on the pages and let visitors know when it's "manned" or "active". Let them see you are accessible. Remember people still value customer service and talking to a live human is better than a machine any day.

3.       Write Articles - for Humans not Machines. Yes, use your blog to answer questions and speak to your customers as if you are talking to your friends (professionally please). Make observations about things you see happening in your industry. Comment on a lawsuit that will affect your industry or an emerging trend. Break the news to your readers through your articles. No one can fault you especially since what's happening is going to affect your business anyway. Put it out there and start dialog through your blog articles with the visitors. If they're visiting enough they'll eventually spend more time checking out your website. The more time they are there the more likely they are to spend money.

4.       Join StartUp Nation.com. Set up a profile that explains the solutions your company offers to customers. Include your URL and mention any specialty solutions your business may offer to potential customers and clients. Be honest, don't brag, don't preach and don't sell. Just explain the solutions and what sorts of problems a customer may have that they can solve.

5.       Repeat Step 4 on other business networking sites. Create solutions specific profiles on LinkedIN, Ryze and in small business forums. This will help you find and meet people looking for the solutions you provide.

6.       Buy Ad Space on a Site with Visitors You Want to Attract. That may sound mercenary but in reality it isn't. If you are in the IT industry and you're looking for people wanting innovative software or IT security solutions then wouldn't you want the visitors that would go to sites like "Popular Mechanics", "PC Mag", "PC World", or "Maximum PC"? Well by all means buy some ad space on their websites. If visitors see your ad they'll follow the "hey they must be okay otherwise this website wouldn't run their ads" mentality. You'd be surprised how much fun guilt by association is and profitable.

7.       Optimize for Search Engines Last. Remember you are talking to people on your website not machines. You want to people to visit you often whether to respond to your marketing campaigns or to just read your super informative articles. If you have regular visitors daily bouncing around on your website the "crawlers" will take notice and they'll track your site and its visitors and find your SEO. So you don't have to create ever paragraph on your website and liter it with keywords and SEO phrases just to get the crawlers. So what you've gotten crawled. They don't spend money; the people visiting you do. They're there to check you out with spending in mind; not worrying about you being on "page one".

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's Success Tips for Women in Small Business, Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI & 65 Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

How to Effectively Market on Mainstream Social Media

When you say social network people's minds immediately conjure up FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace or YouTube. They are most popular sites on the web, certainly some of the most visited as far used for researching companies, entertainment and information. If you are operating a business that caters to the people who frequent those sites, then by all means join them.

But do so with caution. Most of the people that use those sites are not just there to update their friends and family on the new baby or house. Many people use those sites to turn themselves into instant celebrities and post "unprofessional" comments and photos to gain attention. This is cute if you are still in arrested development and you want to only hang around with prepubescent high schoolers and college students.

So with that in mind, make sure that you are monitor your "fans" and "friends" since they will post all sorts of items that are not business like or business related on their pages and link to yours. This may get you links but it is also going to associate you with them and their lifestyle and antics. So if you'd rather not have people seeing your "party in Cancun" pics tagged on your friend's sites associated with your professional business then chose other social networks to utilize.

That's not to say don't put up your company's tagged, "tutorial" videos linked to your website on YouTube.com, by all means do it! YouTube.com is now the largest "search engine" on the planet. (Yes it's bigger than Google.) So definitely house your "how tos" and "tutorials" on there as long as they're tagged and have URLs leading to your website or specific pages on your site. It's a great organic traffic generator.

Another great traffic generator is to have a "company" fan page on Facebook. This is a nice way to have your visitors show support for your company, product or service. This also means that their networks will see they've become your friend and curiously check out your page too.

Let's talk Twitter. In order to use Twitter properly you'll need to create 120 character "teasers" that grab the attention of the Tweet peeps. The reason you want a max. 120 character teaser is that you will need to leave space for your "short URL" which should link either to an article on your website or blog or to the product page you are talking about in your teaser. Many short URLs can take up to 10 characters which leaves another 10 for anyone wanting to "re-tweet" your teaser. So nothing you've written gets cut off by the adding of the "re-tweet" link. Also place your short URL at the beginning of your message. In this way your short URL will be the first thing they see and not get cut off by the "re-tweet" URL which will automatically appear at the end when someone chooses to exercise that option.

In order to kill two birds with one tweet, simply add "#in" at the end of your 120 character tweet so it will appear on LinkedIn automatically.

Do not drop your Twitter visitors onto a "main home page" blindly. They'll leave. In order to effectively utilize Twitter with your "teasers" you are going to want to use a system like HootSuite.com or Tweetdeck to schedule your "teasers" for timely intervals. Schedule your teasers to go out on a specific interval over the period of a week. Ten a day is a good number as long as each "teaser" is different on that day. You can repeat the "teasers" throughout the week on different days or in different time slots; but don't make them repetitive. This make you look like you are trying to sell something and are spamming the Twitter peeps. Not good.

by I. Vitt Argent,
producer of Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
SEO Tips for Small Business
SEO Tips 4 SME Blog
author of, Dr. Ande's SMO Guides, Dr. Ande's Success Tips for Women in Small Business, &  Dr. Ande's SEO Tips for Improved ROI