The Importance of Keywords and How to Be Found Online

By Dan T Himes

If you're thinking about building your home based business online you're going to need to know a lot about keywords. People don't always realize the importance of keywords to their home based business however, they are actually critical to your online success.

A keyword is a word or phrase that people type into a search engine hoping to find different websites and resources that they want or need. Because of that if you don't use keywords correctly there is a good chance that no one will be able to find your website when they're searching for it.

If nobody can find your website your business obviously won't be doing well so it's vitally important to the life of your business that you research keywords and know exactly how to use them. There are many resources online that will help you learn how to get the most out of keywords however, here are a few tips to help you get started and you can build from there.
First of all, you'll want to make your keywords as specific as possible. Yes, there are a lot of people online looking for the term "home based business" but if you go to Google or any other search engine you'll find that there are so many websites that already use the term "home based business" that your competition is too steep.

A better choice would be "best home based job in Chicago" or "top work from home opportunity in Texas". Even though less people will be searching for these terms when they do search for them they'll have a better chance of finding you. The more specific the better with your keywords especially when it comes to the home based business industry because there is so much competition.

Try to use keywords in your website domain name, on your website, on your blog, in articles, on YouTube and pretty much everywhere else you can.

Everything comes back to keywords when you're working on the internet. Do your research and find keywords that work well for you. Use them as much as possible and more and more people will be looking at your opportunity and that means more money in your pocket.

Dan Himes

http://www.danswayout.com/

360-936-9039

danswayout@gmail.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_T_Himes

The Five Golden Rules of Media and Advertising

By Margaret Winfrey

There are many decisions to make in terms of media and advertising for the successful promotion of your business. Should you employ an advertising agency? When is the right time to promote your business? What should you promote, how and to whom? What are the best ways of reaching the target audience? Effectively, this all comes down to one thing - how can you achieve best value for money in order to increase sales?

There are many ways in which advertising and promoting your business can be achieved, and with more opportunities and channels through which your message can be communicated, the choices and options available are wider than ever. This can make the challenge of deciding on the best route to follow for the promotion of a product or service much harder, but at the same time, very exciting.

One of the things to bear in mind is that the world we live in today is far more cynical and skepticall than it was only a couple of decades ago. We have all become familiar with the constant bombardment of messages, promotions, advertising and offers, that we have become adapted to this culture. Part of that adaptation involves being able to filter out those messages, forms of media and advertising which we do not find immediately relevant or of any importance to us personally.

This is perhaps the biggest challenge which any business faces when considering running an advertising campaign, or actively promoting goods or services. In a culture flooded with advertising, how is it possible to ensure that your messages get through?

The key to creating a successful form of advertising is to know five things:

a) What are you promoting?
b) Why are you promoting it?
c) To whom are you promoting it?
d) How will you reach them?
e) What are your criteria for success?

These five questions are, if you like, the five rules to which you must tie any advertising campaign, for without rock solid answers to each of these questions any promotional campaign is destined to, at best, fail entirely, and at worst, also cost you a fortune.

What are you Promoting
The first of these questions relates to considering specifically what it is that you are going to promote. Certainly if your business has a very small number of products or services, this may involve promoting the business as a whole, but generally, people aren't interested in the business - it's the products and services which will be of more relevance. Remember, if the media and advertising do not strike people as being relevant, they'll be filtered out. Keep your promotion specific.

Why are you Promoting It?
The second question might seem odd, but is often ignored. Once you know what it is that you are promoting, understand clearly why you are promoting it. This could be to increase sales, or it could be to help you balance the business more in that direction, to counter a competitor's product, or to promote an entirely new product or service. Understanding why you are promoting it will help you to understand the how.

To Whom are you Promoting It?
Now you know what you're promoting and how, you need to think carefully whom it is that you need to reach. It is very rare, if indeed it ever happens, that your message is destined to be heard by everybody. There will always be a group that you need to reach more than any other. Perhaps this could be based on age, interests, needs, financial position, employment position, geographical location, educational level, health condition and so on. Try to be as specific as possible in determining your target audience.

How Will you Reach Them?
Knowing to whom your promotion is targeted allows you to consider the best way to reach them. If you're targeting the unemployed, then how will you reach that kind of person most effectively? If you're targeting children, then clearly offering free coffee mugs on the street corner is going to be as effective as trying to reach city executives by placing adverts on bingo websites.

With all forms of media available, from website advertisements to flyers, from glossy color adverts in magazines to television and radio advertisements, and from billboards to email marketing, there are a tremendous number of options from which to choose, and each will help you to reach a specific audience type.

What are your Criteria for Success?
With all four of these questions clearly answered, you may well think that you are on the way to a successful advertising campaign, but there is still one very important question that remains. How will you know if your media and advertising has been successful or not? Having performance criteria allows you to determine whether the tactics chosen have, in that particular combination, worked. If not, then perhaps you need to reconsider the answers to the first four questions. But no race was ever won that didn't have a finishing line, and no sea ever crossed with land on which to plant the flag of success.

All media and advertising has a goal, a means of attaining that goal a means of measuring how successfully it has been attained. If you are unsure to do all of that yourself, there are professionals available to help you. Many of the most successful businesses contract out the more specialized aspects of what is not their core business: media and advertising.

Surge Design is based in Atlanta Georgia. Contact Surge Design today to talk about media and advertising Atlanta Georgia as well as their other services which include: Catalog Design, Corporate Identity, Name Development Messaging, Name Positioning, Stationary Systems, Marketing Collateral, Corporate Presentations, Corporate Promotional Campaigns, Corporate Press Kits, Business Advertising, Restaurant Menu design, Corporate Packaging, Business Event Graphics, Tradeshow Graphics, Business Signage, Direct Mail Campaigns, HTML Email Campaigns, Website Design and Interactive Advertising.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Margaret_Winfrey

The Reasons Why Original Content is Important to a Website

By Craig S. Andrews

Have you ever visited a website a notice to that it contained little more than a few pictures and a sparse amount of text? Was such a site impressive? Probably not! So, let this be an obvious lesson: for a website to be impressive and stand out, it needs to have original content. Probably the best original content you can add are high quality articles that tie in to the subject matter of your website. If these articles are entertaining and informative, they make a hugely positive impression on visitors to the site. Of course, in addition to these aesthetic benefits there are other benefits associated with adding original content as well.

Let the truth be told: search engines love websites that are loaded with high quality original content. The search engines consider these sites to be important sites. Therefore, they are ranked higher in the search engines than those sites with sparse content. In the past, simply building links was enough to get a huge boost in the search engines. This is no longer the case today and a website needs high quality original content in order to be noticed.

Speaking of links, when you have a lot of original content on your site the potential for a number of one-way links pointing to your site increases. This is because when an article is interesting or well written, someone else on the internet will notice it and may link to it. This, of course, will boost your presence on the search engines.

And what is the greatest benefit of an increased presence in the search engines? Probably the most obvious benefit would be increased traffic. The higher you are in the search engines the more people will discover your website. If your website is a commercial venture then this increased traffic will greatly influence business in a positive manner.

Traffic also provides the ability to earn income from Google AdSense. For those not familiar with this, Google AdSense is a code placed on your website. This code then translates into a number of display ads that are prominently featured in the margins of the website. When a visitor clicks on these ads, a monetary amount is credited to the website's Google account. If a website's traffic is significant, then the Google AdSense revenue could be equally significant as well. Best of all, there are no costs associated with creating a Google AdSense account and an account can be set up within mere minutes.

The bottom line here is that the value of quality original content is enormous and any website that possesses valuable original content will reap a number of rewards

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Craig S. Andrews is known as "The Article Marketing Professor" with over 10,000 article versions online. Learn Big Money Getting Article Marketing from his success and failures that you can apply today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_S._Andrews

Small Business Planning Guide - 7 Steps Towards Success

By Marcus Kane

Putting up a business is not a joke. Even if you only decide to put up a small business, you have to know that it also entails a lot of hard work as well as dedication from your part as the owner. You need to have not only the skills and knowledge but also the sheer passion and determination to succeed.

If you are thinking about putting up a small business, here are the seven steps you must do to start working your way towards the road of success.

Step One: Choose your business
The foremost step you have to do in the planning stage is to choose the type of business you want to engage in. In this step, it is crucial that you select something that you like and you know something about. This is because it is more likely for your business to succeed if you are passionate about it and if you know what you are doing.

For example, if you are an animal lover, and you have previous work experience in veterinarian clinics, then a pet shop would be a great idea for you. If you are a sports fanatic and you know so much about different sports, it would be a smart move to try out putting a sports store. If you love chocolates and you know how to make them yourself, a chocolate shop is the right kind of business for you.

Step Two: Think of a name and logo for your business
Your name and logo are the representations of your business so they should be relevant, easy to remember, and will stick to the minds of your customers or clients. It is always fun to think of creative names for your business but you should always remember that the name must be professional at the same time.

Step Three: Find a location
If your business requires people traffic, like if you have a restaurant or a retail shop, then it is a must that you choose a location that will work best for your business. Choose an area where your target market will most likely be at. Select a place that is safe and has a friendly ambience so that your business will have a good reputation. Remember, it is more probable for a customer to come back to your place if you have good products or services as well as an accessible location.

Step Four: Formulate a business plan
Your business plan should contain valuable information about your business including company description, goals of the business, marketing strategies, methods for financing and many others. It should be detailed, organized and should be able to illustrate your competency as a business owner. This is important because if you plan on taking out a business loan, a business plan is one of the major requirements.

Step Five: Develop your financial methods
Another important step in planning for your small business is to plan the ways on how to obtain capital. You can take out a business loan, use business credit, or use your personal savings.

Step Six: Plan your hiring
It is imperative that you develop a standardized hiring procedure that will include intensive interviews and critical employment background checks. Background checks are important because they provide essential information such as educational background, employment history, driving records, medical records, criminal records and many others.

Step Seven: Develop your marketing strategy
Study carefully your different options when it comes to distributing and marketing your products or services and choose the methods that will be most feasible and most effective for you and your business.

We cannot deny the fact that most large businesses have humble beginnings. This is why as a small business owner, you should strive hard to make your business grow and flourish.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcus_Kane

Free Ways to Advertise My Business - The Most Effective Ways to Advertise For Free

By Douglas Bordegon

How does a small business effectively reach its target market for little or no cost? Whether a business offers a product or service, the advertising challenge is the same: reaching qualified customers. Free classified ad websites are excellent sources of qualified leads that can bring about significant traffic to your brick-and-mortar business. A strong and smart presence on several leading classified ad websites will significantly increase your customer traffic. Below, are seven steps that will lead your business to proven advertising results- without using your wallet.

1. Compile a core list of products or services your business provides. Identify five or ten 'product leaders' that are driving your business.

2. Consider the methods your customers use to research and/or locate those products or services. What key words might they use to locate your products online? Determine at least five key words or phrases one might use in a search query to find your product.

3. Determine the top three free classified websites that enable users to search and post at a local level. Yahoo!Answers recently conducted a poll and the following sites topped the local classified charts: Craigslist, WantedWants, Kijiji.

4. Prepare several 'posts' that will act as your advertisements. Post an ad in each category that corresponds to the top products that you identified. Be sure to post in the "For Sale" section, as well as the "Wanted" and "Small Business" sections. Always maintain an active ad for each of your top products. In each post, use the keywords or phrases that you previously identified. When a consumer searches for that product or service, your ad will likely be the first result.

5. Maintenance. Record your ad submissions/posts for each website and note the length of time each ad stays active. Be sure to re-post your ad as soon as the previous post expires.

6. Consistency. Over time, your business becomes top-of-mind to consumers. When your business is consistently in the eyes of your customers, your business' foot traffic will undoubtedly increase.

7. Track your results. Offer a coupon to customers who print the online ad and present it at the point of purchase. This will provide you with useful insight into the effectiveness of your online advertising.

Free classified ad websites are a small business' best friend. The sites take in millions of daily users and first segment them by location, then by products sought after. Small businesses can take this localized hot-list of qualified consumers and use it to their advantage - for free.

Doug Bordegon is the Director of Marketing and Strategy for http://www.WantedWants.com, a free classified ad and advertising site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Douglas_Bordegon

How to Fix Small Business Profit Leaks

By Don Osborne

Ever have a bucket you've filled to the top gradually sink to a lower level? As far as you knew, there were no holes in your bucket. Small business profit can suffer the same fate. Here are three things you can do to fix your leaks.

Check the Water Source

Some water simply evaporates or dries up. Those water sources are not capable of producing a consistent, long-term result. It's not the bucket that's causing the leak. To avoid short-term or evaporating profits fill your bucket with proven money making ideas. You may way to add your own twist to an idea, but don't alter the core principles of the idea.

Use the Right Bucket

Some buckets or steps you'll use to make are not suited to the job or are poorly constructed. The plan you develop should be capable of consistently producing results over a long period of time. You want to make sure your bucket can handle the weight or volume of water you've poured into it. Even the smallest of holes can leak water over time. The same is true of a poorly constructed profit plan.

Perform Regular Maintenance

There can be outside conditions causing your bucket to leak. That's to be expected. Inspect your bucket on a regular basis. Check the source of water to make sure it's still safe. Inspect the bucket for leaks or damage. To maintain consistent, long-term profit you must track your numbers and make adjustments. Also, make sure all of your buckets are in sync with each other. You don't want one bucket to accidentally damage another one.

Profit like water can be of great benefit. But you must make sure it's source it pure, the bucket is the right type and perform regular maintenance. If you do, you'll won't spent all your time fixing leaky buckets or having your small business profit simply evaporate or dry up.

Are you a small business owner frustrated by a lack of profit, not sure where to start or what to do? Learn how to take these 3 Easy Steps to know where to start, what to do and have more profit. Website: http://www.profitpuzzle.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Don_Osborne

The Top 3 Website Marketing Strategies You Should Use

By Michelle Grace Tapire

Have you already heard about online or Web marketing? If you have, then you should be using it by now. If not, shame on you because you might be living in the past that up until now, you have not yet benefited from this awesome business and marketing practice. You might be asking why. The answer is simple. Everybody is practically going online these days. People socialize online, they shop online, and they definitely look something to do online. Now the question is, when are you going to be there when almost everyone is already there? Well, should you decide to join the rest, here are the top 3 website marketing strategies you can use to make your business work for you efficiently and effectively:

1. Article Marketing
This is perhaps one of the marketing strategies that many online businesses are enjoying now. Basically, article marketing involves the writing and submission of good articles to different online article directories. Good articles contain rich keywords and because of this, the articles will most probably find their way to the Google's search results. This marketing strategy will also help you create backlinks for your website and help your website increase its popularity in different search engines.

2. Google AdWords
Google AdWords are found at Google's search result page's right hand side. This may also be referred to as pay-per-click. Google AdWords also show up when the user types predetermined or pre-assigned keywords in the search engine of Google. Google AdWords may also be seen on similar websites or websites carrying similar content. The online business owners only pay when a user clicks on their ads and are sent to their websites. The business owners can also control their budget and choose where they want their ads to be shown. The main benefit Google AdWords give to online business owners is that they can send their targeted traffic to their own website and only pay whenever a user visits. This is most beneficial for small businesses to keep advertising their businesses even in a shaky economy.

3. Your Very Own Website
Though there are always available marketing strategies to use, oftentimes, the conversion of visit to sales still depends on the website itself. There are practically countless ways to do this; however, if you will always think of your website visitor and make your site always appealing to them, you will be able to do well. There are just some things that you should always put in your mind. Make sure your website is full of useful and interesting contents to always catch the interest of your visitors. You yourself is a customer so just imagine what you want to read and to see if you happen to visit a certain website and for sure, that's what other would like to get.

Venturing into any business online is such an overwhelming idea especially when all you can hear about is how profitable and effective it is to do business here. While this is true, the biggest part still falls on you. Included in this 'big' part are advertisement, promotion and of course, SEO. Let "Words in Action" takes its share from that part. "Words in Action" is a team of writers trained to write high quality and original articles only. We value timeliness, confidentiality and most of all quality. Deliver your message to your potential customers through words in action delivered to you by "Words in Action". For more information, email us at mitapire@yahoo.com/ mahal_00803@yahoo.com

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Grace_Tapire

Calculating Advertising Costs

By Uma A Ilango

If you are interested in obtaining advertising for your business and want to calculate advertising costs, you have two options. You can choose an agency that you feel will best represent your brand and your needs and ask for prices for a package of promotions, or you can research different kinds and calculate the prices from there. Regardless of the method you choose for calculations, you will get the best prices by shopping different brands.

If your needs are few, you may be interested in calculating costs separately. If you are interested in placing an ad in a newspaper or magazine, the amount may be calculated based on how many columns your ad will span across. Expect to pay for color ads versus black and white ads, fonts, and lines of text, pictures and other elements in periodical advertisements.

When looking at internet promotions such as banner ads, most banner ads are calculated based upon the size of the ad and how interactive the ad is. You can also find banner ads on a pay-per-click basis although they are not as frequent as flat rate banner ads. Pay-per-click ads begin with a monthly budget to accommodate an expected number of visits to that banner ad. As a visitor clicks on an ad and uses your strategically placed advertisement, a portion of your budget is used. This kind of advertising can allow for very good ad placement and a lot of customers visiting your website.

Television commercials in a prime time slot can be very costly, in the $200,000 range for a 30 second commercial, but considering how many viewers watch a particular show in that time frame, the flood of customers you will receive could be well worth it. Be sure to research the target market during particular time frames and determine the price per amount of impressions when considering advertising through television. You will also need to consider how frequent your commercial will be viewed in a particular time slot.

Calculating advertising costs by radio is also based upon how many impressions you get in a particular time slot and the frequency of your advertisement being played. Radio has a loyal customer base. Individuals who listen to radio typically spend several hours per day listening and only listen to 2 – 3 radio stations during that entire period. If your target market is a particular age group that listens to radio only at certain times, the costs to pick up those listeners can be very beneficial by attracting impulse buyers also.

Bigarticlepool.com is a source of expert content in the form of short, informative and educational or entertaining articles. We provide experts in hundreds of different niches from around the world. Thousands of new articles are added every month. Uma Ilango is a programmer from profession. Has lots of interest in non-technical writing too. She has written articles in several topics. Her hobbies include reading, surfing, writing and playing chess. She writes regularly at Bigarticlepool.com.

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Why Your Business Must Take Advantage of Guerrilla Marketing

By Dr B C Bruno

In today's harried economic environment small businesses must integrate a variety of marketing techniques such as guerrilla marketing campaigns to maximize their exposure, gain new customers and produce sales.

With traditional marketing channels such as newspaper ads and yellow pages declining, the future now holds low hanging fruit in the arenas of website marketing, web 2.0, guerrilla marketing , email marketing and the integration of cross channel promotions such as radio driving traffic to website, cable driving traffic to website and social media campaigns to drive traffic to your website.

The ultimate goal of getting your offline and online traffic to visit your website is to invite the prospect to take action. That action may be to sign up for your newsletter by way of receiving a report, receive special discounts or take a short ecourse about your product or service at no charge.

By so doing you have the opportunity to develop a relationship with the prospect who may become a buyer in the next week, the next month, or even a year from now. The point is that by properly asking them for their information and their conscious decision to provide it, they have invited you to send them the requested information. This is a powerful step in initiating relationships, and when done correctly, will result in new and repeat customers and sales.

A few advantages of guerrilla marketing efforts such as flyers, cards, banners, brochures, handouts, samples, press releases and promotional items is that they are inexpensive or no cost to implement and emphasize your presence in the local market.

McD's may not give you a free hamburger but if you have a coffee shop you can issue a press release that on Tuesday you will give everyone who stops by a cup of Joe on the house

This will attract locals like crazy...when they do make sure that you invite them to visit your website to get coupons for more samples and discounts. At the site ask them to enter their name and email to receive the coupons...they will because they want more coffee! Now you have the opportunity to tell the story of your coffee and business to the visitor and provide coupons for return visits. Your visitors will get to know and trust you and will become loyal and steady customers.

Put your thinking cap on and see what you can do locally. Your customer list will grow and your business will prosper.

For more information on how to increase sales and drive down your advertising costs visit GreenPoint Marketing at: http://www.GreenpointMarketing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr_B_C_Bruno

Ten Words That Sell - Make the Most of Them in Your Text Ads

By Susan Hutson

One of the most powerful tools in marketing is the prudent use of words in advertising. Judiciously used words have the power to entice and hold the attention of potential customers. This leads to either immediate sale or sales in the future, but most importantly it can establish the all important relationship between customer and brand. On the flip side words can result in the loss of potential customers and create distaste towards your product.

Using the right words in the right place under the right circumstances is key to any advertising effort, but it is especially important when ads are purely based on terminology like in the case of text ads. Text ads are common in e-mails and on the web but many marketers are only beginning to realize it's potential. Statistics claim that text ads gain better results on search engine sites than on other websites, the explanation being that web users enter search engines looking for these ads while they fail to notice them in other websites because they simply aren't looking for it. Using the right words can make all the difference in attracting customers to your text ad and holding their attention long enough to make a sale.

Here are ten words that will help you hone your sales vocabulary and lead to productive advertising home business.

1. FREE- this is a timeless motivator. It may sound cliché but it still works and probably will continue to work for many years to come. Sub consciously human beings just can't seem to resist something that's free.

2. GUARANTEE- makes a customer feel secure.

3. SAVE- this suggests that you are offering the customer an opportunity to save his money. Although in reality this may not be true, customers still react favorably to the "save whatever%" offer.

4. LIMITED- the word creates a sense of urgency that is appealing to many potential customers.

5. NEW- everyone wants to get in on what's new. This word arouses our curiosity and never fails to deliver resulting in the phenomenon that sales spike just after the launch of a new product.

6. EXCLUSIVE- most high end brands are built on this philosophy. 'Exclusive' arouses the attention seeking alter ego from within.

7. PROVEN- human beings are wired to fear the unknown. If a product is tried, tested and proven it will eliminate fear and smoothen the path towards closing sale.

8. RESULTS- customers want to know what they can expect from the purchases they make.

9. IMPROVE- evolving is basic human instinct therefore consumers always react favorably to products and services that they perceive to have improved.

10. IMMEDIATE- consumers expect everything on the web to be instant, so much so that if something is not immediate, it is unacceptable.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Hutson