Utilizing Facebook Ads For Your Home Business

April 3, 2012 By administrator Leave a Comment

Facebook may be a site that you use personally, but have you thought of using Facebook to help build and market your home business? Never really thought about it? With Facebook being such a popular social network, it’s worth taking a look at Facebook ads and how they can work for your home business.

If, by some chance, you have never been on Facebook then you should head over and check it out. People have connected with relatives and old school friends through Facebook. In addition to having a personal page, you can create a fan page for your home business.

Getting Started With Facebook

Signing up for a Facebook account is quick and easy. You are in charge of what information you include on your home business page, and this information provides the foundation for your fan page. Facebook has multiple searching tools, and also offers Facebook ads.

The best thing about advertising your home business on Facebook is that the traffic is already there. Millions of people flock to social networks daily. Now all you need to do is get their attention.

Here are a few simple steps for getting a Facebook ad up and running for your home business.

First, create your fan page. Before you can start thinking about advertising, you need a page for your new customers, fans, etc to come to. This page is a way for you to interact with your customers and it provides valuable information about your home business.

Now you need to think about what you want your ad to say. Keywords are very important here, but they are not the only consideration.

Choose titles that are short, to the point, and those that will grab peoples’ attention. This is the first introduction of your home business to many people, so be sure to use attention grabbing, powerful and upbeat wording for the ads.

Now for the fun part – You need to choose where you want your home business ads to be distributed. You can use your selected keywords to determine which search engine pages you would like your ad to appear on through Google Ads. Facebook provides you with many more options based on information that is gathered by the site.

Remember, these can be as specific as you want for maximum target ability. You should consider your targeted demographics, gender, relationship status, likes and dislikes based on your home business and who you are hoping to reach. Your Facebook ads will appear on pages that are relevant to your niche. Your ads will also appear on your own page for your fans and their friends to see.

Facebook Advertising Costs

I know what you are wondering now – How much is this going to cost? This really depends on what type of ad program you want for your home business.

You can choose a flat rate advertising plan, or you can choose a pay per click package. When using pay per click you can evaluate how much business you are doing in relation to the amount you are paying for advertising. This allows you to make changes as you see fit.

When you are first starting out with advertising, you may not want to spend too much at a time. Take it slow so you can monitor your ads and see what works and what doesn’t work. Choose your ad placement wisely and keep in mind that you will get more visibility in a place where everyone flocks.

If you have tried Google ads in the past, you should definitely give Facebook ads a try. You may be very surprised at the results. Facebook ads can make your home business advertising dollars go father and work smarter for you.

Filed Under: Advertising

Sociable Plug In is a Great Way to Increase Traffic

August 6, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

If you are a regular reader then you know I love WordPress. One of the many reasons is their huge amount of plug in choices. One of my absolute favorite ones is the Sociable Plug In. You can pick it up here: (yoast.com/wordpress/sociable/)

What does it do?

Well, it allows you to add an array of social bookmark buttons at the bottom of your posts. It is very user friendly as well. With a few clicks of the mouse you can choose out of the many ones they offer what socials you want to appear in the footer of your posts. You may even choose the order in which they appear and whether or not you want them on your pages as well.

I suggest you go with their css styling option, unless of course you want to invest the time to style it yourself! LOL. If you leave it at the default setting, it lays it out vertically instead of horizontally. Their styling also offers a nice roll over affect. You can see it in action at the footer of this post and all the posts on my site.

To get it to look like it does at the end of my posts, once it is installed,go to: settings->Sociable-> then click on box next to “Use the sociable style sheet?”

What’s all the Fuss about Social Bookmarking?

Well, quite simply, it allows for readers to favorite a post made by you and for them to find a popular posts. If you write posts with valuable information, you will get more traffic. The Sociable plug in simply makes it easier for readers to give you the kudos you deserve!

Another positive about Social Bookmarking, and by far the best reason, is the one way back links it gives you. It is also an easy way to gain steady traffic.

Next Step

If you have not dove into the world of social bookmarking yet, start signing now!

sign up for a few social bookmarking sites like; digg, delicious, reddit, facebook and twitter.
Get the Sociable plug in
Visit sites with good content, bookmark them
Leave comments
Oh, and fav your own stuff!

Soon you will be a Social media guru!

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Plug In's, Social Networking

Promoting Content is an Important Part of Increasing Traffic

July 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Writing original content is vital for designing a successful website or blog. New content must be added on a regular basis to keep it active. If a site is neglected, PR ranking and traffic will be lost and hard to get back.

One thing to remember: writing and posting the content is only part of the work involved in promoting a website. The content itself needs to be promoted.

10 Tips to Promote Content for Free

Start a Newsletter. A mailing list is extremely helpful. It allows the owner of the list to send out weekly or monthly updates about website, specials and new content. It also keeps business owners in touch with their readers and clients. Note: Only including partial articles in the newsletter will encourage readers to keep reading the piece on site. They may wind up reading more than the article that got them there!
Tweet about it. Twitter is growing in popularity every day. Business owners, bloggers and webmasters should jump on this lucrative social networking bandwagon while they have the chance. Who knows what the next “in thing” will be! Read more about promoting on Twitter here.
Digg It and Others like it. These types of sites are designed to get the word out about new and top notch content. Joining these free sites and using them to promote content is a must for getting the word out about a website and it’s content. A few of the good ones are; digg.com, plurk.com, buzz.yahoo.com, delicious.com, reddit.com and stumbleupon.com.
Facebook. Another great place to network and connect with other business owners is to have a facebook account. It should be used for more than just connecting with old highschool friends. Using it to connect with others in business is very savvy. Starting a fan page is also a great way to get the word out about new content. Posting regular updates on facebook will bring in more traffic and new readers.
Submit Content to Article Directories. It is important to have a good authors box with 1-2 links back to writers websites. After 30 days, sending original content to article directories, makes it available for others in the same niche. It is a great tool to get free back links.
Install Social Plug Ins. WordPress is by far the best blogging platform in this writers opinion. They have fabulous plug ins to help readers promote what they read. Every blog owner should have social links in the footer of their articles. It gives readers the ability to tweet about great posts they read, or at the very least give it a thumbs up on sites like digg!
SEO. Always make sure articles have good titles, meta tags, h1 & h2 headings, proper key word usage and tags. This helps search engines promote the articles, and index them properly so potential readers can find them! Proper SEO is a vital key for increasing traffic. Tip for WordPress Bloggers: Install All In one SEO plug in.
Encourage and Respond to Comments. If an article receives a comment, respond to the comment. Encouraging conversation is the site owners job. Asking colleagues and friends to read and comment on articles is a great way to get conversations going. If a site is intriguing to readers they will come back, tell their friends and maybe even post about it on their site/blog!
Link to Articles. Visit other blogs and leave NON spam comments. Instead of linking back to home page of site, linking to actual articles on site will help get the word out about the content. This is also a great tip for forum signatures. Using the title of article with link is also a good way to intrigue potential readers and make them want to click and follow.
Guest Blog. Being a guest blogger is another free way to promote a website. In the authors box can be a couple links back to articles that are popular or new. Guest blogging for website with high ranking and same niche is the key to making the most of this tip.

Promoting a website is an ongoing task. There are no “quick fixes” to increase traffic. It takes hard work and determination to create popular websites.

Filed Under: Article Marketing, Blog, Blogging, Featured, Marketing, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking Tagged With: Article Marketing, Blogging, Marketing and Promotion, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking

Social Networking and Your Business

June 9, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Social Networking is extremely popular right now. It brings worlds together with a few mouse clicks and a keyboard…or even your phone! We can build friendships with people thousands of miles away. Social Networking is also something that can also be beneficial for businesses.

Tips to Use Social Networking for Business

Twitter.com. Twitter is one of the most popular forms of social networking. It is like having an IM with the world. You can use Twitter to promote your business, self or service. The key though is to be active and unselfish. You cannot make it all about you. Relationships must be built. People on Twitter are like the rest of the Internet world…they despise spammers! Do not DM links or self promos. Save that for your live tweets. I would suggest 1 self promo tweet for every 7-10 non business tweets. (follow me on Twitter here )

Ning and others like it. Ning.com is a social networking platform that is usually categorized in different niches. For example, you may find a network for writers. Writers will go there and discuss their crafts and share what they are doing. The cool thing about places like ning is that each “member” of the network gets their own page. On their page they can have links and other self promoting things for their business, product or service. Members also have their own blogs that other members can come and read. Again, you must be careful not to be labeled a spammer. Join the community and build relationships. Stay in your niche and never make it all about you.

Facebook. You can get similar results with MySpace. However, for a more professional look and mature audience, Facebook is the best choice for business promotion. Create a personal page and be sure and add your link. Find people you know and people to network with. You can also create a page specifically for your business. Facebook is another way that you have a platform to promote you and what you do. As with anything though, do not be a spammer. Build relationships.

Blogging. Blogging can also be a form of social networking if you are doing it correctly. You can use your blog to promote what you do 100%. Make it interesting and fun though. Build friendships with other bloggers. Link exchange. Comment….no spamming…actual involvement type comments on other blogs. Before you know it you will build a readership and clients for your business. Bloggers are very loyal to their own. If you do it right and make it less about you and more about building relationships, you are more likely t find success with blogging.

There are also various linkage sites and many more ways to get in the world of Social Networking. Google it. The point is to get involved. Participate and build relationships. Oh, and NEVER spam.

One last thing I would like to mention…all the social networking types listed above is FREE! You can join free and start your own for free. F-R-E-E! What better way to promote your business, product or service??

Filed Under: Business Coaching, Featured, Social Networking Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Social Networking, Starting Out

Twitterpated

May 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

No, I am not talking about Bambi and Friend Owl’s description of being love struck. LOL…well…maybe a little love struck! I am talking about Social Networking. Social Networking is in right now and Twitter is one of the many venues for it.

I love to Twitter. I use it to vent, share, network and promote. It’s FREE. A free way to advertise and promote. Amazing, huh?

Twitter really can be a useful tool in promoting your website or business. Twitter is like having a live mini IM/blog that can reach many people. It can be a great way to get the word out about your product or service. However, you need to make sure that you are not spamming your followers!

Post on it throughout the day stuff that is going on in your day. Work, family, news, etc. Then, when you do post a few “ads,” they will not seem like you are an ad crazy twitter spammer! LOL!

You can add Twitter right to your browser. I use Fire Fox, so I have Twitbin. It sits right to the left of my screen so I can see new posts from people I follow. And, so I can add a post when the mood arises. It is totally cool!

Pay attention to what is going on with the people you follow. Participate in conversations so that you are involved and not just a voyeur. If all you do is post about you, no one will be interested in you! Be a true blue twitter friend.

I have made many new friends on Twitter. If I never got twitterpated, I would not have met them!

So, get twittering! Oh, and feel free to follow me!

Filed Under: Featured, Marketing, Social Networking, Starting Out, Tips for Success, Web Design Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Marketing and Promotion, Social Networking, Twitter

What Most Online Marketers Forget

April 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

It seems like almost every online marketer is completely focused on search engine rankings, distributing articles and working their rear ends off for traffic. One thing they forget about is what so many traditional brick-and-mortar businesses already know and practice because it’s very effective.

You can buy all the ads you want for your business and you can experience some great results, but if you’d like some more almost no-cost promotion that helps you build word-of-mouth and great reputation for your online business…you really should be developing your own publicity campaign through press releases.

When a media outlet talks about you, portrays you as an expert or mentions your business…that is more priceless than any advertising. It’s like an actual endorsement of you and your business. Who wouldn’t want that?

Well, it’s easier to do than you might think.

You may already know that Alice Seba has a complete system that shows you exactly how to write and distribute a press release to get noticed by the media….potentially saving your hundreds or thousands of dollars in advertising costs.

She has just added a new and unique piece of software called Press Release Profits Builder. It allows you to choose from HTML or plain text formatted releases and takes you step-by-step through the whole press release writing process. When you’re done, the software will produce a perfectly formatted release for you.

Here’s a note from Alice about the software:

“Now…let me be clear. This isn’t some magical software that allows you to click your mouse a few times and your release will be ready. Anybody who tries to sell you something like that is doing you an injustice. If you want the media’s attention, you’ve got to be unique and have something they want to share with their readers and viewers. This software helps you put together a release designed to get noticed.”

Learn more about the course and software, Click Here.

Filed Under: Blog, Press Releases Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Internet, Market Research, Press Releases

How to Conduct Target Market Research

April 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Every business should be doing it, but unfortunately they either aren’t doing it at all or aren’t doing it effectively. What am I talking about? Market research, that’s what. Without conducting detailed research about your target market, your business won’t reach it’s potential and will more than likely meet it’s demise.

In order to tell you HOW to conduct market research you must know what it is. In a nutshell, market research is research that you do in order to determine what it is that makes your customers buy. Here is a list of things that you can do to conduct market research that will tell you what you what your customers want and need so that you can make more sales and grow your business.

First, find the question or questions you want answers to. Be as specific as possible so that you have the answers you need. Going too broad may not really get to the answers you are really in search of. For instance, if you are thinking of adding a product to your line, is it something your target market is in need or want of? What would they most likely spend on a product or service such as the one you are asking about?

Take the questions and get your answers by doing the following:

Conduct a survey of current and potential customers.
Visit online forums and groups that include members of your market. Remember to build relationships in these groups. Don’t just go to the forums and post your survey or question.
Interview other business owners in your market.
Monitor business trends in your market by reading and watching various media outlets.
Research your competition by being a customer and/or inquiring about their products or services.
Mail or telephone interviews.
For those with online businesses, set up a test page revolving around the product or service you are thinking of offering. Give plenty of time to test the page and the traffic and activity of the visitors.

These are only a few of the ways you can conduct research for your target market. The key isn’t what research you do, it’s the fact that you are doing something to learn more about the habits of that market. By taking the time to find out more about the people you are targeting, you’ll come to realize that knowing those in your market is one of the best things you can do for you business.

Filed Under: Business Coaching, Marketing Tagged With: Business Coaching, Business Tips, Direct Sales, Internet, Market Research, Marketing and Promotion

Why Writing Articles Works Like a Traffic Magnet

April 4, 2009 By admin

By: Kurt Naulaerts

Article Marketing is hot. Every single day webmasters and program owners write and submit thousands of articles on any subject you can think of. The reason for this is that an article is content. And content is king. Before you start to think that this is another SEO technique that may or may not work depending on the current algorithms of the search engines, think about it.

EVERYTHING on the internet is CONTENT.

The internet is a veritable treasure trove of information. Good, bad, valuable or not, the internet is all about providing information to people. That is why smart internet marketers know that people want information from their websites, not just SEO enriched pages of advertising.

The loopholes that search engine optimizers have been trying to use for high ranking in the search engine has created a plethora of sites that boast high keyword ratios, thousands of irrelevant hyperlinks and sometimes even redirection. These redirected websites try to create an optimized web page that the search engines will rank high but actually redirect the viewer to a less search engine friendly site.

Well, the search engines caught on. The websites that were getting the highest placements were not always providing quality information or useful content. In fact, they not only lowered the ranking of these sites. They even removed them from the listings completely.

This sent a shock wave through the internet community and smart marketers realized that there is only one sure way to convince the search engines that they were meant to be at the top: Quality Content. And a quality way to provide content is through articles.

Not only do the search engines love content and articles, but visitors do too. By providing visitors with useful information and relevant links to other sites, they come back again and again! And that is not the only benefit.

Because website owners are now hungry for content, there is a huge market for informative articles that other website owners can use on their sites. By offering information to these sites in exchange for a hyperlink to your website, you get even more exposure, both to search engines AND customers.

So, if you want an easy way to provide content then start writing articles. Ask yourself what kind of program you are promoting. What niche market does it belong to? What keywords are people searching for in the search engines to find your program?

If you have answered these questions then you are well on your way. Next, describe the topics of your program. Use your own knowledge. Search for info in the search engines. Explore your hard drive. Maybe you will find an ebook you had forgotten about.

Are you ready to start writing?

The headline determines for a great deal whether someone is going to read your article. How to, Discover, Why, X ways to, are fine starting points.

In the title and first paragraph mention your keyword. Use this keyword a few times in the rest of the article. Do not advertise in your article! Do not mention links or URLs! An article is meant to be informative. It is not a sales letter.

And still the main reason why people write articles is to promote something. Surprise: you have a resource box! When you submit an article you may (MUST!!) include a resource box. This is your ad! You have about 5 lines to mention your name, a link to your site and to be creative in order to attract visitors.

Do you see the value of writing articles?

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Kurt Naulaerts and Barbara Smith are 2 marketers working closely together. They will be happy to help you on your way to earning a full time income online. www.webtrafficbuilderpro.com/BarbaraSmith.html

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Article Marketing Tagged With: Article Marketing, Internet, Marketing and Promotion, SEO/Traffic, Writing

How To Use Forums To Promote Your Website

April 4, 2009 By admin

By: James Woolley

Forums are a tried and tested way of getting free traffic to your website. By posting on forums that allow sig files (those messages that appear below each post) you can indirectly advertise your website or affiliate program every time you post a comment. It sounds pretty straight forward, but a lot of people are still failing to make best use of this method of promotion. In this article I discuss exactly what to do and what not to do when posting on forums.

The first thing you should do is to find the most popular forums in your particular niche. Start by doing a search on your favored search engines for relevant forums, and then read a few posts and see if they allow sig files. If they do, jot down the url of each forum, until you have a nice list of suitable forums. Then I recommend going to alexa.com and typing each forum’s website address into the traffic ranking box and seeing how much traffic each forum gets. Ideally you want as low a number as possible for it’s ranking, and as a rule I generally tend to favor forums that have a ranking of 50,000 or lower. This ensures you don’t waste your time posting on forums that hardly anyone is visiting.

Once you have your list of forums you can start registering for them and creating your own sig files. This is where SEO becomes a factor, because not only should you create links that contain your main keywords that you want to rank highly for, but you should also vary them slightly so the search engines don’t think that you are simply buying links, because they all use the same anchor text.

Now you can begin posting some messages. Your ultimate objective of posting on forums is to get people to click on your sig file and visit your site, however there is a right way and a wrong way of doing this.

The wrong way is by spamming forums and posting endless worthless comments that don’t add anything to the topics being discussed. The end result of all this is that other readers of the forum will soon suss you out and regard you as a forum spammer and so will have no interest in clicking on your sig files and visiting your site.

The right way to get the most people you can to click on your sig file, without spamming forums, is to brand yourself as an expert in your particular niche. By bearing this in mind when posting each individual message you will start to become respected and people will naturally want to find out more about you and your website. How will they find out this information? Through your sig file of course.

There’s a few other things you can do to maximise your click-thrus from sig files.

Firstly, if you are posting on forums for any length of time, you should change the wording of your sig file every so often. People get bored with seeing the same sig file over and over again, and tend to gloss over it after a while, so it’s important to spice it up every so often (while keeping it keyword rich of course).

Secondly, on every forum you will generally find one or more epic threads, ie those threads that have simply taken off, with several pages of posts, each of which has been viewed hundreds, if not thousands of times. These are the kinds of threads that you should try and post a comment or two on for maximum exposure.

In addition you should also try and start your own epic threads. By being the first person to post on one of these threads your sig file could be seen thousands of times by other readers of the forum. The best ways of doing this are by either starting controversial topics that people will be begging to add their own opinions to, or by starting an open-ended discussion that could lead to many additional topics being discussed, all on the same thread. Either way your initial post containing your sig file could potentially get exposed to thousands of readers.

If you follow the basic guidelines outlined in this article you should create a steady stream of traffic to your website just from forums alone. Combine this promotional method with any of the other numerous traffic-generating methods, and you will soon have a high traffic website on your hands.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: James Woolley is a full-time marketer who runs a website and newsletter dedicated to helping people make money online through internet marketing. To subscribe to his newsletter send a blank email to jimsmarketing@aweber.com or visit http://www.jimsmarketing.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: Internet, Marketing and Promotion, SEO/Traffic, Social Networking, Websites

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How to Conduct Target Market Research

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