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Here’s 120 Traffic Sources For You To Peruse

Folks are always looking for ways to monetize their niche sites and make smart use of ad choices. It’s strange for me to think that back in 2008 to 2012, when as for alternatives to google adsence –

I used to tell folks that asked: Adbrite is definitely the most solid alternative to Google Adsense. Start using them as soon as possible and you will see some decent returns.

BUT that was in 2012, theses days there’s a whole different view in regards traffic sources and ads. As publishers it’s often not the ‘regular’ channels that provide the best ROI. There are options here you’ve probably;y never heard of that may be just what you’re looking for. –

However… be told, the text tagged to these traffic sources and networks is their own spiel – and not my opinion on them.

Lists of Traffic Source

it’s a bit of a epic post so I’ve added some quick nav links fro you if you need to teleport!

Table of Contents

Lists of Traffic Source

PPC/Contextual

Self-Service Social

PPC/CPV

Self-Serve Media Buys & Ad Network

Media Buy Network (non-self serve)

In-Text Advertising

Mobile Phone Ad Networks

Mobile Retargeting

Category (Gaming)

Category (Adult)

Social Apps

International

Uncategorized

List Brokers

PPC/Contextual

1. Google Adwords: Adwords is the premier advertising product of Google. Google Adwords is a PPC (pay-per-click) engine meaning you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad. The opposite (and more traditional) of this is CPM advertising, where you pay a certain rate regardless of how many clicks you get. There are TWO sides to Google Adwords The Search Network and The Content Network.

2. Bing/Yahoo: MSN Adcenter is Microsoft’s flagship search advertising product which is similar to Google Adwords. It too, is a PPC engine where you are only charged for actual clicks as opposed to paying a certain rate for your advertising. MSN Adcenter also has a search network and content network, although the content network on MSN is vastly smaller than Google is.

3. Miva: Miva Merchant offers a complete e-commerce solution consisting of PA-DSS validated ecommerce software, PCI compliant ecommerce hosting, credit card processing services and custom website design & development.

4. 7Search: If you are struggling getting profitable on your PPC traffic source, try a smaller network like 7Search

5.LookSmart: LookSmart is an online advertising and technology company that provides premium and performance advertising solutions for advertisers and publishers. LookSmart offers an unparalleled customer experience to advertisers of any size budget, offering them extensive reach into audiences through a monitored distribution network, maximizing ROI.

6. AdKnowledge: one stop shop for lots of types of ads. interesting. Adknowledge pairs advanced targeting with a massive database of consumers to drive leads and brand awareness through:Social media, audience delivery, email. Unlocking your digital audience is more than a tagline ó it defines our mission at Adknowledge.

7. Affinity: search, parked pages, text ads good 2nd tier inventory. Affinity is a contextual advertising company that delivers over 30 Billion ad impressions each month from North America, Western Europe, Middle East, India, South-East Asia & Australia.

8. Marchex: IndustryBrains is a leading performance advertising media company that uses keyword search and relevant editorial targeting to achieve superior advertising results for marketers.

9. AdMarketplace: AdMarketplace is the largest search advertising marketplace outside of Google and Yahoo. Named one of New York’s fastest growing companies for two years running, adMarketplace delivers performance traffic to large, data-savvy marketers and their agencies. The Advertiser 3D interface is the only pay-per-click platform that allows advertisers to bid by individual traffic source and device type.

10. FindItQuick: With FinditQuick, you can achieve greater exposure for your business with our large traffic network. We will reach every corner of the internet for you to get you the results you need.

Self-Service Social

1. Facebook Ads: Self Serve Ads on Facebook

2. POF Ads: Self Serve Ads on PlentyOfFish. The top users of our ad system have increased their revenues by over $500,000 a month by taking advantage of our targeting capabilities. Many business owners target local consumers based on zip code, age, gender, education, profession etc.

3. Reddit Ads: Get your message to millions of viewers, Target viewers on what THEY are interested in, not what their demographic is,Use text, images, and video in your ads.

4.LinkedIn Ads: Connect with the world’s largest audience of active, influential professionals. Launch your campaign in minutes. LinkedIn is our most cost-effective online marketing channel.Good for B2B

PPC/CPV

1.Traffic Vance: Trafficvance is the leading Contextual Textlink and Display Advertising Platform. It delivers high quality traffic to advertisers through a winning combination of high performing ad units, granular targeting, competitive pricing, and multiple optimization capabilities.

2. AdOnNetwork: AdOn Network is a premier online Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising company that provides innovative contextual and audience based advertising solutions for advertisers and publishers and delivers high-quality traffic from U.S. and international sources

3. MediaTraffic: CPV Contextual Advertising. Get Targeted Domestic and International Traffic with MediaTraffic CPV Contextual Advertising. MediaTraffic offers 3 ways to buy targeted traffic and drive quality visitors to your website: Highly Targeted, Broad Targeted and RON (run of network).

4. Direct CPV: Try something different with DirectCPV, the leading online CPV and PPV advertising network that delivers the highest converting results and increases ROI for all advertisers. Extend your reach by targeting relevant keywords, URLS, locations and channels to ignite your income and generate higher conversions.

5. Clicksor: Clicksor offers webmasters the opportunity to earn additional income by using a selection of clickable text or targeted contextual banners on their websites or blogs. Our contextual advertising ensures advertisers that the most relevant ads are delivered to the right audience at the right time to significantly increase return on investment.

Self-Serve Media Buys & Ad Network

1. AdBlade: Put an end to disappointing campaign results with Adblade, the world’s only ultra-premium ad network. With premium inventory from over 1,000 branded content sites, reaching over 200 million unique users in the US each month, you can target best prospects at scale.

2. Sitescout.com: SiteScout is the leading self-serve ad platform for marketing professionals and agencies.

3. AdReady: Display ads/self serve banners on yahoo sites.

4. Yabuka Solutions: Yabuka provides advertisers with the perfect medium to engage audiences via Sponsored Listing placements on premium publishers and Display advertising utilizing custom RTB technology in connection with the best traffic partners. Yabuka’s self-service platform gives advertisers innovative tools to promote success for their campaign’s unique goals

5. AdToll.com: Now owned by Click booth banners/display/text ads.

6.CBS Interactive: Media buys on very high traffic CBS site inventory Enticing brands. An engaged audience. Advertising programs that make the connection.

7. Advertise.com: Highly Targeted Display Marketing.You have target metrics, and we’ll help you reach them. We can deliver you a high volume of leads, sales, or site visitors at lower media costs. Reach and engage millions with display Ads.

8.Traffiq.com: Because we were born from technology, we are uniquely positioned to keep our finger on the pulse of the digital universe. With creative thinking, a strategic approach, and a focus on in-depth analytics, we achieve your desired results.

9. XA.net: We are proud to be one of the few companies in the world formally recognized as an early Snapchat Partner, Instagram Marketing Partner, Facebook Marketing Partner, Pinterest Marketing Developer Partner, LinkedIn Sponsored Updates and Custom Apps partner, and Twitter Ads API Developer…Kudos then!

10. OpenX Ad Marketplace: OpenX Ad Exchange Maximizes Revenue through Real-time Auctions OpenX Ad Exchange helps ad buyers reach their ideal audiences so you can maximize their campaign performance across all screens.

11. AdEngage: AdEngage is an online advertising network that allows advertisers to buy ads. Advertisers benefit by being able to target consumers with relevant text, PhoText, banner and rich media ads at scale. In addition, with detailed, real time reporting, you know where your ads are shown and how much each segment costs you, so you can maximize your profits.

12. ZedoAdNetwork.com: ZEDO Ad Network solely focuses on Behaviorally Targeted advertising. Behavioral targeting is a way to identify users that would be interested in your product. ZEDO Ad Network is the only network that sells only this type of targeting.

13. AdPerium: With Adperium Direct Ads you can start your campaign within a minute. Upload your banner, select the countries you want to target, enter a budget and you’re ready to go!

14. RubiconProject.com: Advertising keeps the Internet free and fuels its growth. The Rubicon Project Exchange automates advertising. More money for publishers and application developers, and a more efficient way to reach audiences for advertisers banners on many quality sites

15. BuySellAds: Self serve banners on a range of design blogs.BuySellAds help advertisers buy quality, guaranteed inventory directly from publishers. No middle man. Fully Transparent. Self-serve.

16. BlogAds: banners/text ads on high traffic blog network. We can help you make a splash on premier blogs like PerezHilton, Dailykos, Wonkette, Dlisted, and CuteOverload. Or blanket specific blog communities from liberals to parents with the broadest range of ad types– from tweetable video ads to IAB units to native advertising to skins.

17. RealTechNetwork: RealTechNetwork offers advertisers the ability to target a wide range of demographics through its network of active publishers.

18. Chitika: At Chitika, we only show ads to users when and where they want to see them. Access to top tier advertising partners like Yahoo!, SuperMedia and HomeAdvisor. Proprietary targeting and optimization technology that leverages the power of programmatic buying to serve precisely the right ad, at the right time.

19. Adroll: AdRoll Conveniently place ads, monitor performance, and fine-tune your campaigns with an easy-to-use platform. You can also seamlessly integrate AdRoll with the top marketing apps.

Media Buy Network (non-self serve)

1. Doubleclick: Media Buys with Google. DoubleClick is the ad technology foundation to create, transact, and manage digital advertising for the world’s buyers, creators and sellers.

2. Advertising.com: (http://ift.tt/1kVloQA) Display/banners, media buys on AOL. AOL sites attract a wide range of dynamic and influential audiences. So when you pair your brandís message with our content, you get powerful results.

3. Microsoft Ad Network: The Microsoft Media Network is Microsoftís premium display advertising network, enabling marketers to reach millions of users across the U.S. The network provides a brand safe environment built on quality inventory from some of the most trusted sites across the web, including Microsoft owned and operated sites such as MSN.

4. Exponential Interactive: Exponential Interactive is a global provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions to brand advertisers Media buy banner network.

5. EngageBDR: Engagement BDR is a leading integrated-media advertising company with extensive marketing solutions that provides brands high performing and cost effective display advertising.

6.Rubicon Project: Rubicon Project is a leading technology company automating the buying and selling of advertising.

7. FOX Networks: I know you can get banners on FOX properties

8. Casale Media: MediaNet is a premium ad network that connects world leading advertising brands with consumers through engaging digital experiences. A division of online media technology veteran, Casale Media, MediaNet is powered by Optimax, the first real-time ad serving and optimization platform. The company works directly with hand-picked media publishers to provide contextually rich, high quality brand safe environments for advertisers and agencies.

9. CPXinteractive: CPXi is a global digital media holding company with over a decade of experience connecting consumers with brands. CPXi provides multi-screen messaging, leveraging display, social, mobile and video advertising at scale, serving over six billion managed impressions daily.

10. ValueClick: The websites you visit work with online advertising companies, like ValueClick Media, to provide you with advertising that is relevant and useful as possible. Some of the online ads you are served may be based on the content of the webpage you’re visiting; others may be based on registration or other information you provide to us or our partners; and other ads may be customized based on predictions about your interests generated from your visits to other websites.

11. Burst Media: We reach three out of every four online unique visitors in the United Statesóand that gives advertisers access to large pools of audiences on branded properties, owned and operated sites, and high quality blogs.

12. Matomy Media: cpm banners on good inventory of sites. Increase leads and sales with the cost- efficiency of cost-per-action campaigns.

13. AdJuggler: AdJuggler is a global leader in on-demand digital ad management technology and media services. AdJuggler enables publishers and networks to source and manage all media through one, integrated platform that maximizes yield, based on the value and preferences of each unique user. The company’s highly scalable SaaS platform serves as the backbone for more than 200 global customers, representing more than 5,000 domains, 135 million unique visitors, and billions of monthly impressions.

14. PremiumAccess.com: Traffice is only as good as its quality. At premium Access, our mission is to equip advertisers with powerful, innovative solutions that improve their online campaings and maximize their revenues.

15. ReduxMedia: The Redux premium network of quality web sites delivers over 12 billion impressions monthly to more than 59.5 million unique visitors in Canada and the US*. For more than 8 years now, Redux has focused on moving beyond ineffective mass commodity online display media to create the custom-targeted and brand-safe advertising that major brand advertisers need.

16. BannerConnect: Bannerconnect’s programmatic marketing solutions empower advertisers to win attention and customers by getting their ads seen by the right person at the right time and place. Our digital experts, backed by data-driven insights and proprietary technology, help advertisers boost brand awareness and maximise the results of their programmatic marketing efforts.

17. Glam Media: Media buys, display, very good inventory for female demo – a bit secretive they are!

18. Vibrant Media: Vibrant Media is the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology that gets brand content and advertising discovered across platforms. With over 6,600 premium publishers, reaching more than 300 million unique users per month (comScore, 2012), Vibrant gives top brand marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted advertisements and branded content within text and images.

19. Tremor Media: Tremor Video is a leading provider of technology-driven video advertising solutions enabling brand advertisers to engage consumers across multiple internet-connected devices including computers, smartphones, tablets, and connected TVs.

20. Viantinc.com: The Viant Advertising Cloud™ gives marketers the ability to onboard and activate their first-party CRM data against our database of 1.2 billion registered users, allowing marketers to build personalized ad campaigns across the open web.

21. Undertone.com: Undertone develops digital advertising solutions for brands. We offer a suite of video, high impact and display ad formats that enable advertisers to engage consumers across desktops, tablets and smartphones.

22. Dsnrmg.com: Display banners, media buys, large inventory. DMG – DSNR Media Group is a global digital advertising network. Dedicated to complete value chain optimization and maximization of ROI for advertisers and publishers alike, DMG is committed to the ongoing mastery of the latest digital platforms – and to providing continuously enhanced aggregation and optimization options.

23. Collective.com: Collective have been the leader in understanding and delivering audiences. With the premium inventory that attracts them. The innovative technology that delivers them.And the insights that define them. We have always believed that the most effective advertising comes from the intersection of the right ad, targeted to the right person, in the right environment. Not as easy as it sounds.

24. Adconian: AMG is a technology company which has built one of the largest global multi-screen, multi-channel audience platforms. Our Digital Distribution Platform (DDP) enables monetization for content owners, app developers and device manufacturers to reach their global audiences across multiple devices and screens. This is done by building proprietary data profiles and models on their consumers and then selling these profiles to the highest bidder in a real-time marketplace.

25. Pubmatic: PubMatic is your gateway to the world’s most premium publishers. Our Advertiser Solutions team provides unparalleled service with dedicated points of contact, while our global services and support teams are available 24/7/365 to address buyer needs and requests from integration to implementation and beyond.

26. Technorati Media: Technorati Media use technology and real-time market insights to optimize digital advertising interactions across an expanding high-quality publisher network.

In-Text Advertising

1. Infolinks: Reach truly engaged users with Infolinksí innovative suite of solutions. The Infolinks platform analyzes the content of every page in real-time, determining context and user intent. This creates an engaging atmosphere that will yield the results your campaign deserves.

2. 50onRed: Self serve text inline contextual ads. to learn more about RTX, the cutting edge real-time ad exchange connecting thousands of advertisers like you to an exclusive, multi-channel network of top tier publishers.

3. InLinks: Monthly fee inline contextual adsImprove brand exposure and search engine performance through inbound marketing. Our team of experts will help you develop a content marketing strategy that will improve organic search rankings..

4. Admanage: Admanage will help advertisers find the most effective way to advertise online and create a successful internet marketing campaign to earn more revenue. We offer five high-impact ad units, perfect as AdSense alternatives, to work better for your online advertisements: In Text ads with thumbnail, basic In Text ads, CPC Banners, CPC Text Ad Banners, and sponsored listings. All of the advertising unit sizes adhere to the standard IAB Ad Unit guidelines.

5. Kontera: Inline contextual text ads. Not self-serve. Kontera serves more than 15,000 quality publishers every day with superior relevancy, and an exclusive ad inventory that cannot be beaten. More publishers choose Kontera than any other Content advertising solution.

6. AdMedia: We envision a web that serves up informative, entertaining–and most of all–highly relevant ads without being obtrusive to the consumer. And we’re proud to say that AdMedia takes steps every day to bring us closer to that vision.

7. Linkworth: Our products consist of text link ads, paid blog reviews, in-text links, in-content pay per click ads, rotating text ads, hosted content pages, article submission, directory submission and many more.

Mobile Phone Ad Networks

1. Admob: Mobile ads, now owned by google. Partner with AdMob to benefit from Google’s best-in-class technology and infrastructure to get your app business off the ground.

2. Admoda: Affiliate and Performance marketing companies rely on our mobile traffic. Why? It converts; itís cost effective; and we are the only mobile ad network to provide the tools/features that affiliate and performance marketers need to maximise their returns from mobile.

3. Millenial Media: Millennial Media is the leading independent audience platform in digital advertising.

4. GreyStripe: We are the industry leader in full-screen mobile advertising which captures 100% of your audienceís attention.

5. Inmobi: At InMobi, we are re imagining advertising to deliver real value for mobile consumers. Be it innovative ad formats that elevate the mobile experience, or contextual & personalized recommendations that drive discovery, our products are designed to inspire, engage, and delight mobile users network

6. BuzzCity: BuzzCity is a global advertising network. Reach millions of consumers around the world on mobile phones and devices, and make use of our insights into key markets to drive your mobile internet strategy. Reach an audience of millions, via our mobile internet ad network. Your graphic and text ads are displayed on thousands of mobile websites, driving traffic towards your site. Pay only for the clicks that you receive.

7. Flashnetworks: Flash Networks is a leading provider of optimization solutions that enable operators to improve RAN spectral efficiency, boost network speed, optimize video and web traffic and generate over-the-top revenues from the mobile Internet. advertising

Mobile Retargeting

1. Retargeter: ReTargeter optimizes your ad spend with highly targeted, real time digital advertising solutions and the best account management in the industry.

2. FetchBack: At eBay Enterprise Display & Re targeting (formerly Fetchback), our goal is to provide you with customized campaigns, world-class tools and unmatched expertise to help you every step of the way. You’ll have access to our award-winning creative team, high-touch account management and expert optimization to help grow your brand and ensure your success.

3. MyThings: MyThings offer prospection and personalized re targeting solutions across display banners, mobile, video and Facebook.

4. Criteo.com: Re-targeting

Category (Gaming)

1. Mochi Media: Mochi Media’s unique platform brings game creators, website owners, and end users together, creating the largest online games network in the world. This gives Mochi Media the ability to reach a wide range of international audiences. We can handle large budget campaigns as well as self-serve campaigns (which start as low as $100).

2. CPMStar: The largest performance Ad Network in the game space.

3. Intergi: With more than 160 Million unique users worldwide, Intergi helps distribute your message to 3 out of every 4 gaming and entertainment fans through creating a custom brandy strategy, video and mobile ads.

4. Ad4Game: Banners on gaming sites

5. Ad2Games: Online advertising for games. Quality channels: gaming affiliates, social, mobile, search

6. Game Advertising Online: GAO is the large scale performance-focused advertising solution for online games.

Category (Adult)

1. AdExpansion: Display/banners on adult inventory

2. EroAdvertising: EroAdvertising revolutionary technology boosts your online advertising performance by providing new ways to add impact and relevance quickly and easy.

3. TrafficJunky.net: TrafficJunky is an online advertising network that provides a versatile, intelligent CPM-based advertising platform. Our self-serve, CPM-bidding ad network is designed to help advertisers and publishers alike achieve their most ambitious web marketing goals by serving cost-effective, large volumes of targeted web and mobile traffic and providing content monetizing solutions.

4. JuicyAds: Display on adult inventory, flat rate buys per week/month

5. Adult Ad World: Buy CPM ads, text ads, pop-under, clicked traffic and get your site out to millions of visitors a day. Target by niche, country, day and time.

Social Apps

1. TappJoy: Tapjoy is a mobile performance-based advertising platform that drives deep engagement and monetization opportunities for app publishers, while delivering valuable, engaged consumers to some of the world’s biggest brand advertisers.

International

1. Reseau Select: Banner and offline targetted at quebec

2. Canoe Klix: With Canoe Klix,Boost traffic to your site.

3. Adconian: AMG is a technology company which has built one of the largest global multi-screen, multi-channel audience platforms. Our Digital Distribution Platform (DDP) enables monetization for content owners, app developers and device manufacturers to reach their global audiences across multiple devices and screens.

4. Hi Media: Hi-Media is a specialist in audience monetization on the Internet. bet our Group for over 10 years on the complementarity of advertising revenues and revenues from e-commerce fuel economic model of all websites.

5. Ad2OneGroup: Media buys on premium UK, Irish & Aus. sites + Ebay UK

6. Pamoja Media: Pamoja Media is an African digital marketing agency that focuses on providing online marketing strategy for Africaís emerging brands.

7. SHE Network: Adify powered, target Swedish women

8. Adbid.se: Premium network for online newspapers in Sweden. CPM, CPC and CPA/CPO. Does retargeting and has both banners and text ads.

9. Mirago: UK/French/German contextual/search ads

10. ExoClick: ExoClick Media Buy Team secures guaranteed premium publishers that you won’t find on other ad networks.

11. Adverline: Media buys, good quality French/Euro inventory

12. Specific Media: With capabilities spanning customised video, engaging original content and decision-driving display, Specific Media offers custom solutions, connecting all digital formats to execute a smarter and more efficient marketing plan.

13. Adtegrity : Adtegrity has been developing customized cross-screen advertising solutions for brands, agencies, and performance marketers. Leveraging data from our proprietary suite of targeting and optimization tools,we increase levels of engagement and performance for our clientsí advertising campaigns.

Uncategorized

1. Sitepoint Marketplace: small direct banner buys

2. AdOptim: We provide you a highly suite of Internet & Mobile marketing, creating dynamic synergy between advertisers and publishers resulting in mutual revenue enhancement.

3. YuMe: YuMe Ads deliver highly-engaging, interactive video ad experiences across screens reaching audiences wherever they are watching video: at work, at home, and everywhere in between. Our innovative ad framework and technology, along with our in-house design studio, deliver unmatched creative flexibility to help advertisers achieve their branding objectives. Please navigate the tabs above to experience YuMe Ads.

4. BrightRoll: The increasing consumption of digital video is driving the rapid growth of a complex digital advertising ecosystem. BrightRoll is at the forefront of technology innovations that enable marketers to plan, execute and optimize intelligent and effective digital video advertising. BrightRoll is changing the face of programmatic buying by providing access to the largest independent digital video ad platform through a new, intuitive console.

5. AdClickMedia.com: With AdClickMedia pay-per-click network, you can advertise on 40,286 quality publisher’s websites within minutes, using Photo text ads, Banner ads, Full page Interstitial ads, and Email PPC ads.

6. AditAll: AditAll is an easy and affordable way to create video ads online right from your desktop.

7. Elephant Traffic: Mispelled domain traffic auction

8. Sponsored Tweets: Sponsored Tweets is a Twitter advertising platform that connects advertisers with tweeters. The site provides robust targeting and detailed analytics.

9. Izea: Self serve sponsored tweets/blog posts

10. Ad.ly: Ad.ly create and amplify branded social content at scale, reaching millions of potential customers across all social networks.

List Brokers

1. Arcamax: Trustworthy, Results-Driven Online Advertising and Media Buying. If your company is looking for new opportunities to grow online, we invite you to consider working with ArcaMax Publishing. Whether you are buying or selling media, we welcome the opportunity to begin a dialogue.

2. The SRDS: SRDS.com is an online multimedia planning platform that connects media buyers with media sellers.

3. NextMark: Rent mailing lists. also mainly for direct mail I think.

Got more for the list – let me know below.

The post Here’s 120 Traffic Sources For You To Peruse appeared first on Raising Status.

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How To Purchase A Domain Name

How To Purchase A Domain Name

If you plan to have a website, you’re going to get yourself a domain name. A domain name is essentially the website name, also gets called a web address, like “tonybalthazar.me or “amazon.com” it’s what you type into the browser to get to a website to show up. You can have a free domain name that belongs to a network like blogger.com, wordpress.com or siterubix.com or a  we buy a domain to make…

View On WordPress

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The Perfect Customer Avatar – Let’s Nail Who We’re Connecting With

I've customer avatar on the brain and I look over a few of his blog posts and I say:

So - who's your target audience, who do you want to connect with on his blog, what's your perfect reader look like?

The answer I get is - " anybody who wants to learn about weight loss!"

And therein lies the problem...

"If you're not marketing to somebody you're marketing to nobody! "

Click to Tweet

Lately, I've been doing a lot of reading about customer avatars, it's maybe something you haven't heard of before, since understanding the concepts, I can see how it is completely essential to create your avatar, and not write content for everyone if you want to succeed online.

​

I often referred to the article 'Avatar Marketing: Sell to Carol' over on a smart bear, where Jason Cohen gives a good overview of the avatar and discusses why some companies often cast a net that's far too wide to catch the actual fish they're after.

I've paraphrased a snippet from that awesome post. I it sums up why you're bound to make more sales if you decide to sell your products to Carol...

Carol is literally custom-built to be blown away by your product

Now the question is: What would a website, Google Ad or blog post be like so that Carol would immediately understand that you are what she's looking for? Remember, you get only 3 seconds to grab her attention and another 5-10 to convince her that your product is better than sliced bread!

Can you make it clear in a picture? Maybe a before - after she can relate to? Will describe 3 features make it plain? Will pointing out your USP make her weep for joy? Can you ask a provocative question, something she identifies with? Is there a phrase shed laugh out loud at because that's so true?

You only get a few seconds, so a paragraph is too long. You have to communicate in a picture and a few words. The good news is you only have Carol to please, and you know Carol. You even know she'll genuinely be thrilled to find you ...

What does an avatar look like?

When you first begin to the concept making an avatar, they may look something like the first okay-ish example (a) below. You may think that casting a larger net to catch a wider audience makes sense, however as Ramit Sethi says, you wouldn't give the same dating advice to a 24 yr old woman as you would to a 54 yr old woman would you?

If you can't connect with your readers, if they don't relate to your message and voice there's little chance of them getting as far as following a call to action further down the page.

When you completely understand and 'grasp' the concept you'll have a much clearer view of your avatar, something more like avatar (b)- and yep, you'll probably even name them at this stage too.

This enables you to write posts as if your ideal customer was sitting across the table from you. It lets you use language that is instantly recognizable. You hit it off discussing matters that are uber important to her and most importantly - she trusts you.When it comes to decisions, she'll hold your opinion in good regard... as you understand her better than most!

Okay-ish Avatar (a)

The customer avatar is a man, he's between 30 and 50 years old probably works in an office.He has a decent job with good money.He is married he's got two children and has a mortgage, and he wants to learn about making money online.

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The kids and I loved watching this cartoon series! "Avatar The Last Airbender"

Much better Avatar (b)

Steven is 49, separated from his wife for 6 years and has 2 daughters 11 and 17 yrs old. Jane the 17 yr old is keen to go to Uni next year when finished with her A Levels.

Steve is, however, facing early redundancy at his local graphics design firm. He's been there 18 years and earns 43K a year. Yet with new pressure from the board, he knows that he'll soon be replaced with 2 graduates, able to do double the work that he does, for the same money or less!

He hasn't told his wife of the pending redundancy, they been planning on paying for Uni for Jane for years and he doesn't want to risk disappointing Jane. Steve is looking at how he can earn extra money on the side online in his last couple of months at work.

Now It's Time to Connect

Do you think you can talk to Steve in a completely different tone of voice, connecting at all the right places,knowing his personal pain points, and being aware of his particular situation?

You're damn skippy you can - you can talk and connect 500% better with Steve. That's what comes from building avatar you can actually relate to, put a face and even a name to.

I got turned on to the idea and the specific concepts by Andre Chaperon, but there are many others that have spread the word long before I cottoned on.

A Few Customer Avatar Evangelists

Marie Forleo

I reckon bringing the idea to mainstream marketers was this yummy lady(along with Ramit Sethi).Actually, it was Ramit that brought it, but it's Maria's show... right!Anyway - Ramit nailed it when he introduced this:

Paraphrased - How would you sell relationship advice to a 24 yr old woman differently to a 54 yr old woman? They both have very different takes on love and relationships don't they?

This is from Maria's Q and A Tuesday where Ramit tackles the question.

"Why is my product/service not selling?"

You really should watch this 'Sell More" video and I do hope you 'get it'. It's less than 12 mins and the niche comment Ramit at the very end is golden!

The key 2 questions are:

1) who are you targeting?

2) who are you not targeting?

Even though we all want to help everyone, it's not great business practice trying to appeal to everyone in the marketplace. You're trying to appeal to the "right" people.

Shae Baxter

has a great post about how to create your ideal customer avatar. "It needs to be specific and focussed.

You may however find yourself in a niche where you don't personally know your customer avatar traits as yet. A good way to get to know their pain points and frustrations, identify the language they use and specific terms would be in forums.

Help in creating your ideal customer avatar profile  "When creating your customer avatar if you search for your "niche keyword +forum"   in Google you'll be able to connect with people who will help you build ideas for your customer avatar

A common mistake many people make is to create a customer avatar that is too broad and general."- I couldn't agree with her more - and isn't the name Shea awesome!

"Walk in his shoes, see life with his eyes and feel his emotions, write a story as him, not as YOU."

Click to Tweet

Shae creates a customer avatar called Lisa. She's about to go on holiday and these are some thoughts she' having:

She definitely wants to visit some of the islands in Thailand and spend some time relaxing on the beach. Lisa will be traveling on her own, yet she doesn't want to spend all of her time sunbathing, and is open to something adventurous.

There is a lot more to Lisa's story, which when you read, you really do begin to understand who she is and what she's be looking for whilst on vacation. A smart diving Company or even a beginners fishing expedition may take advantage of writing specifically for a girl like Lisa.

Kate Erickson

shares a great easy to understand examples of what a really good avatar looks like. I really like Kate's dig into the 'finding your avatar and actually getting into a conversation with them giving really valuable insight. Her post over onwww.eofire.com is great reading.

Talking about EOFire I'm note sure if you know John Dumas but he engaged with his perfect customer avatar in a rather awesome way that you to can use.

In the explainer video below, John walks through the daily routine of that is ideal customer avatar. He even slots in how to make time to get the ideas to inspire them to other things.

In this short video he not only identifies his perfect customer, he offers the perfect solution - his podcasts, he also slips in that there are expert aha moments with ideas on implementation.

Quite brilliant customer avatar video -John Dumas

Have you come across marketing to your target avatar before? Do you have an avatar already? Will you build one now?

If you have one already - will you be tweaking it? Take a peek at those links. These ladies also have templates to help you build your own avatar!

I would love to know your thoughts on this subject, so please drop me a line in the comments, I would really appreciate hearing from you.

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Beefy Air Circulation Solution: Lasko Wind Machine 3300

Beefy Air Circulation Solution: Lasko Wind Machine 3300

Lasko 20” Wind Machine 3300 Air Circulator Review Product Name: Lasko 3300(A20300) 20″ Wind Machine 3 Speed Website: www.laskoproducts.com Product Type: Air Circulator, Power/Box Fan Price: around $40 Verdict: a great choice at an affordable price Box fans have been around for a long time, they are a proven winner. Lasko is one of the leaders in household fans (and industrial fans, too!).  This…

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Keywords For Business You Want To Rank For

Keywords for business is a word or phrase that is on a specific topic, internet users will use keywords as a way to search through Google and research their problem or subject so they can find more information. Website owners create content around the relevant search keywords for their business which in turn helps them rank and be the sites found at the top of the in the search results.

Some keywords tools will help you manage and keep track of keywords for business. Some will keep track of the keyword phrases you are ranking for in your business and which are bringing you the best traffic/views. Keyword software can also give you with information about which new keywords are worth going after indicating the difficulty of ranking them, and some will give you intelligent suggestions around keyword variations to rank for.

Why we need keywords for business?

Keywords are the base and foundation of your website content. The subject of every page and what it is about should tie directly back to a keyword or keyword phrase. Since keywords are the particular topic or subject, they are also used when creating any relevant offers, in your social media and even your email communications.

Keywords let visitors and potential leads understand what your web page is about. When first landing on a website, a visitor will often take a couple of seconds to scan for the keywords they initially searched for, that’s why it’s recommended to use keywords in your subheadings.

Search engines use keywords to help understand what your page is about. Search engines crawl your website posts and pages to index them, it will check the keywords on the page to figure out the purpose of the content on your pages.

The 2 different types of keywords

There are 2 main different types of keywords, they are broad keywords and long-tail keywords. Broad keywords are short words or phrases that, although they may apply to your own business or industry, they probably are relevant to every business in your are or niche, or they even may be relevant in other niches too. Whereas long-tail keywords will be longer specific phrases that are more unique to your brand or business sector.

When you’re first starting out to rank your keywords, you definitely want to start out by targeting long-tail keywords for business, because they will be a easier to rank for and they also bring in the most relevant and targeted traffic.

Broad Keywords!

Long-tail Keywords!

General for your business, have a high search volume and loads of competition.. which means these are difficult to rank for and if you do get visitors for these type of keywords they are not targeted and less likely to buy or become leads.

Specific to your business, lower search volume, not much competition.. which means they are easier to rank for and get traffic with. these readers are more likely to buy and become leads and customers.

Your 1st list of keywords and strategy

When you first begin looking at keywords to use, it’s difficult to know where to start. That’s perfectly normal, your keywords strategy will evolve over time as you dig into different long-tail keywords, but here are questions and answers to kick off with:

What services or products do you offer? Start with a list of the products or services that you offer to your leads and customers. Try to focus on long-tail keywords rather than broad keywords.  If your company sells bluetooth speakers, you should create a list of keywords for business that includes all the different types of speakers you sell. It’s the difference between “wifi speakers” and “Marshall Stockwell Stereo Bluetooth Speaker with Case.”

What issues do your customers have that you can help solve? Create a list of keyword phrases that matches the problems your potential leads search for. If your company sells rucksacks that are lightweight and waterproof, your leads would probably be searching using keyword phrases like “Waterproof rucksacks for hiking” or “best all weather lightweight rucksacks?”

How do you describe your business to someone who’s never heard of you? Peeps searching the internet might not know all the regular keywords for your products or services. They may try searching using keywords that they are used to. For example, the terms that describes what your company does may vary by region. What may be called “sneakers” in one part of the world might be “trainers” or “creps” in another part of the world.

What questions do your leads always ask you? Answering your lead’s FAQ’s in blog posts is a great way to produce useful blog content. I’m sure you’ve a list of questions that leads ask. Once you’ve figured out what the questions are, create a list of keywords that match all the different ways these questions can be asked. Peeps usually have questions about cost, what the features are, how they can buy them and what support they can get.

Building a keyword list for your business

You want your keywords to be what people are actually searching for; so, you shouldn’t just be using keywords that you think search engines will find easily (ie the exact name of your business) why would someone that doesn’t know you search for your business name?

Think about how you would search for your own business. Come up with some  keywords that you think someone who doesn’t know your business would search. Someone wouldn’t necessarily know to search for “Arrow Precision Inferno Fury” but they would search for “best cheap crossbow” if they were interested in buying a crossbow on a budget.

Make sure the keywords in your headlines are relevant to your web-page content. Folks will read your headlines/titles in a search results and then determine whether they want to click through and read the article on your website. You really wouldn’t want to mislead visitors and give them a poor picture of the quality of your website info.

Create a strategy for your brand so that you can focus your keywords in the same direction. ie: if you’re always describing your business using different terminology on your website, your keywords will be less consistent. Consistency in your language on your site can help your site rank for keywords that you repeatedly use in your sites content.

When coming up with long-tail keywords, be specific and targeted to your brands offer. If possible it’s a good tip to use some location-based keywords for business. For instance, instead of “Mechanics” you could use “High performance tune-up Northampton.”

Check out what keywords for business you can rank for below – you’ll get 30 searches for free!

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Where SEO and Content Marketing Meet

There are many studies that have shown that businesses that publish more content and more blog posts will generate a greater amount of business than those who do not.

If you are just starting out, chances are that any type of content has the ability to improve your ability to find and attract potential customers.

The fact is, content creation is one of the largest obstacles that businesses face when trying to create gains with strategies of content marketing. This makes it obvious why information and advice about producing quality blog posts, articles, white papers and infographics has become so popular.

This brings you to the question of: “What is more appropriate for your business situation, a SEO agency or a content market agency?” This is not a difference of which is better, but instead simply deciding which the better option for your situation is.

There are many SEO services that have recently added content marketing to the list of the services that are provided. This is due to SEO companies adapting to the changing industry, which is to provide improved marketing performance in their current services.

Understanding SEO

SEO is a method that is accountable to the measurements of metrics, which include organic search engine traffic, visibility and any other action that is considered measurable that may lead to conversions on your site.

Where there is more content that can serve as a lure to customers, then SEO has an ability to show their impact on the investment you have made.

SEO is a method that anticipates the demand by understanding keyword popularity. Content marketing, on the other hand, is completely demand driven. Content is produced and based on the journey of your customers.

Optimization is the effort that is used to improve the search visibility of any existing content, as well as digital assets on the site.

Understanding Content Marketing

This is a method that emphasizes the creation of thoughtful content to impact a particular audience and is written in order to guide a particular outcome or action. Rather than the popularity of keywords driving the creation of the content, there are efforts made to fully understand the journey of the customer buying process. Once this is discovered then a plan is created to provide the proper type of information to aid the buying process.

When your marketing strategy needs demand creation, then this is when you will utilize a content marketing strategy for your content. This is a holistic approach to writing content that offers the opportunity for your customers to actually interact with what is written.

The Meeting Point of SEO and Content Marketing

Content marketing and SEO are partners. In order to be visible SEO provides these benefits. However, it must be paired with content marketing since SEO is focused on the fact that the buyer is confident and firm on what they are looking for, which is not always the case.

While many people are trying to make the switch to content marketing, it could impact the long-term goals of your website in a negative manner.

That is why it is important to have a healthy balance of SEO and content marketing in order to allow your audience to find you and then provide them with a superior customer journey.

Call me to discuss what we can do for your SEO & content marketing

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How To Get Social In Your Local Marketing

Social media is a unique opportunity, If you haven’t got a decent social media presence you run the risk of becoming seriously looked over by your target customer.

It’s one of the strongest ways your company can reach out to both current and prospective clients. Social media seriously does drive traffic, when used correctly.

How To Benefit

As an advertising tool social media is unparalleled in its targeting, flexibility and ROI. As a customer relationship platform it offers a unique opportunity to truly engage on a personal level with the people who care about your product. A neglected social media accounts isn’t seen as a neutral element: they can seriously damage consumer confidence if you miss out on customer queries or leave an important message unanswered.

Some smart brands have taken to social media as their regular complaints channel. Building positive brand recognition and a following with social media gives your business long lasting benefits, but it also takes serious commitment.

If the task seems overwhelming, you’re not alone. You need to decide firstly which channels and networks work best for your business, and the best way to build and maintain your presence over time. I can help.

We’ll get to know your business inside out so that we can craft an authentic, vibrant social media voice for your brand. I can guide you step-by-step to create a comprehensive, customised social media plan that really works for your business.

Your Social Media

You may be brand new, or perhaps you have an established social presence in need of a re-vamp. I’ll take an in-depth look at all of your options to see what’s working, what’s not, and what’s possible.

Social Media Planning

Platforms work for your business?

What content works ads how?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ each have their own quirks and benefits. I’ll help ensure you get the most out of each.

Get In Touch For An Social Media Audit

That's where your customers are probably looking for you!

Get In Touch

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5 Reasons Why Your Website May Be Useless

Hey if I don’t tell you who will? Don’t take it personally as it’s not only you who’s been making these mistakes. So here goes and I really hope you can’t identify all the 5 reasons your website is useless in your business!

What We Need To Avoid

1. You used a site builder tool such as weebly, blogger, or web.com

Some people think that it’s great, it is so easy to build a site that way, it takes about 15 minutes and you have a fully functional site, right?

ermmm… Wrong

The reason why you shouldn’t use those tools is because there are millions of other people with your same basic layout. I was just looking at a few sites with people I have spoke with in the last 3-4 months who didn’t decide to use us to build their website and that is the solution they came up with.

Using a website builder, building a very very basic website that looks like it was built in the late 90′s early 2000′s. Do a search, find your competitors and look at their websites. Chances are they have a lot better site than you! Many of you have your own business.

Is starting a business and making it successful easy, is there a quickstart program to start making money overnight? No… Many of you should know better than to expect the quick and easy ways to actually work! You take your business seriously right? Your website is a virtual business card, that can change and update, it is an extension of your business and probably the most serious thing and way to generate more income!

2. Expecting that once your site is built, people will come!

Here is the next major issue. Just because you have a website now, doesn’t mean that it is worth anything, it doesn’t mean people are coming. So if you think of a website as something you can send your clients to, developing trust. Sure, that is an additional bonus of a website, but that is not what the purpose of a website is! You have to build up your traffic, whether it is through SEO or adwords or some kind of paid advertisement.

Having the best product in the world, or offering the best service there is, doesn’t mean people are going to buy it. You have to get it out there, push it, advertise, generate traffic!

3. Having a website that is not going to make you money.

Why would you even want a website unless you are going to make more money with it? This doesn’t mean you need to be selling products or services through your website, but it does mean that you should be getting leads with your website that will convert to sales! A simple home page, about us page, and contact page hardly is a website. The key here is to make money, right? If you aren’t generating a certain amount of leads or income through your website, you’re doing something wrong!

4. No meta tags, or on site optimization.

If you go to a site, look in the top of your browser. What is the title? If you see it say “Home” then they are not getting great results with their site. You need to optimize your site for search engines. That means having proper keywords, descriptions, titles, and alt tags for your website. Why is this important?

Your onsite optimization plays a huge role in getting your site found by targeted buyers. Some of you don’t even have meta tags. No keywords, no keywords in the title, no description. So even if for some very strange reason you do get ranked in google, yahoo, or bing, nobody is going to click on your site if you don’t even have a description! Now this isn’t going to give you massive amounts of traffic, but it is a necessity to do!

5. Because it looks horrible and like a school project!

Your website isn’t a place to test out new photoshop ideas that you are attempting to learn. It isn’t a place to try out all these different weird things that no one else will think is cool except you. I know it is fun learning new things, but this is your business!

I absolutely go insane if there is a problem with my server and it’s down for 15 minutes, in those 15 minutes I could have a very high profile website being sold, I take it very seriously. You should too! Swallow your pride, and brush up on your photoshop skills on a personal site or test site!

BONUS REASON: FLASH!!!

Never use flash, I know it looks cool and clean and it is really fun. Okay, so you might be thinking, why not use flash then? Because you won’t get the results you want in the search engines. It isn’t easy for a search engine to crawl through a flash site. AND, it is just too expensive to make changes.

If someone asks for even a flash banner, the price will typically be $1,000 minimum for the site with a flash banner. So you pay more, to have a site that won’t do well in search engines no matter what! Not only that, but how many times do YOU get a pop up that says your flash is outdated? How many people are out there that won’t even be able to VIEW your site?

You’re just losing out on business! And that sums it up guys and gals, I hope this was informative and beneficial to you. If you have any questions, feel free to email me back. In a follow-up post, I will be discussing the power of social networks for your business, and how to use them to get your website higher in the search engines!

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Content Marketing is Dead: Long Live Content Marketing

Content marketing is dead. Or at least it’s starting to feel that it’s heading in that direction. These days, almost everyone and their dog is engaged in content marketing- even though many of them are not completely successful at it.

Back in the day, most top blogs were way ahead with content marketing when it was still foreign to other industries. They faced little competition, took advantage of a trend and ultimately became very successful.

Currently, content marketing is starting to feel exhausted and it’s important to take a leaf from our predecessors’ book or blogs. Progressively thinking and anticipating the upcoming trends is the key to getting a few steps ahead of your competitors. We need to be more interesting, engaging and data-driven with our content to stand out– and one solution that is becoming more prevalent is interactive content marketing.

In order to keep up with the times and transgress into the future, it’s important to delve into the definition of interactive content marketing before going in blind.

Interactive Content Marketing 101

“Interactive Marketing refers to the evolving trend in marketing whereby marketing has moved from a transaction-based effort to a conversation.”John Deighton at Harvard.

Interactive content marketing is not a revolutionary concept. It is a type of content marketing that is currently forming and brands have only just begun to play with it. Take for instance an interactive poll or infographic.

The user can dive in, interact, experience the process and learn something new without feeling targeted. It requires control and is less about conversion rate optimization and direct lead generation. Interactive content marketing is about providing your audience value in an unobtrusive way.

It seems as though the future of content marketing is becoming more visual than ever before. Just think of Instagram and Pinterest. But, while some people rely solely on content marketing becoming more visual, they are disregarding that not everyone consumes information in the same way.

People react differently depending on which sense is stimulated. Marketers need to be more malleable and cater to each learning style.

Quizzes

Facebook made quizzes and polls famous. They were used to understand, engage and educate users. Polling is one of the simplest and most effective tools for instant engagement.

Audiences get insight into seeing what others have to say- so by creating a quiz you will generate excitement. Through the use of polls you can interact, engage, and converse with your audience in a simple and effective way. The biggest attraction about polls are their engaging qualities.

They reveal that communication can be a 2 way street, and invites the user to join in. It’s perfect to show that as a brand you’re a great listener and interested in your audience’s thoughts– whilst simultaneously grasping their attention.

When Nutella wanted to get more out of their content campaign with Food Network they decided to embed a poll created by storytelling platform Apester. The poll created a more real, deep and emotional engagement with the brand’s values and messages.

Foodies were asked a how they prefer to eat Nutella. After choosing their preferred answer, the results were calculated and a percentage of fellow polls were displayed. The poll received almost 7,000 engagements with a double-digit click-through-rate and increased time-on-site.

By including an interactive poll into their content, Nutella not only delivered a message but they delivered an experience.

Infographics

Infographics are a combination of great graphics, powerful content and big data. It’s easy to understand why they have become so popular for content marketers as they grab the ever-decreasing span of users.

They make a grand appearance and demonstrate data in an entertaining way to your target audience. Most businesses have adopted infographics into their content marketing strategy to reveal data, research and statistics.

Sadly the traditional infographic has become an old hat-trick now. With an abundance of infographics out there, the ones with valuable content often get overlooked as they don’t stand out from the crowd.

This brings me to my next point, what is the way forward? Animated and interactive infographics are quite possibly the future. They engage with viewers and help to make mundane topics more interesting.

To celebrate 100 years of air travel, The Guardian, presented an interactive infographic that used live data from FlightStats to display the thousands of commercial planes on a world map in real route time, the history of aviation since 1914 and asks the viewer what comes next in travel. The animated infographic appealed to every aviation buff’s dream.

Video

Since the conception of YouTube, videos have become extremely popular and they are essential to content marketing.

They involve many of our senses, which improves the learning experience when reading a post. In the 21st century, interactive YouTube videos have increased the engagement factor by letting the viewer be in control of how the video should play out. Take for example, A Hunter Shoots a Bear campaign by Tippex (an oldie but a goodie).

Interactive videos give viewers the opportunity to not just watch, but to click, swipe and engage through call-to-action overlays.

Take a look at Coldplay’s interactive video for the song “Ink,” which won the 2015 Webby Award for Best Use of Interactive Video. The best part for marketers is that you can you can measure results in a way that a standard video doesn’t allow.

With the progress of mobile video, we now have the ability to watch videos everywhere. Think about this from a marketer’s perspective- a video can be accessed by your audience anytime and anywhere. Ultimately, more and more people will have an extra edge if they start using videos.

Content marketing is more competitive than ever and the only way to stay on top of the game is to anticipate the trends and take advantage of them before they become yesterday’s news.

Are you looking into the crystal ball of content marketing or are you stuck in your old ways?

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Be Productive While Working on the Road

I fly a lot and business trips can be extremely productive, but it’s important to find a way to get your day-to-day operational tasks done in transit. (And during non-peak networking hours, so as to not get behind while away from the office.) Here are some easy tips to stay on top of things through a trip, so you won’t have any catching up to do when it’s over.

Cue Up Emails

When I know I’m going to have extended periods sitting at the gate or on the plane, I line work up so I know exactly what I need to accomplish while I’m in transit. Whether I have Wi-Fi access or not, I have documents and tasks open and ready to be checked off my to-do list. For example, if I don’t buy Wi-Fi on the plane (and I usually don’t on shorter flights), I’ll cue up 20-30 emails and shoot them off when I land.

Invest in Personal Growth

Once I tear through all the emails and tasks I can while I’m not able to use the internet, I spend time reading up on industry-related topics. If you focus on growing your knowledge base, instead of looking through products in SkyMall you know you’ll never buy, you’ll gain a significant advantage over people who get easily distracted and waste that precious time.

Network

Whether you’re in the airport or on the plane, there are easy opportunities to meet interesting people and, more often than not, the chance to meet someone who can really help your career. Take time to be friendly with people in line, at the gate, and on the plane. You never know who you might meet and how they could impact your business or career.

Take Time to See the Big Picture

It’s hard to spend a lot of time thinking “big picture” about your business when you’re stuck in the day-to-day operations. When I travel, I try to invest a few small blocks of time (30-40 minutes) in thinking broadly about my business. Think about how you can grow your business more creatively and strategically. Consider how you can improve efficiency and productivity. Most importantly, determine who you can reach out to and how you can help them in some way. My goal is to think of five people I haven’t talked to in a while and spend five minutes reconnecting with them.

Set Up Meetings and After-Hours Events

Spend time planning your schedule. If you already have this done by the time you’re on the plane, review your schedule to see if you can add anything. In addition, figure out what you want to get out of each meeting, conference session, and interaction. Figure out your purpose, who you want to meet, and what prep work you need to do in order to be as ready as possible.

Once you arrive at your destination city and have meetings or conferences to attend, you have to figure out how you can best maximize your time.

Do Busy Work During Free Time

If you have the fortune to meet with people face-to-face, utilize every opportunity. Whether these are meetings, events, conferences, or night networking events, take advantage of them. Spend time early in the morning or late at night taking care of busy work, such as catching up on emails and keeping up with things back at the office.

Keep Phone Calls to a Minimum

You are traveling for a purpose. Make sure to not spend too much time cooped up in your room making phone calls. Block off the majority of your day for in-person meetings, events, and opportunities to network. You can make phone calls when you get back.

Prioritize Your Events/Meetings

Oftentimes, there are multiple events you want to attend. Figure out which is likely to be the most beneficial for you and your company, and prioritize around that meeting. Don’t necessarily think about what you might learn the most from; keep in mind where your target market/prospective leads may be.

Whether you have a one-day trip or are gone for weeks at a time, it’s incredibly important to ensure you spend quality time with people in your destination city, as well as keep up with your day-to-day tasks. Remaining productive while traveling can change your business and allow you to return to the office with new wind in your sails—and no catching up to do.

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Want to Know Why Local SEO Fails?

Search engine optimization is an intricate process, if you mess it up you will see absolutely zero results for all your efforts.

With tens of thousands of businesses and individuals around the globe scrambling for an SEO strategy that works, it’s difficult to determine exactly why a large percentage of the SEO campaigns launched every year fail. If businesses want to learn from the mistakes of others and not have to make them all themselves, then a well-rounded SEO strategy should start with understanding of why SEO fails. The following are 10 fairly common reasons for SEO failure:

1.) Targeting bloated markets

Many SEO companies make wild claims that they can get you to the top of any market, for any keyword. Generally, businesses or individuals who make these claims should be avoided. This is because markets that are already enormous and have fierce competition- such as the SEO content and SEO services industries- are usually already so well established that it would be impossible to rank for the same or similar keywords as businesses at the forefront of those industries.

Instead, your business needs to specialize or create a niche market and target keywords that searchers will use to find those niche products or services. In today’s overcrowded global internet markets, success depends upon specialization.

2.) Failure to monitor keyword trends

Current events, changes in public attitudes, political change and market trends will all have an effect on what people are searching for and how they are searching for it. Businesses that start with a certain SEO strategy and then expect to maintain that same plan indefinitely will be in for an unpleasant surprise when analytics show their former rankings slipping or vanishing altogether.

In the same way that a doctor needs to continually stay abreast of new developments in medical technology, an SEO campaign must be continually monitored and adapted to current search trends.

3.) Website changes that do not incorporate SEO strategy

One of the best SEO tips that a content provider or search marketing consultant can give their clients is to always include search engine optimization efforts when updating their websites. Often, clients will make changes to their website after an SEO campaign is in place, but neglect to use the SEO strategies in the new changes. This can result in a dramatic decrease in website traffic and page ranking.

4.) Keyword stuffing

Poor quality content that is over-stuffed with keywords will not only turn away consumers, it will also turn away the search engines and possibly get your site banned. Keyword densities should never exceed 3-4% of your total content. If it does, it may look like you’re stuffing your site with more keywords than useful information.

5.) SEO consultant that does not know client’s business Failed SEO

If your SEO consultant doesn’t know your business, they can’t possibly understand what keywords and keyphrases to use, who your competition is, what markets you cater to, and a lot more information that is essential to an effective SEO strategy. For this reason, it may be up to you to clearly define what you do and why, and who you do it for.

Unless you’re a brand new start-up in a field you know nothing about, chances are great that you know your business far better than your SEO consultant, consultant education should be a part of your plan.

6.) Link spamming

Too many links of poor quality in a short period of time is considered link spamming and can dramatically decrease your page rank and even get you banned from the search engines. This sometimes happens when over-enthusiastic website owners or developers launch a seemingly ambitious link building campaign, or when black hat techniques are being used. Today’s internet businesses would be wise to allow link build to occur as a natural part of web development, and perhaps give it nudges of encouragement here and there with some effective social media marketing.

7.) Lack of client involvement

Clients that think they can simply hand all of their SEO efforts over to a consultant will quickly find that this almost never works. Clients MUST be actively involved in their own SEO strategy.

There are many different variables and a great deal of unique paths you can take to achieve high search rankings, and no SEO consultant can do them all. This means that you will have to be involved in order to exceed- especially when it comes to SEM or SMM.

8.) SEO can’t save a doomed business

If your business is failing, can’t pay its bills, can’t maintain product or sufficient stock, or is unable to provide services and products as advertised because of impending bankruptcy or other issues, then no amount of search engine optimization is going to help. Concentrate your efforts elsewhere.

9.) Online reputation management problems

Today’s consumers are aware of how powerful a tool the web can be when they have an issue with a business. Consumers are able to create and post reviews in public places in a matter of minutes, and if they’re unhappy with your company, you can be certain that others are going to hear about it via the web.

Even if you have an excellent SEO program in place, your business may suddenly find itself at the very top of the search page- but for bad reviews and complaints. If your business has more links for negative reviews and reports than for its SEO campaign links, the search engines will give those links priority- and rightly so.

10.) No clearly defined goals

Most SEO strategies fail simply because clear goals are not established between the website owner and the SEO consultant. Timelines need to be agreed upon early on- for example, to rank within the first two pages for a certain keyword within a certain period of time, or build a certain amount of links within so many months. Without highly defined goals that are detailed in writing between client and provider, an SEO campaign is doomed to failure because it has no direction to begin with.

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5 Ways To Get Marketing In Northampton

If you own a business in Northampton every penny counts and marketing has to be top of the list. Yet it’s become apparent that many people don’t know what marketing really is, or they believe only one piece of the puzzle is good enough.

Think about it Is marketing, putting up a website, doing SEO, pay per click advertisements, is marketing just another word for advertising?

The answer is no. Did your marketing and business classes in college even mention any of these?

Working as web support I often see many clients and potential customers that think all they need is a website. Once they have a website everything is going to start taking off. They follow the famous movie line, “If you build it they will come”.

Marketing In Northampton Myths Busted

The reality of the situation with websites is that if we build it, your potential customers at least have a chance to come to your website. That isn’t as catchy though, is it?

A website is a great tool, it is a very necessary tool but not the only tool you should be using. I am always looking for new ways to reach out to a customer base and just having a website is not good enough. It’s better to combine your website with social presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter, when you can funnel traffic then you have better results.

On top of social, you can start a pay per click campaign (PPC) and get even more results! Combining social media, PPC, and now adding SEO and public relations in the form of article marketing and press release, you are now starting to get into a real marketing strategy.

Why Are Local Businesses Failing?

If you ask me, most businesses fail not because of the economy but because of the lack of marketing focus. There is never just one form of marketing that should be used, you should be using a combination to get the best results.

If you have a website, yes, you’re ahead of the people that aren’t taking action towards their goals. Does that mean you’re where you want to be? Probably not.

Imagine putting up your website, and combine it with other marketing efforts such as social media, direct mailing, email marketing, newspaper advertisement, billboards, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and so on, that would be a pretty killer marketing campaign right?

It would be great to spend an endless amount of money on marketing, but it isn’t always that simple for new start up businesses. Money is a concern, for everybody! You might be thinking, “Well, this sounds all great but I can’t afford to do those things, how can I use a combination of marketing tools to get results?”.

Small businesses and startups have a better advantage today than they used to!

Here are 5 free tips to increase your marketing on a shoestring budget!

  Incorporate social media into your marketing.

For those of you with more experience, this is an obvious tip. Websites like facebook and twitter are FREE, use them. Your consumers are there, almost everyone is on facebook! Create a fan page for your business, share information with your friends.Every time friend likes your fan page, all their friends get broadcasted a message, “John Doe likes Blah Blah Blah”.

If the average person has 100 friends and you only have 20 people that “like” your page, it is broadcasted to 2,000 people on average. How is that for instant local brand recognition?

Email is not dead!

Your website looks pretty, you have a facebook fan page and always advertise your site to people on facebook. COOL! Now what? How do you turn those one time visitors into recurring visitors? How do you increase your website leads?

Have people subscribe to your website, newsletter, or free information! It works! Maybe they won’t convert into customers right then and there but you will have their email and you can send them helpful information that increases your reputation. I have had people on my email list for a year before they decided to get a website. Staying in your customers face is a good thing.

  Blog Your Heart Away

I am not referring to talking about how cute your baby kitten is, or how obnoxious your kids are or how much alcohol you are planning to drink over the weekend.I am talking about blogging about your industry, giving out useful information to your customers, your thoughts on current trends and news that is relevant in what you do! What does this do?

Well, you might pick up additional traffic through search engines, but more importantly you can establish yourself as an expert in your field. It will give you trust with your clients and that might be the most important thing to have!

Once you start blogging, email your email list the link to check out your new blog update. Share the link on facebook, and twitter, which we have talked about in previous tips!

– Google Places For Local Businesses is where it is at!

If you are in a service business, or any local business, you want to rank high in google places. Do you have a google places account? Get one! It is free, as is all these tips I am mentioning. Do you know what google places, is? Well, if you google Northampton Podiatrists, you will see results with a place marker on them saying A, B, C, etc. That is the local listing google provides for FREE!Even a small to medium sized town can benefit greatly from being ranked in the local listings of google. Even if it is 1 or 2 new customers a month, are you willing to turn away potential clients or customers?

Do Something Newsworthy

This is the most underrated and most overlooked aspect for start up businesses. It doesn’t matter if you are an attorney, cleaning service, dentist or any other field.Using press releases is a great way to get traffic to your website, and getting coverage in a newspaper, related magazines, or websites.You might think that it would be too difficult, but in reality it is simple!Maybe your business is so innovative and new that you don’t need to do something out of the ordinary to generate press.For many of us though, donating a certain percentage of sales to a charity would be considered newsworthy and could be written about in a press release!

It does work – You can send press releases out through free press release websites, and also send it via email to the local news channels, newspapers, and local magazines to generate more coverage!

It makes sense to me putting in place some smart marketing tactics if you want to:

T0 stay ahead of your competitors

Grow your business

Local Marketing In Northampton

Contact me hello[at] RaisingStatus.com or via the get in touch page for a free no obligation chat about looking after your local marketing in Northampton…

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WordPress 4.6 Pepper.

Named for Jazz legend Pepper Adams, gets you where you need to go faster, whether you’re adding a theme, updating your site’s plug-ins, or navigating the WordPress dashboard.

WordPress 4.6 includes a simpler workflow for adding, and activating, new themes or plug-ins on your site. Now you will never lose your place when performing these tasks. Everything happens right on one screen.

Improvements to the editor in WordPress 4.6 make it smarter than ever. If you add a broken link, WordPress will let you know, allowing you to update the link before publishing it to your site.

If you lose your Internet connection while writing, it’s good to know that drafts are now saved locally to your browser. When you return to edit, WordPress notifies you if there is a more recent draft so nothing gets lost.

You may also notice the fonts are slightly different when managing your site. Your WordPress dashboard now uses the same native fonts as your operating system, which means pages load faster and performance is improved overall.

In addition to everything you see, WordPress 4.6 includes a host of performance and stability improvements to the software you rely on every day.

WordPress 4.6 Pepper. A focused update that gets you where you need to go, faster.

What's New With WordPress 4.6 Pepper WordPress 4.6 Pepper. Named for Jazz legend Pepper Adams, gets you where you need to go faster, whether you’re adding a theme, updating your site’s plug-ins, or navigating the WordPress dashboard.

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Fresh Breeze And Ionization With Honeywell Quality

Fresh Breeze And Ionization With Honeywell Quality

Honeywell Fresh Breeze Tower Fan Review Product: Honeywell Fresh Breeze Tower Fan with Remote Control, HY-048BP, Black Website: http://www.kaz.com Price: $60 at Amazon, shipped free Owner: Kaz, a licensed Honeywell manufacture Verdict: Cool engineering by Honeywell Ever been stuck inside and wished you could have fresh air and a pleasant breeze also?  Now you can! And even without open windows or…

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Ozeri Brezza II Buying One? Use Caveat Emptor!

Ozeri Brezza II Buying One? Use Caveat Emptor!

Ozeri Brezza II 10″ Oscillating Desk Fan Review Product: Ozeri Brezza II 10″ Oscillating Desk Fan Website: http://www.ozeri.com Price: around $30 or less! Manufacturer: Ozeri Verdict: Not very good! Looking for a table fan that isn’t too expensive or fancy?  Ozeri makes fans for the consumer now. They used to make them only for hotels and resorts – who buy similar units in bulk. But now they’ve…

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WordPress Resources at SiteGround

WordPress is an award-winning web software, used by millions of webmasters worldwide for building their website or blog. SiteGround is proud to host this particular WordPress installation and provide users with multiple resources to facilitate the management of their WP websites:

Expert WordPress Hosting

SiteGround provides superior WordPress hosting focused on speed, security and customer service. We take care of WordPress sites security with unique server-level customizations, WP auto-updates, and daily backups. We make them faster by regularly upgrading our hardware, offering free CDN with Railgun and developing our SuperCacher that speeds sites up to 100 times! And last but not least, we provide real WordPress help 24/7! Learn more about SiteGround WordPress hosting

WordPress tutorial and knowledgebase articles

WordPress is considered an easy to work with software. Yet, if you are a beginner you might need some help, or you might be looking for tweaks that do not come naturally even to more advanced users. SiteGround WordPress tutorial includes installation and theme change instructions, management of WordPress plugins, manual upgrade and backup creation, and more. If you are looking for a more rare setup or modification, you may visit SiteGround Knowledgebase.

Free WordPress themes

SiteGround experts not only develop various solutions for WordPress sites, but also create unique designs that you could download for free. SiteGround WordPress themes are easy to customize for the particular use of the webmaster.

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Dyson Pure Cool Link - Never Quits Amazing.

Dyson Pure Cool Link – Never Quits Amazing.

They’ve done it again with the Dyson pure cool! Technology is moving so fast now that it can be bewildering, but there we are.  The new Dyson Pure Cool Link isn’t just an air-mover; this tall attractive machine cleans the air, monitors it and adjusts itself to the requirements of the room. Product: Dyson Pure Cool Link Website: http://www.dyson.com Price: $499.99 or less Verdict: just WOW It’s…

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