Friday, October 28, 2011

3 Ways to Refresh Old Topics

Author: Darren Olander

Have you ever heard the expression that, "There is nothing new under the sun"? If you are looking for new ways to refresh old topics, you are going to have to put your Thinking Cap on and find a way to give them a different treatment so that you don't get stuck in a rut. Consider these suggestions for keeping a topic you have dealt with in the past relevant in the present.

Update Your Topic for the Current Season or Year

If the basic premise for your niche hasn't changed, find some way to update it to make it more current. Women's magazines have been doing this for years. The types of stories tend to be along a few themes which have proved popular with readers.

For example, the magazine may run articles around a broader theme, such as the Holiday Season. The stories may focus on decorating techniques, preparing special meals, shopping, budgeting, etc. Each year's stories have an element which is meant to make them timely for that particular year. When you are looking to update your own website content or blog articles, find some way to hook the reader's interest by making it relevant to something which reflects a question or a concern they are currently dealing with.

Use a News Story to Capture Your Reader's Interest

One way to update your content is to use current events as a lead in to whatever you would like to share with your reader. This strategy immediately makes your niche content timely and interesting, but news stories can be a great source of statistics and other pertinent information which you can use to refresh your old topics.

Sharing the results of an annual survey or discussing which person or company won an award is a great lead-in to a topic. It immediately provides your audience with something new to consider and you can follow up the first paragraph or two with some further information to flesh out the topic some more.

Find a New Angle

When you are updating your content or website, resist the urge to reinvent the wheel. If your niche topic is truly an evergreen one, use this fact to your advantage. You already have a bare bones topic to work with, but what if you considered your topic from the point of view of different age groups, men v. women, or how people living in different part of the country could relate to it?

Get Google Alert updates on specific terms that deal with your niche topic. You can get email updates and RSS feeds that have relevant results. They will give you some different ideas about how you can share information about your niche topic with your audience. Viewing other people's content on the same topic can open up new avenues to explore with your own marketing.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/3-ways-to-refresh-old-topics-5346591.html

About the Author

Darren Olander is dedicated to teaching others how to create a success online through internet network marketing strategies. He is a site owner, article writer, coach & marketing consultant enjoying the benefits of working full time from home. You can learn more about him at DarrenOlander.com.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Importance of Privacy on Facebook (or any other Online Network)

Author: Maria Elena Duron

Social networking sites have definitely changed the way people connect with each other, both online and off. Though some still believe that the best connections you create are those in the physical world, others have embraced Facebook, Twitter, along with other social sites, as a way to build relationships and communicate with people.

Today, instead of calling up all your friends to invite them to a party, you can now simply invite them all on Facebook with just one fell swoop. If you want to impart some exciting news, you can simply tweet about it and you can have hundreds of your friends responding to it in an instant.

Social networking sites have even changed the way businesses work. More and more companies are using their Facebook page to promote their brand and serve as part of their customer support department, and many are using Twitter to keep their clients updated about the latest news, deals, and offerings they have.

But there is one thing you should be careful of when it comes to social networking – your privacy. Though you may not really care what you reveal about yourself since you consider it a form of self-expression, this may just come back and bite you on the back in the future. And do you really want most of your personal information revealed to the world, such as your civil status, your sexual preference, and even your birth date?

Most social networking sites offer different privacy settings for its users. Facebook has recently made some improvements on its site, making it easier for users to choose what they want to share and which people they want to share it with. This has led to some people speculating that this is to compete with the Google+ Circles feature, which most users have been raving about.

Actually, Facebook has had these settings even in the past, but they just recently made it easier for people to use and understand. But this recent update by Facebook and the popularity of Google+ Circles has really made it evident that privacy is very important to many people, even in the online world.

People want to control what they reveal to the public and what they reveal only to their friends. Honestly, do you really want that picture of you looking sloshed to be seen by your boss? Or what about that update that you just skipped work to play hooky? But even more than these things, most people like knowing that they can control who exactly sees their information, updates, posts, links, pictures, videos, and so on. Doesn't the idea of someone randomly stalking your page to see your pictures and updates sound incredibly creepy?

This is why it's very important that you review all the privacy settings of all your social media accounts. With Facebook recently updating its platform, you need to make sure that the settings you have in place are still what you want them to be – you can't really be too sure that this recent update hasn't messed up the current settings you have.

Here's a rundown of what you can do on the current Facebook site: On the upper right corner of the site, there's a small arrow next to the word "Home." Click on it, and a drop down menu will appear, and there's one row that says "Privacy Settings." Make sure to review what your default is set to, to ensure that you still have the settings you want and that you're not inadvertently revealing private information.

The recent update has also made it easier for you to choose which privacy setting you want for any content you plan to put up. Each post has a dropdown menu on the side that offers you three basic privacy settings to choose from: public, friends, or custom. With custom, you can choose specific friends, as well as what degree in your network you want your update to be open to.

Honestly, the online world is so vast, that it's very important that you know how to protect yourself and the information that's revealed about you online. With stalkers, stolen identities, hackers, and others out there, there's a lot that can potentially be dangerous , so you really want to make sure that your privacy settings are set the way you want them to be.

Don't be complacent when it comes to your privacy. Make sure that only the things you want revealed about you are out there. Truly, when it comes to social media, the best thing to remember is actually not to post anything that you don't want the world to see. Because even if you make the update for your friends only, you can't really predict if your friends will share that information with other people, since you don't really control them. The only thing you really have control over is what you choose to post online, so remember to always think before you post.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/the-importance-of-privacy-on-facebook-or-any-other-online-network-5322000.html

About the Author

"Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer), buzz2bucks | a word of mouth marketing firm, is skilled at making networks "work" and harnessing powerful online and offline buzz, she facilitates online visibility services and word of mouth coaching and workshops – taking companies and professionals from buzz-worthy to bucks-worthy, http://buzz2bucks.com."

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Internet Marketing Guide - 4 Content Marketing Miscues
  • Internet marketing campaigns revolve around 3 things - search engine optimization, social media and content marketing.
  • These marketing efforts are referred to as pull strategies. These are the marketing efforts that are designed to "pull in" your target clients, instead of pushing them to make favorable buying decisions.
  • The oft-repeated adage in Internet marketing - content is king - remains as relevant as ever. After all these emerging developments and shifts, the content of your Webpage remains to be the lynchpin of Internet marketing. Search engines scour the pages of your Website to assess if such pages measure up to the search query. On the other hand, your target readers will follow the content of your blogs, whitepapers, articles, etc. in order to get a clear picture of the product or services that you are offering.
  • This means that you need to generate quality content to build your reputation online. You have to exert extra effort to show that you are a trusted and reliable source of information. Thus, if you want to hit the jackpot in your Internet marketing campaign, you have to work on your content.
  • There are 4 common pitfalls that you must avoid in your Internet marketing campaign. These are the following:
  • Inadequate Fresh Content
  • Fresh content is the lifeblood of content marketing. This may appear to be a perfect case of redundancy. How would you perceive a blog site where the latest post is already a few weeks old? Blogs that are generally stagnant are considered by readers as fairly useless and won't waste their time reading through the content. You are losing out on the opportunity to rank well at Google since each of the posts in your blog can target various keywords and these can help improve your online presence.
  • Connecting with the Wrong Audience
  • Follow the basic rule in marketing - profile your potential clients. You must monitor who are reading your blog posts regularly. Carefully assess if you are missing out on some earning opportunities from other segments of the market. Determine what your priorities are. Do you want to build your reputation as an expert in a particular field or niche? Or do you want to share information with your target clients? You must also get a good grip of the online behavior of your target readers and find out what they are looking for when they browse the Web.
  • Coming Off as a Hard Sell
  • You will surely mess up your Internet marketing campaign if you treat your content marketing as your medium in selling your product or service. You have to remember that your primary objective is not to sell but to market your product or service. You are into content marketing to "help" your potential clients. Your readers will surely not appreciate it if you sound a bit too "promotional" when you provide content for your blog.
  • Producing Content without Promotional Value
  • On the opposite end of the spectrum, you should find ways to promote your product or service without going overboard and appear to be a hard sell. Learn of the "stealth" techniques so that you can get the desired response from your readers. When you produce a great article or white paper, you can get positive response from your target audience. This puts you closer to your main objective of developing a potential business through higher CTRs. Make yourself visible on the Web. Get those posts on your social profiles, company newsletters and social bookmarking sites. Of course , don't forget to put share buttons on your blogs so that your target audience can republish or link to them.
  • Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  • For more resources about internet marketing check out Choose Income program. There is also a great program called Niche Conqueror that can be very successful.
  • Thursday, October 06, 2011

    Learn to Turn both Negative and Positive Events into Success
  • Author: Andrew Horton
  • It is not possible or even desirable to live a one sided life, where everything just goes smoothly, without any challenge. The early Chinese cultures recognised that it was impossible to experience anything from only one perspective, many thousands of years ago and introduced the concept of Yin and Yang to help people understand and utilise this concept to their advantage. If we lived only one sided, positive lives as depicted in a popular movie a few years ago, there would be little incentive to expand and grow. It is very often the very challenges that cross our paths that highlight new possibility or force us to stretch ourselves onto new planes of development and growth.

    After accepting this universal law and understanding that most of the stress we face in our lives, is a direct result of our unrealistic expectation that everything should just go smoothly and that nothing should cross our path to challenge or stretch us. We have discovered a tool that will allow us to live a life that is filled with far less stress and we are able to explore any challenges far sooner, discover the opportunity they hold or unlock the learning they bring. I have asked many people that have attended one of my presentations, whether they are better or worse off after facing any challenge. After sufficient time has passed and they have learnt all they can learn from the process of overcoming any challenge, they have become more and in every case they have attracted more into their lives. Everyone I have asked this question, has unanimously stated that challenges were always one of the best things that happened to them.

    So what are you waiting for, expect challenges, plan for them and search and discover the opportunities that each challenge holds, as quickly as possible. You always get to choose how you respond to any challenge that crosses your path, so the sooner you choose to learn from any challenge and to discover how to turn them into an opportunity for you to become more, as a result of the challenge, the faster you will attract the success you desire and deserve.

    After accepting this universal law and embracing all the benefits that this new understanding will bring, it is time to add one additional tool into the mix. Find a way to bring a little more Yin or a softer approach into your life. Stop expecting to be able to outsmart, outwit and outdo everyone around you. Accept that we are all part of the same whole and the more we learn to co-operate and work together the better the results we will enjoy.

    Work to build great personal relationships, become an effective connector and build as many support structures around you as possible. This softer approach in which you are always looking for ways to help others get what they want, supporting as many people as possible, will see you have exactly the same reflected back to you. Take sincere interest in other people's lives and strive to connect with people on a deep level, where there is always mutual benefit to be had by all parties.

    It is time to get out of your head and to begin to trust your gut. As you learn to trust your intuition, you connect and support people the right people, who will support and assist you in return, you have discovered a pathway to master your life. It is time to accept that we cannot live a one-sided positive life only and that if we cultivate and demonstrate more yin energy, compassion, sensitivity, insightfulness and connection, with everyone around us, we have created a solid foundation for building the future we desire.

    http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

    Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/learn-to-turn-both-negative-and-positive-events-into-success-5282613.html

    About the Author

    Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

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