Thursday, February 28, 2013

3 Social Networking Tips When Marketing Online

There are certain social networking tips you'll want to pay close attention to when marketing your business online! Although these sites are great for helping you spread the word about what it is you do it is in the way you do it that will give you the best results! The key is NOT to be too pushy or you'll quickly wear out your welcome therefore keep your objectives simple with an emphasis on the long term!

Here are 3 things you'll want to focus on when establishing your long term objectives any time you are using online social network sites for business!

Develop Relationships

Always remember online social network sites are there for people to socialize with one another and not to be exposed to promotional claims and efforts! Having said that it is vitally important that your initial efforts are focused on developing relationships with other like-minded people you've met! You can NOT reasonably expect these people to make purchases with you or to spread the word about your business unless they're first comfortable and/or familiar with you! Marketing your business is always 'secondary' when working within these online communities!

Expand Your Exposure

This can be done very easily provided you've gain the trust of others! The awesome potential of online social network sites is found in the ability of others to spread the word about what you do or offer to their own social circles! Tapping into these viral capabilities is the single biggest attraction/advantage of using such sites, but it all starts with you promoting yourself as a person first and foremost!

Build/Reinforce Brand

Considering that building or reinforcing your brand involves repetition and making impressions using online communities makes perfect sense! When marketing your business on the internet it is important to have some type of recognizable brand and using online social network sites will help you build it! It is up to you to represent both yourself and what you do in a way that is consistent with the brand you're trying to establish! Once again allowing others to spread the word and help you reinforce your 'branding' efforts is a great way to boost your efficiency thus freeing you up to tend to other things!

There are certain networking tips you would be wise to 'follow' when using online social network sites for marketing your business! As the discussion above points out the 3 things you'll want to focus on are all long term objectives that will encourage others to help you spread the word about what you do! Being too pushy when promoting anything at all is 'taboo' since after allFind Article, these are sites developed for socializing! The best approach when marketing your business at any online social network site is to remain 'low key' and patient! By establishing 'deep' roots you can count on those who you connect with to spread the word about your business throughout their own social circles as well!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. To learn more online social networking tips for business and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit:http://affiliatequickstart.com

Thursday, February 21, 2013

3 Rarely Known LinkedIn Tools

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Most people have a profile page on LinkedIn, and chances are good that their business also have a LinkedIn profile page. Chances are equally good that out of these millions of people, most are not using this professional social networking platform to its full potential. LinkedIn has a huge value for marketers, that no matter where you are in your career, can help you get ahead. The following three features of LinkedIn are not very well known but can help you excel in marketing your career.

LinkedIn Today
Staying current on events in your industry is vital for marketing professionals who have business intelligence. LinkedIn has put together a tool called LinkedIn Today that will show you what your competitors are doing, and what our customers are demanding as well as the different innovations taking place. LinkedIn Today pulls this business intelligence from a wide variety of places on the internet that pertain only to your industry.

LinkedIn gathers news based on what you read and what those in your industry and network share and read making it easier for you to get updated information that may impact your company and you. You can also access this information on LinkedIn mobile application as well as your computer giving you two ways to check out the outside world.

LinkedIn Skill Search
LinkedIn is a social platform that begin as a place to bring professionals together with a kind of beefed up, online resume people could access. Skill Search is another LinkedIn feature that will help you achieve this goal by allowing users to be specific about their skills and find others needing those skills. Because the field of marketing is ever changing and very fast paced, this tool can be extremely useful.

You can use this tool to find other marketers that specialize in a certain type of marketing, add them to your network and learn from what they share. You can also use this tool to find conferences that your peers are attending, thereby making connection to events across the country through LinkedIn. Skill Search is not limited to headhunters, it also allows you to find people that are passionate about the same areas you are and connect with them so that you both learn from each others knowledge.

Applications Within LinkedIn

LinkedIn profiles, because of the help of Applications, are getting more complex with the new application that will allow users to add videos to their profile page. Other applications include allowing the user to take a poll, manage travel plans and share files. Through using third party vendor applications such as TripIt, Box.net, and Slideshare, users can find applications to allow them to post just about anything to their profile. The applications help to get people talking about your brand or even to create your own personal brand through enhancing your profile page.

Marketers have much potential using LinkedIn that they do not realize. There are many opportunities professionals have at their disposal from this most powerful social network. By putting the above lesser known features to work, you will discover how much your business can grow.

Donny Lamey is the President & CEO of DiscoverTec, LLC. He started the company in 1993, incorporated in 1994 and launched the web application development division in 1995. For the past 15 years, DiscoverTec has been a leading technology services company and has been selected as one of the fastest growing companies 3 years in a row. Prior to founding DiscoverTec, Donny graduated from the University of West Florida with a degree in Management Information Systems. DiscoverTec now offers web development as well as Internet marketing.

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

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Autoresponders, How They Benefit Your Business

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Autoresponders benefit your business in many ways. If you have your own business then you know there is just not enough hours in a day to get it all done. You have meetings, emails to reply to, create products or deliver a service, and you have to take care of your customers and talk to suppliers. The list goes on. No matter what you do, there never seem to be enough time to get it all done.

One of the most important functions of a business is to stay connected and follow-up with your customers. Without your customers you wouldn't have a business. However, many business people focus on creating the product, delivering it, getting the money and repeat the process. They just don't take the time to build the relationship with them.

When you build a relationship with your customers they are more apt to want to work with you. This is where the profit is made. It costs money to attract customers, however not many people focus on the area of renewable sales, return customers.

One of the best ways in which you can build a continuing relationship with your customers is through email. Sure, email isnt as effective than speaking with your customer face to face but its the most efficient, affordable way to look after your customers, especially if you have many of them located all over the world.

Imagine if someone continually contacts you once a week by checking up on you, making sure you enjoyed the product, and bascially just letting you know that they are there if you need them? That would be useful wouldnt it?
They say that if you simply email your customers or send them a card on their birthday, they will be grateful and will remember that small gesture. Just that little extra goes a long way.

One of the best ways in which you can build an automatic relationship is to use an autoresponder.

An autoresponder is simply a piece of software that automatically sends out emails to people. Its a bit like an automated message when you are out of the office. If someone sends you an email, they receive an out of office message.

The Benefits Of Using An Autoresponder
Using an autoresponder has many benefits, such as:
Being able to communicate with customers using a prewritten message
Being able to send emails when you are not around
Being able to deliver information as needed
All of these things allow for easier email marketing campaigns, as they will all be automated. The biggest benefit of using an autoresponder program is that once you set it, everything else is done automatically without your input. This frees you up to focus on other areas of your business.

How To Use An Autoresponder
Once you get the hang of it, autoresponders arent very hard to use at all. The first thing you do is write up a message you want your autoresponder to send. When you finish that you put that message into the autoresponder and tell the autoresponder when you would like it to send and to who. For example, you may tell the autoresponder to send this message to any customer that signs up to your mailing list. You may also tell them to send this message only after theyve been signed up for a week. Once you have set up the settings you require you choose to run the autoresponder and thats it, any time your settings are met your autoresponder is sent.

Autoresponders Can Be Used For A Number Of Different Things:
Using An Autoresponder To Deliver An Online Course:
You can use a autoresponder to deliver an online course. Once someone signs up to your mailing list they will be receive your lessons via email over a set amount of time. You could provide 7 day courses whereby at the end theyll know everything they need to, or you could send an email once a week for as long as you want.

Deliver Seasons Greetings To Customers With Autoresponders:
You can set up autoresponders to message people yearly whenever an occasion arrives. If you want to make customers feel like you remember them (and to let them know you are still there), you could send them a message when its their birthday. So every year your autoresponder sends your customers a personalised birthday message automatically (If you decide to do this remember to take down their birthday when collecting their subscriber information).

Using Autoresponders To Build Relationships:
If you don't have much time on your hands but you want to keep a good relationship with your customers, you can set up your autoresponder to build a relationship with your customers. You also want them to know you are still out there. You can do this by sending your customer weekly emails. The key is to write up these emails before hand (Say three months worth of emails or a years worth), put them into the auto responder, and get on with your other work. Now whenever someone new signs up a large part of their customer relations is automatically taken care of.

Selling With Autoresponders:
A lot of companies use autoresponders to sell to their customers. If you have a product which compliments one the customer has already bought for example, you may have a autoresponder message that shows them about this other product too. Similarly, if your product or service has a shelf life (E.G. three months), you can get your autoresponder to messages all customers who bought this product or service when three months is almost up. In the message you can remind them that what theyve got is running out and should they want to buy a new one they can come to you.

So as you can see using an autoresponder in your business can help you in many ways. Imagine trying to keep all of that straight! This all happens and you don't ever have to worry about it. You can focus more on the other aspects of your business.

About the Author

Nicki Jennings is constantly trying to find ways to help others find ways to build their business without spending a lot of money. For more information that she has posted visit her blog at http://athomebusinessmom.com/. You can also visit her website at http://www.athomebusinessmom.com/mlmtraining.php

Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Five Tips For Avoiding Home Business Scams

Copyright © Rahimah Sultan

Many websites claim to offer home business opportunties. Some people do make money at home through online jobs, but many of these so-called opportunities are scams. How do you know the difference? Here are five tips for avoiding home business scams.

Use common sense If you’re looking because you're short on funds, it can be easy to talk yourself into believing the promises you read online. Try to look at the offers objectively. Many scams try to convince you that you’ll become wealthy with little effort, and you might even see on the website that there is some "secret" for making money that is just now being revealed. Then later the cost of the secret is revealed. Before buying this kind of information, take a moment to wonder why it's being sold. If it's really that effective, the person selling it should be wealthy and not need to sell anything.

Don't get involved in a pyramid scheme These are programs that pay you to recruit but there is no product to sell. You make money by getting other people to join the system. This only works for those who start the pyramid scheme, and is illegal in several states. This is not the same as a home party or similar settings where you get a percentage of what you sell in addition to a percentage from those you recruit.

Don't pay to stuff envelopes or make products In fact, don't pay to work for anybody.

Getting paid to do Surveys While some companies may pay you the majority do not. They offer an entry into a sweepstakes where "you could win" but in my experience the sweepstakes even has a catch as well where if you do win they want you to pay a registration fee of let's say $600. Then you’ll get the "All inclusive trip for 2 to the Bahamas." Don't buy into it. There are way better things to do with your time.

And lastly, anything with the word "Blaster" in it is a SCAM, unless you want your email filling up with spam don't do it.

Avoiding home business scams means avoiding anything that offers easy wealth. It also means avoiding paying to work for somebody. Don't expect anything online that makes no sense in the real world. Don't get scammed.

About the Author: See Profile ----------------------------------------------------- http://rahimahsultanontheweb.com