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Duplicate Content, What is it… And Does It Matter?

In order to debunk this, it is best just to go to the source. Google describes duplicate content as:

“…substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar.”

The rest of this article is located here. It goes on to say that duplicate content isn’t necessarily something that is instantly penalized for just existing. There are many instances when duplicate content is OK.

Mobile phone versions of sites, articles belonging to multiple categories, and printer friendly versions of pages are all recognized as multiple versions of the same content, not duplicate content. Even content that is syndicated is still considered to be the same even though it is spread across multiple domains.

Why It Has A Bad Rep
Duplicate content has a bad rep for one main reason. “People Have No Idea What They Are Talking About!” Yup, that pretty much sums it up. There are a bunch of other reasons too, but that one really does cover it.

Firstly, in that same article mentioned above, there is an area where they say duplicate content is a big no-no. It is mostly when a piece of content is spread across multiple domains in order to fool search results. Google doesn’t like this because users don’t like this and they want to please their users, and in turn, please their advertisers.

So, when someone is feeding the same thing on most of your search results, you kinda failed at the whole “delivering the best search results” thing. So, they make it a point to penalize anyone who is deliberately trying to fool search results. And Google is smart, they know when you’re trying to do it. So don’t.

Secondly, there are forum topics abound on duplicate content and how to handle it. This topic on the Warrior Forum garnered over 28,000 views and over 655 replies from so-called “experts” on what to do about where to place an article first for best results. This spins from then entire duplicate content misconception.

Next, there is a whole arsenal of tools out there said to rid you of the “Duplicate Content Penalty”. There are checkers, spinners, and many other tools available to help rid you of this cursed disease. Some are free, most are paid. So it only makes sense to hype up the whole duplicate content thing in an effort to make sure you are good and scared enough to buy/use their products. To put it bluntly, there is profit to be made from fear and ignorance.

One of the best examples out there is Copy Scape. They first go under the premise of “Anti-Plagiarism” which was a good stance to take. No one wants their content stolen. Then they started to diverge into a more, “find out if your content you had written for you was just rehashed or reused.” Not bad, but a step toward the wrong direction. Now, right in their title, they have “Copyscape Plagiarism Checker – Duplicate Content Detection Software.” They have a pro feature that charges you a nickel for each search you do.

Am I saying Copyscape is some terrible company? No, they do provide a good service. But they now leverage the misconception of duplicate content for the sake of more profit.

How To Solve Duplicate Content Problems
If you want all your i’s dotted and all your t’s crossed, there are a number of things you can do to help Google out. First, you can stop peddling your crappy PLR all over the net. Now that I have that off my chest, we can talk about other solutions.

Canonical URLs
These are basically a way of telling Google and other search engines that the content found on this page via this link is the ACTUAL place to find the content. This helps solve any problems with your CMS’s giving google the same content multiple times via different URLs.

NoIndex
Another way to help out the SE’s is to tell them, not to index certain parts of your site. A good way of doing this is using the NoIndex meta tag for parts of your site that contain duplicate content across a different URL. This robots identifier lets the search engines know not to index this part of your site, and therefore, not include duplicate content.

Use 301 Redirects
If you are restructuring your site, use appropriate 301 redirects, (permanent redirect code). This tells Google that your content is on another url instead of just indexing it twice as duplicate content.

Syndicate Appropriately
Perhaps one of the final nails in this proverbial coffin of this duplicate content issue is the fact that Syndication even exists. If all duplicate content is considered bad, why would utilizing things such as RSS be considered GOOD by Google? There is a catch. When you syndicate, make sure that your RSS feed gives credit to the original content with an appropriate link. Most RSS feeds do this automatically with the title being a link to the original article. It is good just to double check, because you never know.

Other methods are also good practices, such as avoiding placeholder pages, also called stubs, TLD’s, avoiding unnecessary repetition, etc. They can be found at the Google link below.

All in all, you need to focus on providing GREAT content for the search engines, not just making sure your average piece of garbage article is the only one out there of it’s kind.

Can A List Building System Be TOTALLY Automated?

I know we’re all a bit sick and tired of promises of “automated software” that will make us rich before dinner.

And I’m always the first to be skeptical of these kinds of outrageous claims.

But today I may have to actually eat my words.

Because I just picked up a listbuildilng system that really is incredibly fast…,

And the traffic actually does keeps flow in on auto-pilot.

It’s a pretty new tactic on the scene that I’ve heard of.

But I never really knew how to implement it.

Then I found this:

<a href=”http://neverfaillistbuilding.com/freestuff/video-2/”>Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System</a>

At that link 7 figure marketer Bill McRea is GIVING AWAY.

This listbuilding system totally free…

It’s his way of getting some buzz going for his upcoming product launch (apparently he’s go another system up his sleeve that’s even better than this)

In any case..

I went and got this myself and it’s totally legit.

There’s nothing scammy about it all.
It’s just a way to instantly create a win-win offer that potential JV partners can’t refuse.

Bill hand you EVERYTHING you need to make it work. And I mean EVERYTHING.

So if you know the power of having a mailing list..

Do yourself a favor and go get this.

Do it now: <a href=”http://neverfaillistbuilding.com/freestuff/video-2/”>Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System</a>

I mean…you can’t beat the price, right?

P.S. There is one catch to this…you’ll have to help spread the word. But that’s easy for me because I’ve seen this strategy in action and know that it works.
You should get <a href=”http://neverfaillistbuilding.com/freestuff/video-2/”>Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System</a> now!

The Greatest Keyword Tool of All Time

Google is set to release an updated version of its Keyword Tool which will combine features of the Keyword Tool (primarily for AdWords users) with features of the Search-based Keyword Tool (which is based on actual Google search queries) to create one of the most comprehensive and valuable keyword research tool on the Web today. It might just be the greatest keyword tool of all time.

The new Keyword Tool offers flexible search options, enabling users to search by any combination of keyword, website/URL, and category and receive a single set of results.

Users will also be able to filter result by word or keyword match type, and even view statistics for mobile search and use data filter based on local search, as well as search and ad share. It might just be the greatest keyword tool of all time.

Google also added some new features based on user feedback including the ability to remove duplicate keywords (which appear with an “Already in Ad Group” message) and the ability to add negative keywords automatically to your account from your keyword idea list.

The depth and value the upcoming tool provides kind of makes me wonder about the viability of commercial keyword research services. If Google dominates the search and ad space, what do the others know that Google doesn’t? Do you even need to consider using alternative providers? Is Google’s upcoming keyword tool the greatest keyword tool of all time? Share your comments below

FaceBook Tutorials, Internet Boot Camp, Internet Marketing, Internet Training, Make Money Online, Mind Set, Online Expert, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Training, Social Networking, Twitter Tools, Twitter Tutorials, Visualization, facebook, home based business opportunities, home business, social Media, twitter, wealth creation, work at home opportunities | mick | August 12, 2010 3:31 pm | Comments (0)

The Most Powerful Headline In The World

How to use the Power of the World’s Easiest and Most Effective Headline Format to Turbo Charge Your Business

Did you notice the title for this article?

Of course, it’s a headline.

That’s right and it uses a shop-worn classic format which still continues to amaze me with its power.

Just 2 simple words…

“How To”

Stick with me on this, I know it sounds too easy.

The simple, lowly “How to” headline is still tops in my book for simplicity and effectiveness. You really cannot go wrong with it. The ‘how to’ headline is so versatile. You can follow it with several benefits, a question, an offer, almost anything – and it works great!

In fact, using the ‘how to’ formula is one of the best places to start when writing headlines because it forces you to think of what your product/service actually does for the person.

Here are a couple of winning examples to get your juices flowing:

* How to Collect from Social Security at Any Age

* How To Get FIVE Money-Making Web Sites In 29 Minutes Or
Less…Without Spending A Fortune!

* How to avoid the biggest mistake you can make in building or buying a home

* How to cruise the world for $19 a day

* How to get Enthusiastic Applause – Even a Standing Ovation – Every Time You Speak (Ted Nicholas)

* How To Win Friends And Influence People

* How to make your car invisible to radar and laser!

* How to make your computer as easy to use as your telephone

* How to fix cars

Check out the last winning headline on our list – “how to fix cars”. I mean it really can’t get any simpler than that, but it works and it works big time!

Now here are a few “how to” headlines you can plug-in and use right away when brainstorming:

=============== “How to” Formulas ===============

How to get ____________
How to have __________
How to keep__________
How to start __________
How to begin _________
How to become ___________
How to improve your _________
How to develop _____________
How to get the most out of _____________
How to avoid ________________
How to end ________________
How to get rid of _____________
How to conquer _____________
How to enjoy _______________

Even just adding the word “how” in front of a headline gives it an additional appeal.

Compare these 2 examples:

A strange accident saved me from baldness

How a strange accident saved me from baldness

Which one is more compelling?

I think you’ll agree #2 does the trick.

And that one is a winning headline used over and over.

Okay, but maybe the tried and true “how to” is too boring for you.

No problem! Spice it up by adding a little something before the ‘how to’

* Here’s HOW TO…

* Discover HOW TO…

* If you think a 12% annual return on your money is good, here’s HOW TO set your sights on 100% or more

* All new course reveals HOW TO use Pop-Ups to double your opt-in rate, explode your sales, and squeeze up to 300% more revenue out of each visitor to your Web site! (Jonathan Mizel)

* I’ll show you HOW TO hit golf shots as straight as you can point, or this video golfing lesson is free… and I’ll pay you $25 for wasting your time! (Jeff Paul)

* Ohio man discovers the secret of HOW TO escape the American Rat Race

Or if you still want to change it up a little – just use “How you” or “How I” like these winning examples:

* HOW I earn my living in 4 hours a day

* HOW YOU Can Make Well Over $300,000.00 Per Year As A Real Estate Agent Working Less Than 40 Hours A Week…. Have A Top Income AND A Life….. And NEVER Have To Make A Call You Dread Or Waste Your Time With Unrealistic Sellers Or Insincere Buyers, Ever Again (Craig Proctor)

I think you’ll agree for getting the most bang for your buck – “how to” headlines are the way to go.

For More Fantastic Internet Marketing Tips and Tricks, Visit www.StartAnEasyBusinessOnline.com

Everything You Need to Know About YouTube’s Promoted Videos

Image via Wikipedia

This is a great post about Everything You Need to Know About YouTube’s Promoted Videos by my buddy Merle from MerlesWorld.com.

We’ve looked into using this platform ourselves and will be doing a follow up to this post to let you in on any secrets we run across.

That said, here is the post and what I feel is enough information to get you up and running with your own Youtube ads.

Way back in 2006, Google purchased YouTube.com for an alleged reported figure of 1.65 billíon dollars. And, like with everything Google does, they’ve added their own special “Google Touches” over the last several years, turning it into one of the most popular video destination websites online today.

Need proof? According to Comscore.com’s December 2009 “Videos Viewed Report”, YouTube was ranked as the top U.S. video site serving up 13.2 billion of the total 33.2 billion videos that were viewed online in the U.S. for that month alone. That’s a lot of people watching mega videos. For more stats see tinyurl.com/y8jbnqh.

Furthermore, according to Google, YouTube has twenty hours of new video uploaded every minute and 420 million unique visitors per month. Watching online videos and sharing them with others has become an Internet obsession. People really love watching videos. Remember the old song “Video Killed the Radio Star”? In today’s marketplace, it should be called “Video Killed the Television Set”.

What if I told you there’s a way to harness that huge audience in your onlíne marketing campaign? Now you can with YouTube’s new advertising program called “Promoted Videos”. YouTube and its other site, Google Adwords, have partnered together in this latest ad serving project. When promoting your videos on YouTube, they’ll also be shown across Google’s Content Network, aka sites running Google Adsense on them.

The purpose of “Promoted Videos” is to help your videos stand out from the millions of others on the site. At the time of this writing, they’re available in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

The first step is to sign up at ads.youtube.com, or if you’re already a user of Google Adwords you can access “Promoted Videos” from your control panel. You must have a YouTube and an Adwords account which will be linked together as the video ads are served up by Adwords. To find them in Adwords, log into your account, select the “Ads Tab”, then the “Display Ad Builder”, and finally select “Video” from the category menu and you’ll see “promoted videos”. Once your accounts are linked, you can manage your Promoted Videos campaign from the Adwords Console, or YouTube directly.

So where do Promoted Videos appear? By default, they run on YouTube’s site and those sites that run Google Adsense ads. On YouTube, the video ads are shown below and to the right of search results pages and on some of YouTube’s Watch pages in the “related video section”, if related to the content of the page. Watch pages are like the home page of a video that displays all of its public information. Advertisers can option in or out of the “Content Network”, which gives some control over where the video ads may be shown. The videos are clearly marked as “promoted videos”, but it seems Youtube has moved back and forth between labeling them “promoted or sponsored videos”.

Like other forms of pay-per-click advertising, it’s an auction like setting where advertisers bid on selected keywords, set a maximum cost per clíck, and a daily budget to spend. The Promoted Videos program uses the “Adwords Discounter” to help keep costs down. No matter your maximum cost per click, advertisers only pay one cent more than the other video ads shown on the same page. When selecting keywords make sure to choose the ones you would want to appear when a search is done on a particular subject. YouTube’s Insight is helpful when choosing keywords. For more on this, see searchenginewatch.com/3640113.

The videos created can include a clickable link to any site you choose. On sites running Adsense ads that haven’t elected to block YouTube’s Promoted Videos from within their competitive ad filter, the videos appear as a thumbnail with three lines of text. Adsense content partners must also be running ad formats in one of these sizes for video ads to appear. They are: 300X230, 336X280, 728X90, 250X250, 200X200. They must also be opted in to show text and image ads on their sites.

The Promoted Videos are different from Adsense video ads. Promoted Videos will always take the viewer to YouTube’s site to be played, whereas Adsense video ads are played right on the website it’s being viewed on.

When creating videos make sure they’re fun and entertaining; something people will really enjoy to watch and will want to pass on to their friends and family. The sharing of popular videos on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, will help it to go viral. Generally speaking, funny always translates well. The less it looks like a commercial, the better the odds of people liking and sharing it.

If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at video marketing and reach millions of potential customers, Google’s Promoted Videos may be for you. For further information see:

Promoted Videos Help Center

Promoted Videos Optimization Guide

YouTube Ad Keyword Tool

Show & Tell with YouTube – Showcases the best examples of marketing on YouTube

Hope this helps in getting you started in promoting your own infomercials and video advertising.

Internet Marketing, Internet Training, Make Money Online, Mind Set, Online Expert, Social Networking, home based business opportunities, home business, wealth creation, work at home opportunities | mick | July 2, 2010 1:44 pm | Comments (1)

5 Steps to a Social Media Avalanche of Customers

: Image via CrunchBase

This is a great article by By Doug Firebaugh about how to build a massive following using Social Media. Doug starts out with “Build it and they will come”… Not!

Which to me rings so true… Although in the early days of building a website and selling something, it actually was Build it and they will come” for most of us that had a head start on the rest of the webpreneurs online.

These days you can build a blog or video site and you can still be lacking connections.

Connection is the nuclear core of social media. But you must make an effort in order for that to happen.

Whether you have a social media home busíness, traditional brick and mortar business, or an online business, you must get into the social trenches and connect and converse. It is that simple and that plain.

These days It’s all about connecting and creating an engaging conversation with people that draws them towards you.

But why are people in social media not doing that?

Maybe they do not know this powerful 5 step “Avalanche Process” for getting new customers and keeping them in social media.

The first thing you must do is connect with the social media culture. It is what marketing is about in social media. Some people think that they can be anti-social in social media and think they can broadcast their message and people will still come.

That simply is not going to happen. Not in social media. You do not build ‘it’ but instead, build relationships that can become doorways and then eventually become customers.

Here is the “Avalanche Path” you can follow:

1) Connect –> 2) Conversation –> 3) Value –> 4) Doorway –> 5) Customer

Let’s take a quick look at each step:

1) Connect

Connection with people is where success in social media starts. Connect with people on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Youtube, on Orkut, or every other niche site out in the social sphere that matters. You must connect.

Here’s a little tip:

Connect to those who are looking for you. They will find you if you are visible, and accessible to
connect to.

2) Conversation

This step is where the conversation with people starts. You talk about the prospect and where they want to go. You talk about what they want to talk about. You study their profile, pictures and videos on their social sites because you can learn a lot just by paying attention.

Then make sure that you stay in touch and listen when they are communicating with you. If you do that, they will want to stay connected to you.

3) Value

This step is where you bring in the magnet to pull them towards your message. Show them value they can obtain with your message in their life. Show them how your message can help expand, broaden, enlarge and improve their life. You do it through tips and how to’s in videos and blog posts and podcasts, as well as tweets and twips. Show them how you can make their life easier and show them how to do something they want to learn. You show them how to be or do something. If you can expand the size of their dreams, you can get them as a customer.

The more value people perceive you have for them the more likely they will walk through the “Doorway.”

4) Doorway

This is the doorway to conversion where you convert them to a customer. You must convert prospects into customers if you are going to have any kind of business. That is simple to do.

Give them an offér where “No” is impossible to say. That is the secret. Give first and then make the proposition so compelling they cannot say “No.” We do it all the time. We just ran a social media special on our training products and it blew the roof off our shipping department. It has created a flood of new customers and new orders for us. All we did was give them an offer that was difficult to turn down.

The secret of success we experienced can be found in the word “Give.”

Give away something they must have, and something that will improve their life, and they will get it.

5) Customer

This final step is where they purchase your message, products, or webinar or event. This is the beginning of your relationship though – not the end.

Here you must start building the relationship between you and the customer even more.

Give more than they expected and throw something in for free they were not expecting. Give them a free download or ebook and let them see a Private video collection as a special.

Encourage more. Make sure that you send a note of encouragement and stay in touch with them.

Thank them more. Make sure they know you are thankful for their business and connection. We send out free downloads all the time to say thanks that some people paid $$$ for in the past. Thank them in everything you do and they will come back for more.

Get your customers addicted to your Value, Message and Emotions. They will become more than a customer. They will become a loud speaker for you and tell everybody you know you are the best at what you do.

That is what you want to happen in your home business or traditional business in social media marketing.

FaceBook Tutorials, Internet Boot Camp, Internet Marketing, Internet Training, Make Money Online, Mind Set, Online Expert, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Training, Social Networking, Twitter Tools, Twitter Tutorials, Visualization, facebook, home based business opportunities, home business, social Media, twitter, wealth creation, work at home opportunities | mick | June 21, 2010 1:50 pm | Comments (1)

Can a bad sales offer actually boost your sales?

This is a great post from David Moskowitz over at Membership Academy. He had this amazing post of a really wild example of a membership site that was able to get people to take a higher priced offer by giving them an equivalently priced, but lower quality offer.

What he didn’t include in his test:

in the real world there’s another option – buy nothing! It’s not clear how abandonment will affect the results.
with real money, would more people choose the cheaper option?

Want to give this a test?

Create a similar priced, but weaker offer to get potential buyers to choose the better perceived but higher priced offer.

How to Rank Higher in Google’s New Search Engines

: Image via Wikipedia

Recent changes to Google make it seem like Google is no longer just one search engine but a combination of 6 or 7 different search engines all rolled into one. Your SEO efforts should now be geared to ranking high in these search engines as well as in traditional organic search.

A little while back, I shared with you an article by Titus Hoskins entitled “The Five Pillars of Google Search” and had I known how important those pillars would become, I would have paid more attention to them. What I didn’t factor into the equation was Google’s whole re-structuring of its SERPs interface or landing page. It really is a whole new Google with not just one search engine but a combination of 6 or 7 search engines all competing for your attention.

In this article, Titus Hoskins goes on to say that the new left side column with its new functions and displays, opens up new opportunities for webmasters to get their listings within Google on that all-important first page. There are also many new ways to view the results such as view everything, or you can view with more or less shopping links. Plus, you can also view Google results for books, maps, blogs, updates, and discussions – all new ways to get your site or links into Google. Throw in the Wonder Wheel and things are indeed looking very different within the new Google SERPs.

As a full-time online search engine marketer, Titus Hoskins says he should have expected something like this but the recent changes within Google has been totally unprecedented. We have seen major updates before, some of them very disruptive like the Florida update, but with Google Caffeine, MayDay Update, new layout and the recent shakeup of its Algorithm, Google has fundamentally changed how its organic search are ranked and used.

Before I start sounding too cryptic, these recent changes seem to be a “coming together” of all the different types of searches in Google, which have been around for some time. Now it seems with the new interface architecture… each type of search is given more importance or rather more of an equal billing or footing within Google. There are now multiple ways to get your links viewed and hopefully clicked within the most important search engine on the planet.

First, Titus always tries to start any piece on Google or the search engines with a disclaimer. Mainly, in the course of running 9 or 10 websites, he keeps a daily monitoring of the keywords which produce revenue, some of these keyword phrases have been monitored by him for 6 or 7 years, but they are only a small sampling of keywords and sometimes drawing or making conclusions with such a small sample can be misleading or downright wrong. So take any of the following information on Google with this point in mind, just one webmaster observing what’s happening with Google and putting in his two cents worth.

Now, the reason I say “Google’s New Search Engines” is the feeling which has gradually crept into my daily marketing – it feels like you’re no longer dealing with one organic search engine but 6 or 7 different search engines. Let me explain, for years Google has been presenting results for not just static webpages but also for images, videos, news, blogs and shopping/products – but recent changes have shaken up things significantly.

With the recent changes, Google seems to be placing more importance on these new ways to search. Videos have taken a big step forward and can now pop up on the first page and stay there. Producing a video is now one of the fastest ways to get on the first page of Google, even for very competitive keywords. While many online marketers are taking advantage of this fact, it is relatively new and you can have a much better chance of ranking for a video instead of an ordinary web page in Google. It can happen almost instantly.

Personally, I like using the YouTube platform because it is also owned by Google and they no doubt can easily tap into all the background stats on a video such as comments, viewer ratings… and so on. In other words, Google has always favored ways to make their SERPs more democratic and user generated/rated videos are the perfect match.

So too are blog posts and entries, these can be easily monitored and (comment spam aside) are more democratic since it’s harder to fake Diggs or Re-tweets. All of these social bookmarking systems and sites provide the search engines, especially Google, with some very helpful user-generated rankings and ratings. Blogs now also have two subcategories – Twitter/Facebook Updates and Forum Discussions, which are now being displayed separately.

Google seems to be placing more importance on popular Posts, Diggs, Tweets… in their SERPs. Again, I find using a simple Google owned program like Blogger to be an effective way of ranking high in Google. For example, my posts in Blogger are indexed in Google within minutes, this recently seems to have been sped up and we are moving more towards instant search results.

Another instant way to get your content onto the first page of Google is to use a News Release. Google has always listed News Items on the first page but this now seems to play a more important role, especially when you consider all the new features in the left side column. Surfers will probably stay on that first page longer and you have a better chance of getting your news item read.

Within the last couple of years, I have started doing Press Releases, mainly through PRweb but there are lots of free programs you can use. I also like posting my articles to American Chronicle since Google News picks up and displays a lot of these items. Again, like videos, getting your News item listed is almost instant and within seconds you can have traffic flowing to your site.

Images and image search has always been an important feature of Google Search. One that online marketers and webmasters have taken advantage of by creating images to match the main products or keywords of their sites. Now image search, itself, is much more varied and has many more options to re-define your image search, for example you could target a certain color or line drawings. Regardless, images can be an easy way to get traffic from Google.

Within the shopping results is the place to be featured if you have a product to sell. This is the old product listing (Froogle), which Google has renamed to Shopping or Product Search. For those into onlíne marketing, this is probably the most important listing as you’re sure to attract specific buyers who are in the right mind-set to purchase. To learn more about submitting your products to Google Product Search go here.

The Facebook Advertising Miracle

: Image via Wikipedia

Gone are the day of spending countless, exhausting hours setting up carefully constructed pay per click marketing only to discover that all of your ads were pulled without notice, and apparently without reason.

PPC (pay per click) marketing is a high speed strategy for getting your advertisements in front of your targeted market quickly, however with the risks involved with Google pulling the rug out from under countless marketers by pausing their ads or worse, BANNING their accounts without notice, it’s become evident that anyone serious about maximizing exposure for their advertisements while retaining FULL control over your promotions needs to look for an alternative provider.

Enter Facebook.

Facebook is currently used by millions of users who log into their accounts every day to communicate with friends and family, to network with businesses and to post updates on their personal and business lives.

It’s one of the fastest growing sites online, with over 400 million user-created accounts and receives a greater number of page views every month then even Google!

With this mass exposure and incredible outreach, Facebook has quickly become the leading contender in the paid advertising scene, giving anyone serious about marketing their business the opportunity to tap into their target audience quickly, easily and most impressively – CHEAP.

In comparison with traditional pay per click marketing, the actual costs to advertise on Facebook are well below industry standard, PLUS even more importantly perhaps, Facebook actually has fewer advertisers then Adwords or other PPC marketplaces.

That means that you are have less competition to worry about and will be able to reach your target customers faster, easier and at a lower cost than with any other advertising network.

How Facebook Advertising Works
With Facebook, their advertising channels are based on DISPLAY rather than per SEARCH .
What this means is that instead of users having to enter in specific search terms or keywords, your advertisements will be trigger to appear based on the page content that the user is reading.

Another factor that plays a part in the advertisements that are shown to Facebook users is based on whether they “vote” for current advertisements. You see, with every advertisement featured within the Facebook network, there is a ‘thumbs up’ icon that appears below the advertisement that allows someone viewing the ad to ‘vote’ for it.

If someone votes for an advertisement, it indicates to Facebook that they should display additional advertisements of the SAME kind (based on category, keywords and overall relevancy), ensuring the best experience possible for Facebook members.

As a Facebook advertiser, you will also be able to promote your products and services using images, a feature that is not usually available within traditional PPC marketing. Images are an incredible asset in maximizing conversion rates because you can tailor the images used in your ads to push the “right buttons” or pull at emotional triggers that you know will have an impact on your average customer.

For example, if you were placing an advertisement that offered a teeth whitening kit, you could place a simple image of a “before” and “after” that offers the reader with a visual aid that leaves an incredible impression. Images can ultimately be one of the LEADING motivators in getting targeted customers to click through your advertisements and explore your offer.

So, how can you start exploiting the popularity and massive outreach of the Facebook network to gain maximum exposure for your business?

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Target Your Advertisements
You want your entire advertisement to be heavily targeted towards your average customer.
This includes any images that are featured within your ads as well as the advertising text that is featured below the image.

With Facebook, you are able to set up a very targeted advertisement, including targeting specific age groups, locations, education levels, what people have indicated that they are interested in based on their profile summary, and can even target primarily men or women.

The more carefully you create highly targeted advertisements, the better your ads will perform, so make sure you spend a bit of time crafting your ads so that they effectively target your customer base.

Create Facebook Compliant Advertisements
Facebook wants to maintain a user-friendly community and in order to do this they are very strict with the types of advertisements that are allowed to be circulated throughout their network. This means that you cannot use slang; improper grammar and you must refrain from using any images or text that could be considered offensive.

Don’t look at these guidelines as a downside to using Facebook but instead, consider how this quality control will HELP you create higher converting advertisements that are genuinely targeted to your customer base.

Keep An Eye On Your CTR

CTR which stands for Click Through Rate and you want to keep an eye on how well your advertisements are performing. Your ads should never go below 2%, and if you notice that an advertisement is starting to fall below that level, you will want to tweak your advertisement and reconsider who your advertisement is targeted to.

Are you asking the right questions in your advertisement? Using the right image?
Make sure that you spend time evaluating the effectiveness of your advertisement to generate maximum conversion rates and avoid having your advertisements paused or removed.

Choose The Appropriate Time To Run Your Ads
You can choose to run your advertisements continuously throughout the day or based on specific start and end dates. You will want to run your advertisements throughout the day continuously, unless you need to pause it for a specific reason such as if you are going away on holiday, or you find that specific times of the day are converting better (based on the locations you are interested in targeting).

Set A Reasonable Maximum Bid
You will want to set a maximum daily bid that you are comfortable with and fits within your budget.
Facebook will provide a suggested maximum bid based on the content of your advertisement and your targeting configuration. Consider setting your maximum bid slightly lower than Facebook’s recommended minimum and adjust it as you need to based on your advertisements conversion rates and overall exposure.

Choose CPC Over Impressions
You can also choose to pay for impressions or per click. It’s always best to choose CPC (cost per click) for the most part, especially during your testing phase. You can always change this later on if you need to.

Highly Recommended Resource
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FaceBook Tutorials, Internet Marketing, Internet Training, Make Money Online, Social Media Training, Social Networking, facebook, home based business opportunities, home business, social Media, work at home opportunities | mick | June 9, 2010 10:37 pm | Comments (0)

Video Marketing Seven Deadly Dont’s

This is a great 7 step video marketing post of what NOT TO DO from Jerry Bader.

As we all know, marketing online with video has become the new wave of marketing with websites and blogs. The popularity of Youtube has passed even the most popular of Search Engines when doing a search and now can be found on the first page of Google when doing a search.

So if you want to develop a Web video campaign to put on your website and add to YouTube and all the other Web video directories, you had better get it right. Maybe you even want to create a new video micro site to promote that hot new product or service you’re about to launch. You want it done right, professional, slick, and you want it to be effective. Well of course you do.

You know you need to hire a firm that has the creative staff capable of not just shooting video but professionals who can write, direct, edit, and add all the post production elements you need, including signature music, sound design and on screen text. But are there other things you need to be aware of in order to maximize the return on your investment? You bet there are.

There are lots of production companies that just want to crank out the work at the lowest cost without providing any marketing guidance as to what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps these firms don’t know the difference or perhaps they just don’t care. The company you hire should be willing to provide some advice as to the best way to present your message so that it delivers the best return on your investment. Too many Web videos are technically proficient but lack any marketing impact. The last thing you want is a bland, boring, lifeless presentation that goes in one ear and out the other.

When you’re ready to add video to your marketing and sales tool kit make sure you avoid the following seven deadly video development sins.

Doing It Wrong – 7 Web Video Mistakes To Avoid

1. The need to get it all in.MM
everybody wants his or her money’s worth. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that as a general principle, but getting your money’s worth means more than hiring the cheapest bidder or cramming every possible product, service, benefit and feature into a single video.

You’re better off creating a series of shorter videos each about two to three minutes in length, and each focusing on a particular aspect or sales point. Ten minutes is generally the maximum you can hold someone’s attention, but it will be more effective if you break that ten-minute presentation into a series of shorter segments. By creating a presentation that flows from one focused video to the next, you lead your audience logically through a voyage of discovery that is far more interesting and memorable than a single over-stuffed information-onslaught that overwhelms the audience. Each video becomes an chance to re-enforce your marketing image and embed your brand personality by consistent use of color, style, format, and message.

2. The desire to appeal to everybody.
Whatever you sell, not everybody is going to purchase it. No matter how good your offering is there are people that you aren’t ever going to convince. We believe a properly implemented video presentation is the most effective method of delivering a marketing message, but no matter what the evidence, there are some people who just won’t buy into the idea. If you try to appeal to everybody you will end-up appealing to no one and you will waste a lot of time, money and effort in the process. Trying to appeal to everybody merely dilutes your message.

By concentrating on the most appropriate market segments allows you to fine-tune your message. And if you create a series of videos each highlighting a different aspect of your offering as described earlier, people will be able to pick and choose what they are interested in and what they want to watch. In this way your audience won’t get bored or frustrated by listening to things they may already know, or are just not interested in hearing.

3. The fear of commitment.
Marketing is all about creating an identifiable, unique identity, a personality that people will recognize and remember: a brand. It’s what will set you apart from your rivals and give you a competitive edge; if done right, it’s the one thing your competitors can try to copy but won’t ever be able to duplicate.

Success requires a commitment to your brand image and to the marketing strategy from which it flows. Strategy is the big idea that guides everything related to your business, and it should not be confused with tactics. Tactics are the ways you implement strategy. If you confuse strategy and tactics, you will find yourself running in circles not accomplishing anything.

If you commit to and successfully target one market segment, you not only establish and enhance your brand image but you also create a ‘drag effect.’ For example, the success of Apple’s iTunes and iPods dragged their computer sales along with it. Once people became Apple customers for one product they were more likely to purchase another; and even though iPod advertising was originally aimed at a youth-oriented market, it’s success dragged both younger and older consumers along for the sales ride.

4. The need to accommodate everybody’s agenda.
As companies grow they hire new people, and wherever there are groups of people there are opposing opinions, and opinions can very easily turn into agendas. Your sales people want lower prices, your accountant wants higher prices, and your advertising people want something new; everybody has an agenda and they all conflict with each other. The result is compromise. And compromise kills brand personality and corporate identity.

Even big companies with deep pockets and access to any and every expert in the world are susceptible to agenda creep. Take the fast food giant McDonald’s for example. Their television advertising is all over the place. They use different themes, different approaches, and even different music in almost every commercial, each aimed at a different market with a different product offering. The only thing that seems to be consistent is the logo and signature jingle that is slapped on to the end of each spot.

As individual commercials they my stand up, obviously they have high production qualities but as a marketing message strategy they become mere advertising noise rather than building on each other to form a coherent approach and brand message. What they seem to want to say is that McDonald’s is for everybody no matter what age or food preference, and that kind of approach only leads to a muddled message. McDonald’s may get away with it in the short term because they are McDonald’s and have a long history of effective advertising. Whether McDonald’s simultaneous multiple campaign approach is the result of a desire to accommodate different agendas, or just designed to appeal to everybody doesn’t matter, the result is the same – muddled messaging.

5. The lack of vision.
And speaking of corporate identity, do you have one? Do you have a vision, a point-of-view, an attitude; a perspective on how you can best serve your clients. The idea of a corporate vision is something that is easy to ignore, after all, how much is a corporate vision worth? It’s not like you can go on eBay or Amazon and download one for a few bucks.

I recall seeing a documentary on a very successful clothing manufacturer. The founder of the company was reviewing the company’s latest line of running shoes. He looked at the shoes, looked at the product manager, and said, “Where’s the logo?” to which the product manager answered, “We can add it anywhere.” The company CEO in no uncertain terms told the executive that that wasn’t good enough. The logo represented the company and the company represented a particular lifestyle. The shoe being presented was just another shoe and that was not acceptable. The shoe needed to fit the ideal for which the company stood. The CEO had a vision and everything the company did had to conform to that vision. Developing and presenting a unified corporate vision is how you create a brand and how you build a business.

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