I’m sure you are wondering how you are going to build trust with your prospects so they will want to extend their relationship with you. After all, if your prospects or subscribers aren’t buying your great offers, then it’s just an issue of trust.

So how do you quickly build trust and maintain it in such a way that doesn’t require you to expand more time and energy?

One word… First Impressions.

When people visit you either in person or on your website, make sure the first thing they receive from you is something of HIGH VALUE.

It doesn’t matter if you’re providing mentoring, giving them a .PDF report, MP3, or a software program, make sure it is so valuable that if you were to sell it you would make lots of money.

This way, your subscribers or prospects will trust your expertise from the very beginning, and open your emails every time they arrive.

And when you sell them something, they’re going to buy it because they trust you.

One more thing…

After someone visits and subscribes on your squeeze page or visits your webpage or blog for the first time, make sure they know who you are.

On the internet, everyone is blind. They can’t tell what your real name is, your age, your gender, your likes, your dislikes, or your beliefs unless you tell them! Pretend everyone is blind and describe yourself as if you were describing yourself to someone who is blind. This is how everyone will know you.

You must understand, if you are not going to position yourself and tell your story, your subscribers are going to fill in the blanks with their assumptions.

Even if you have strong copywriting skills, all the money to advertise, and a product that kicks butt… if people don’t know, like and trust you they will not partner with you so make sure you let them know you who you are.

Either that, or you end up attracting the wrong kind of people in your business and people will not purchase your product.

Using Twitter is pretty easy, but using it effectively is a bit more challenging. Read on to find ways you can use Twitter to build brand loyalty, communicate with your audiences, boost sales, establish yourself as an expert and attract new customers.

1. Recycle Content. Send a tweet with a link to an online article that is relevant to your audience.

2. Exclusive Sales. Send out exclusive savings deals (using coupon codes) so you can track how much business you get from Twitter.

3. Join the Conversation. Send a tweet inviting your followers to join a conversation taking place on a website or blog.

4. See What They’re Saying about Your Business. Read and track the comments on the Twittersphere about your company, products or services. It may give you the opportunity to correct a potential problem before it becomes one.

5. White Paper or Other Content. Send a link to a white paper, study or research report you’ve put together.

6. Promote Your YouTube Video.

7. Branding. Write an engaging, compelling and completely filled out Twitter profile as a branding exercise.

8. Build Suspense. Send tweets with teaser messages about an upcoming announcement.

9. Establish Your Expertise. Provides links to news articles, books, videos, etc., that are useful, informational and relevant to your audience. It turns you into a valuable resource for your followers.

Kristie Lorette
http://studiokwriting.com/?p=1720

There are already more than 100 million blogs in existence and many more are being added every day.  By promoting your blog you can gain loyal readers who will subscribe to your blog just to see what is new.  It is crucial, however, to keep your blog up to date with lively, interesting, and relevant content.

How Other Blogs Can Boost Your Income

You should also visit other blogs that are relevant to your niche and comment on them . Visit these blogs often and be sure to include the URL to your blog in your signature line so that others can read your blog.  Whatever your niche is, there are bound to be numerous blogs covering different aspects of your niche market so you would be wise to read plenty of other blogs within your subject.  Comment often, ask questions, and answer questions others have posted.  Pretty soon, you will establish yourself as an authority in your niche and people will want to hear what you have to say next.

Marketing Products Through Your Blog

Of course, you can market products through your blog; just be sure that isn’t the only thing you are doing or you will quickly lose the interest of your readers.  People want information; they want to know how to do something faster, better, easier, or cheaper.  Consider adding video to your blog.  Would it be feasible to demonstrate your product in action?  If so, this could be a boost to your blog.  Consider comparing your product to other, similar products on the market.  Why is yours better?  What does it do differently than similar products? 

Can you show your customers and potential customers how their lives will be made easier if they buy your product?  If you are able to provide a solution to a common problem, either capture that solution on video or explain in captivating detail how your product will make life easier.

Promoting Your Blog

Now that you have a blog, the next step is to promote it so that it gets the kind of attention that will eventually lead to paying customers.  Be sure and submit your blog to blog directories and promote it through your signature line in other blog posts and forum posts.  Also, make sure you include an RSS feed on your blog to make it easy for others to subscribe to it.  Be sure to include links and trackbacks for even more blog traffic.

Make sure your blog is search engine optimized so that it is picked up by all the major search engines.  Remember, although keywords and Meta tags are important components of the optimization process, it’s just as important to include interesting and relevant content so that you keep readers will view you as an expert in your field.  If your readers find useful information on your blog, chances are that the search engines will like it as well.

Martha Herring
www.strategicmarketingprofits.com
www.newslettermarketplace.com

Here are some basic terms to help new internet users understand some of the basic terms used to analyze the effectiveness of a website in terms of generating traffic and lead conversion.

1) Visitors
This is the number of people who have come to your website for the first time or who are coming back for a second time. This is important, because this is the size of the pool of people from which you are trying to get leads. The bigger the number of visitors, the more potential for you to get leads.

2) Leads
This is the number of people who self-select on your website and do something to give you their contact information. It could be signing up for a demonstration, requesting a whitepaper, or viewing a video, but there must be a form where they give you at least their email address and sometimes more information as well. This number is critical since your website leads are where your sales come from.

3) Conversion Rate
This is the percentage of your total website visitors who become a lead. So, if you had 200 visitors to your website today, and you generated 3 leads, that would be a 1.5% conversion rate. Most people will tell you that a 1-2% conversion rate is the average for a b2b website. The conversion rate is important because it is telling you how efficient your website is at turning visitors into leads. Remember, you can double your company’s number of leads by either doubling your website traffic or doubling your conversion rate.

4) Website Grade
Websites are graded on a scale from 1 to 100 - a score of 100 is excellent and a score of 1 means no one will find your site. This analysis gives you an excellent overview of the marketing effectiveness of your website, including things like your Google Page Rank, number of inbound links and other key statistics. What is nice about a website grade is that it summarizes this all into one number from 1 to 100. You should know what your website grade is and track it over time to make sure you improve (or if you already get a good score, to make sure you don’t slip.

5) Keyword Search Rank
For most business websites, the most efficient traffic and leads will come from organic search. This is the traffic that comes from people searching on Google, MSN and Yahoo and other engines and finding your website in the results. This traffic is not completely “free”, since you need to work on your website to really maximize it, but it is usually much more cost effective than other sources. You need to know how you rank in the search engines for at least a few key terms related to your business, and you also want to know how that rank is changing over time - are you moving up or down - since that will determine the future success of your website visitors and leads.

One way to maximize costs is Fusion Marketing, a combination of offline and online methods that work synergistically to produce results in multi-dimensional markets.

If you are a business owner, regardless of the size or type of your business, you should be sending a monthly newsletter to past, current and future customers by way of either email or direct mail.  One suggestion is to have a capture box on your website to capture the email address of the inquiring minds, ask permission to send them your monthly newsletter and then make sure that newsletter is not all sales.  It should be informative yet entertaining with just a bit of sales or business information.

A great new service is set to launch next Monday offering a newsletter that is professional and top notch.  When the site goes live, the information will be posted here.

This newsletter service will offer a “done for you” customized newsletter that you can send to your clients, customers and prospects.

Another tactic is to brand your business - how do your customers identify you or your business?  If you were to mention your business name to 100 people and ask them to tell you the first thing that came to mind - would it be the same message you are trying to convey?   Hummmmm, good question is it not. Think about that for a while.   Is your brand in synergy with all other aspects of your marketing and marketplace?  Do both your name and your business name have a good reputation? Is your brand in alignment with your product offering?  If not, it is perhaps time to change and there is no time like the present?  If you need help with providing clarity to your business, send an email to www.strategicmarketingprofits.com

Martha
www.strategicmarketingprofits.com
email: strategicmarkeingprofits@gmail.com

Tips, Tools, Applications, and Guides

Mashable – Twitter Lists, Resources & How-Tos
http://mashable.com/2009/01/01/twitter-user-types/

How To Blog: A Beginner?s Blog Publishing Guide
http://www.masternewmedia.org/independent_publishing/blogging-how-to-blog/guide-to-publishing-first-blog-20071104.htm.htm

10 Things to Do Before Launching Your Blog
http://ow.ly/wZ3K

Writing for Bloggers – A Quick Guide on Style, Substance and Strategy
http://kendallcopywriting.co.uk/2009/01/06/writing-for-bloggers-in-blog-form/

Creating a web presence – why bother?
http://kendallcopywriting.co.uk/2009/01/14/creating-a-web-presence-why-bother/

Search engine optimization – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

SEOmoz | 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/21-tactics-to-increase-blog-traffic

How to optimize website images from a SEO perspective
http://blog.avangate.com/optimize-website-images/

The Blogger?s Guide to SEO
http://www.seobook.com/bloggers

Methods of website linking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_website_linking

Linkbaiting for Fun & Profit
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkbaiting-for-fun-profit/2541/

Web analytics – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics

My list of tips for getting the most out of Twitter
http://www.joshrussell.com/2008/10/07/my-list-of-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-twitter/

?Meme? explained on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

Know Your Meme

http://knowyourmeme.com

What Social Media Is and What Social Media Is Not
http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/01/what-social-media-is-andwhat-social.html

List of social networking websites on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Google Social Search Launches, Gives Results From Your Trusted “Social Circle”
http://searchengineland.com/google-social-search-launchesgives-results-from-your-trusted-social-circle-28507

Boolean Searching on the Internet
http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean.asp
Tools & Analytics

Google Alerts
http://www.google.com/alerts

Technorati
http://technorati.com/

FeedBurner
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Woopra
http://www.woopra.com/

Social Mention
http://www.socialmention.com/

Trending Tools

About Ask.com: IQ
http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml

Digg
http://digg.com/

Google Trends
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

Popular Bookmarks on Delicious
http://delicious.com/popular

Twitter Search
http://search.twitter.com/

Yahoo! Buzz Index – Today?s Top 20 Overall Searches
http://buzzlog.buzz.yahoo.com/overall/

Tweetmeme
http://tweetmeme.com/

Wordpress Plugins & Themes

WordPress › WordPress Plugins
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

WordPress › WordPress Themes
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

ShareThis
http://sharethis.com/

Stop Comment Spam and Trackback Spam « Akismet
http://akismet.com/

All In One SEO Pack WordPress Plugin
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/portfolio/wordpress/wordpressplugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

Audio Player Wordpress plugin
http://wpaudioplayer.com/

Challenge
http://lordchaos.dominatus.net/wordpress-plugin-challenge

Favicon Manager
http://www.digitalramble.com/favicon-manager-wordpress-plugin/

FeedBurner
http://blogs.feedburner.com/feedburner/archives/2007/05/feedburner_adopts_twoyearold_r.php

Google Analyticator
http://cavemonkey50.com/code/google-analyticator/

Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress
http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpressplugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/

PXS Mail Form
http://www.phrixus.co.uk/pxsmail

Simple Tags
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/

SRG Clean Archives
http://www.idunzo.com/projects/clean-archives/

Wordbook Facebook
http://www.tsaiberspace.net/blog/2007/07/29/wordbook/

WordPress Automatic Upgrade
http://techie-buzz.com/wordpress-plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade-12-release.html

WordPress Database Backup
http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/wp-db-backup

Wptouch: WordPress on iPhone
http://www.bravenewcode.com/wptouch/

FaceBook Share
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-share-new/

Facebook Connect
http://www.sociable.es/facebook-connect/

TweetMeme
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetmeme/

Topsy

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/topsy/

The Social Web

Delicious
http://delicious.com/

Last.fm
http://www.last.fm/home

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com

Flickr!
http://www.flickr.com/

FriendFeed
http://friendfeed.com/

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/

MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/

Twitter
http://twitter.com/home

Digg
http://digg.com/

Seesmic
http://www.seesmic.com/

Stumbleupon
http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Social Tools & Apps

Hootsuite
http://hootsuite.com/

Brizzly – Twitter web app
http://brizzly.com

Mr. Tweet – Your Personal Networking Assistant!
http://mrtweet.net/

Where is your Username registered
http://usernamecheck.com/

KnowEm – Check your username
http://knowem.com/

Alltop, all the top stories
http://alltop.com/

Topsy
http://topsy.com/

Twitterfall – a way of viewing the latest ?tweets? of upcoming trends
http://twitterfall.com/

Seesmic – Twitter & FB app
http://seesmic.com/

Twitterrific – Mac & iPhone app
http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific

TweetDeck – Twitter, FB & MySpace app
http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/

Firefox web browser
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Power Twitter – Firefox Add-on
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9591

j.mp - URL shortner with stats
http://j.mp/

TinyURL – URL shortner
http://tinyurl.com/

Listorious
http://listorious.com/

I could use your help!

Tell me what you think of my new site - www.strategicmarketingprofits.com

Do you like the look?

Does it grab your attention?

Is it compelling enough for you to take action?

What would make you fill out the request for information?

May I ask you a question? Who do you know who has expressed an interest in decreasing their marketing and advertising costs while increasing their profits?  I can help them!  Have them get in touch with me - then let me know who they are and I will send you a “white paper” you can use in your marketing program.  Fair Enough?

I appreciate your help!

Now … how can I help you in your business?

Let’s talk!

Martha
strageticmarketingprofits@gmail.com

MySpace is similar to Facebook, though it distinguishes itself by allowing more flexibility in setting up creative profiles using wallpaper, music and other options. The site has a lot to offer music fans through MySpace Music, the largest music platform on the web. MySpace launched in 2004 and has nearly 125 million active users.

Designed to connect professionals in the business world, executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies can be found on LinkedIn. Profiles summarize professional expertise and accomplishments. Job listings are also an important part of the mix. Founded in 2003, the site has over 50 million members.

Twitter’s “micro-blogging” network enables its users to send and receive messages known as tweets. Tweets are never longer than 140 characters and are displayed on the author’s profile page to be read by the author’s subscribers, called followers. The character limit was first set to make the service compatible with text messaging, officially referred to as short message service (SMS) messaging. Any business can look up what the Twitter community is saying about it by visiting search.twitter.com. Contrary to popular perception, just 11 percent of Twitter users are age 12 to 17, according to comScore. Twitter was founded in 2006.

YouTube lets its users upload and share videos. Core users range from 18 to 55, with the site receiving over 1 billion views a day. Every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, which was founded in 2005.

On Yelp, users review local businesses, products and services. Businesses can join and respond to these reviews. Yelp claims over 25 million active users and was founded in 2004.

The Facebook Nation

What a blockbuster these forums have become. “If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most populated,” states Singh, the author of Social Media Marketing for Dummies. Mari Smith, president of the International Social Media Association (ISMA), counsels, “We think of social media as being word of mouth on steroids. With social media, one happy customer could lead to hundreds, even thousands, of new customers.”

“When you are talking about high-ticket items such as jewelry, people are going to go online and do research,” stresses John Moore, a marketing strategist and the “chief evangelist” for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). “We know person-to-person word of mouth is something that can really influence purchase decisions.”

“Social media helps small companies look bigger and big companies get smaller,” Moore attests. Small companies are accessing the very same tools that the big guys use, which, properly utilized, can make them stand out. Large firms, on the other hand, can retain the personal interaction with their customers that often suffers as brands grow.

Wholesalers Connect, Too
It’s not just for retailers. “Wholesalers are predominantly looking for retailers to connect and build relationships with,” Smith reasons. “That’s what these tools are for, to build relationships and find decision-makers, too. It’s like this moving, living, breathing Rolodex and business card and online networking event.” Moore points out that wholesalers can “listen to what customers are saying about products they like and don’t like.”

It is important for retailers and wholesalers to determine their objectives before they begin a social media campaign. Realistic goals include attracting new customers, getting existing customers to buy more and harnessing social media’s unique ability to transform existing customers into brand advocates.

However, Singh warns, “I always think that everything digital goes through what I jokingly consider ‘the nephew phase,’ when you feel that ‘my nephew or my niece can take care of it.’ That changes as soon as companies realize that you don’t want to leave your conversations with your customers to your nieces or nephews.”

A common misconception is the idea that “if you participate, people will follow,” cautions Moore. Just because a company sets up a fan page on Facebook, people will not pay attention unless something compelling is offered.

Finding a Partner
To select an agency or an individual to help launch a social media campaign, Singh recommends looking for a firm that “is practicing what it is preaching.” Secondly, professionals should demonstrate that they understand how social marketing fits into the other forms of marketing. Thirdly, social marketers need to put a lot of attention into learning about your brand and customers, Singh advises.

In addition, Forrester Research ranks advertising agencies, Singh notes. If an agency is represented on the two standards bodies, the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Social Media Committee, “that is typically a good sign,” Singh adds.

Moore concludes, “Retailers might be doing a lot of traditional marketing, but if they ignore the social media space, they are ignoring the place where a lot of perception is being formed.”

Social Media Resources
Social media isn’t a one-time campaign, “it’s a commitment,” says Shiv Singh, director of strategic initiatives at Razorfish. Some suggested resources:
Social Media Marketing for Dummies, by Shiv Singh
Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
Radically Transparent, by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss
Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge
www.mashable.com
www.socialmediaexaminer.com
www.ismaconnects.org
www.womma.org

By Margo DeAngelo
12/01/09 00:01
Diamonds.net

http://blog.seorevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/63-Bikini-Leash.jpg

and check it out?

Now that dog picture is what I call an original “eye catching” picture for the right market.  Your thoughts?

Watch for tomorrow’s blog post and ways to capitalize on our marketing program.

Martha