How Networking can Help your Busines

Networking can be a really great way of marketing your business, as well as meeting people that can offer you help and advice along the way. There are several ways in which you can approach networking and this article will give you a few ideas.

When you set up a home business you will soon realise that there are a number of benefits to networking and therefore marketing your business. You can choose to network either in a more relaxed social environment or more formally at a specific event. The key is deciding which of these two methods you are most comfortable with and which is most suited to your line of work. In this was you can then go on to find more work or pick up information that may be useful to you.

1. Formal networking

When you decide to network on a more formal level it will often be to find potential clients or to meet new colleagues within your line of work. This can seem a little intimidating if networking is new to you but eventually you will relax and find that it can be very useful. There are a number of professional networking events that aim to offer you news and information as well as courses and training. You will also find a number of formal business exhibitions that can offer you a great platform to increase your marketing by meeting potential new customers face to face.

2. Social networking

Depending on your line of work and how busy you are, you may find that social networking suits you much better then the more formal methods above. It can offer you a way to find work, contacts and help and advice for the day to day running of your business.

One great way of online marketing in this way is using forums as they can provide you with a really useful means of social networking online. You will find that people from all walks of life and with different experiences network online and it can be a great way of picking up hints and tips that you may find useful. Look out for forums that are particularly relevant to your line of work as you may be able to find work in this way. You could also try looking at social networking sites online such as Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter!

Using Link Building to Improve Website Rankings

It is vital for your internet marketing to get any websites you may have to rank well in search engines. This short article will give you a brief introduction to link building and show how it could help you.

Running your own business requires much time and dedication if you want it to be as successful as possible. For this reason it is important that any online content, such as a website or blogs, ranks high in an online search. With competition always increasing it can be difficult to keep your sites above those of your opposition. However there is one great way that may help you to improve your internet marketing rankings and this is something that is often referred to as link building; essentially this aids website optimisation.

1. Link Building Explained

You will no doubt at some point have used a search engine to help you find something online so you will understand that the majority of people will often only look at the first couple of pages of results. This means that for those ranking on pages three and lower they will often be overlooked. This is why link building can be incredibly useful as it enables you to raise the ranking of your website to feature towards the top. Although this is often viewed as being a time consuming way of internet marketing, the results make it worth the effort.

Link building essentially refers to the quality, quantity and relevance of the links that point towards your website. For example if a link to one of your websites is included on a variety of other websites then it will be viewed by a search engine as being of more importance. Therefore any link that points towards your website will be helping to raise the popularity of your internet marketing and therefore improve the ranking.

2. How Does this Work?

In general there are two key ways in which you can approach this. Some websites will ask for a reciprocal link which means that they will require you to place a link to their website on yours and you therefore assist each other. However you can also find one way links which do not require any help from you in this way. Some of these sites may charge for their help so it could be worth finding other small businesses or companies in a similar situation and helping each other.

Despite this sometimes being a slow and time consuming process of internet marketing it can provide you with great results and really help you to get more visitors to your websites and improve your business marketing.

Get Your Business Talked About – Start a Viral Marketing Campaign

You can create a buzz around your products and services through viral marketing, although some businesses are more naturally suited to viral advertising than others.

A successful viral marketing campaign always begins with the development of a quality viral, whether it's a video, e-report, image, or interactive game.

Equally as important as creating quality content is seeding your viral ad. Seeding means distributing your content online by placing it within sites, message boards and communities frequented by ‘opinion formers’ – and trusting that they will see fit to ‘pass it on.’

Effective methods of seeding include:
Editorial
Approaching blog and web editors and encouraging them to post your content.
Online distribution
Uploading content to video sharing and viral websites.
Twitter promotion
Encouraging Twitter users with a large following to share the content.
Paid for placement
Paying blog and web editors to share the content.
Forum posting
Posting content on relevant forums.

Six Key Elements of a Viral Marketing Campaign

1. Give away products or services
The word "free" attracts attention, whether it's free software, a free trial, or free report. Alternatively, if you don’t have any freebies available, consider holding a competition to draw attention to your business.

2. Make sharing content easy
Viral content needs to share easily if it is to spread. Alongside the viral content on your website, include an 'Email a Friend' button. If posted on your blog add a line of links to the main social networking sites, such as:
Add to: YouTube | Digg | Furl | Blinklist | Yahoo! | Del.cio.us

3. Design your ad around common motivations
The desire to be popular, liked and cool drives people universally. Design a viral ad that builds on these motivations – and don’t be afraid to use humour where appropriate.

4. Use existing networks to communicate your message
Try to place your message into relevant social networks. Viral marketing companies are particularly adept at doing this as they generate exposure for viral content through placing it on blogs, forums, email newsletters, social networks, as well as video sharing sites.

5. Ensure your business is prepared for large numbers of visitors
Make sure you have enough bandwidth built into your website. There's nothing worse than creating an excellent viral marketing campaign only for your efforts to be hampered simply because your website couldn't cope with the volume of visitors. By the same token, ensure that your staff, systems and stock levels can cope with the extra demand.

6. Utilise other people's resources
Use other people's websites to host your viral content by constructing it so that it offers a benefit to them and their readers. Article submission works in this way, with websites accepting free articles because of the benefits offered to their visitors.

A viral marketing strategy does not have to include all of the above elements, but combining several of them at once will dramatically increase your chances of success. If you are looking for someone to help you with this a consultant who offers outsourced marketing will be able to help.

Is it Worthwhile to Outsource to a Marketing Company?

Hiring a marketing company can be a great idea for a business who wants to grow or sustain themselves but who doesn't want to (or can't) hire their own internal marketing department. Hiring a marketing consultant or company definitely has its advantages, such as: activity based costing, varied expertise, zero commitment, and being able to pay for results. Let's look at each of these areas a bit closer:

Activity Based Costing

Companies have peaks and valleys with marketing. But salaries aren't this way. You have to pay your full-time marketing staff full time, whether there's something big happening or not. Hiring a marketing company could mean that you're only paying for whatever is going on.

Activity based costing is still something you can budget for. But here's a tip:

Having a variable budget may work well in this case though as your activities could bring about a revenue boost that allows you to allocate more money to further marketing efforts that year1

Varied Expertise

Hiring a marketing company or marketing consultants can give your company access to a wide array of expertise. Need help with your website? Need a business plan? Looking for help securing venture capital? By working with a marketing company rather than hiring a marketing person in house, you could access various sources as you need them. A marketing company offers you executives without your having to pay a marketing executive's high salary. And with activity based costing, you can seek out the services you need as you need them.

Zero Commitment

Unless you're signing a specific contract, you generally don't have a level of commitment with a marketing company. Many firms exist that will work with you as and when you need it. It's smart to work on your marketing efforts throughout your whole fiscal year but of course there will be times when you don't need as strong a focus.

This zero commitment set up can be very useful for a small business or a start-up who is trying to hit the ground running but doesn't have a long term plan yet. And, when you work with a contractor, you aren't dealing with labour laws and tribunals if the relationship doesn't work out. You can end a relationship with a marketing company much easier than ending a relationship with a full time employee.

Pay for Results

Some consultancies even offer guaranteed satisfaction, offering you a "pay for results" plan. This can remove the risk.

If activity based marketing costs makes sense to you, start looking for the right marketing company to deal with. The right terms and the right relationship could be a huge benefit to your business.

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