7 Reasons to Look at Cloud-based ERP Solutions

Businesses have been using cloud-based solutions (also known as SaaS – Software as a Service) for years, especially for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and HCM (Human Capital Management), but many have shied away from implementing Enterprise Resource Planning as a cloud-based solution. In the past many organizations feared the security implications with deploying a mission-critical solution like ERP to the cloud, however as SaaS ERP becomes more established its apparent that cloud-based ERP can be even more secure than traditional on-premise solutions.


Momentum for cloud-based ERP is growing with worldwide spending on expected to rise by 21 percent a year through 2015, according to Forrester Research. So what are the benefits behind cloud-based ERP and can your organization gain a competitive advantage from looking at this SaaS deployment model?


1. Low Initial and Predictable Ongoing Costs

Because SaaS solutions are provided on a subscription basis, companies with limited budgets can substantially reduce their initial capital costs of investing in an ERP System. Instead, the software becomes a monthly operational expense that allows customers to spread the cost over time in a pay-as-you-go manner. In addition, most SaaS vendors provide assurances that customers will not face large fee increases to continue using the solution once the initial term expires by capping fee increases.


2. Faster Implementations and Time to Value

As SaaS solutions are hosted and managed by the vendor, customers have no hardware to set up or software to install. The implementation is solely focused on configuring the system and, if necessary, importing data. Advanced SaaS ERP systems come preconfigured based on best practices to further simplify and expedite the implementation process. This translates into faster, less complex implementation projects. Because implementation is rapid and customers invest little up-front capital, but receive the benefits from the system as soon as they go live; customers achieve a faster return on their investment.


3. Reduced Cost of Ownership

With a SaaS solution, customers pay only for users that actually use the software. Businesses don’t need to invest in all the peripheral resources and technology to support an on-premise deployment. If the needs of the business expand over time, the customer simply adds users at a pre-specified cost without worrying about investing in additional resources (e.g., hardware). In addition, with a shared, multitenant SaaS model, vendors can pass along lower costs due to the economies of scale achieved through the use of a shared data center, network, and management services.


4. Greater Reliability

SaaS vendors typically offer reliability that exceeds that provided by the IT departments within most job shops and small manufacturers. Due to the economies of scale associated with SaaS solutions, vendors can make significantly greater investments in skilled staff and technology than an individual company. These investments go towards ensuring performance, reliability, and security. In addition, most SaaS vendors offer service level agreements that guarantee uptime, typically 99.5%, assuring customers of system availability.


5. Improved Support

When a customer reports a problem with an on-premise solution, that problem could easily be related to the hardware at the customer site, interactions with other software, the network, or other components that the remote support site has no visibility into, making troubleshooting difficult and time-consuming. However, in a SaaS environment, the vendor’s development and support teams control the entire environment, which gives them a high level of visibility and enables better, faster service.


6. Reduced IT Complexity

The SaaS model transfers the burden of managing and keeping the system up-to-date and running from the customer to the software vendor. The software vendor takes responsibility for maintaining the entire infrastructure including: networks, storage, operating systems, databases, application servers, Web servers, disaster recovery, and backup services. Further, SaaS eliminates the need for customers to upgrade their software to the latest release and to update outdated infrastructure (including hardware) to support major software upgrades. The software vendor takes responsibility for all upgrades, ensuring that the system is always running on up-to-date hardware and the latest software version.


7. Improved Business Focus

Finally, one of the most important benefits of the SaaS model is that it frees the customer from the responsibility of maintaining and managing the hardware, software, and infrastructure associated with ERP systems. Instead they can focus on and devote their time, staff, and resources to their core business and new strategic opportunities.

Why Link Tracking is Important for Successful Internet Marketing

Once you have set up your internet marketing it is vital that you keep track of how it is working and if it is as successful as you require. This is mainly because it is not worth spending out money on certain types of search marketing if they are not generating the sales that you need. Link tracking is the process in which you use software, website logs and other means of tracking to keep an eye on the response that you get.

How does Tracking Work?
These days there are a number of different methods that you can use to track links including services that will actually do the hard work for you; although these will cost you a small fee. However if you wish to do this yourself then services such as Google Analytics may help and can be a great place to get started before spending out money on paid services. In the main you will need to know a few details about the pages you are interested in such as a small piece of tracking code.

You could also try your own version of tracking by creating separate pages that are identical and giving them different names and then linking your various internet marketing pages to these. This is one way to quickly see which pages are being viewed the most and therefore which of your adverts are proving most effective at generating leads.

Why Track Links?
The main reason for tracking your internet marketing is to see how effective your campaigns are and therefore which to continue with and which may need some work. By tracking this information you can create better advertising campaigns in the future and know exactly how to appeal to your niche market. In the long run this can help you save a considerable amount of money on campaigns that are just not working.

So if you want to make your business successful and profitable you must track your internet marketing and find out exactly how many visitors you are getting. It may seem complicated and time consuming to begin with but the results will be worth it! If you aren't sure of how to go about this look up an internet marketing consultant.

When to hire a SEO agency

To begin with, it would be a good idea to understand what SEO agencies are designed to do for your company. Basically, they specialise in driving traffic to your company’s website without which, even if you have the most original and beautifully put-together site in the world, you will never be able to command the sales figures necessary to keep your business afloat. It hardly needs saying that a service like this is particularly vital if your company is of the rapidly-increasing number that does most, if not all, of its trade online. So when is the best time to research the SEO agencies out there and select the right one for you; and how should you go about this? Here are a few pointers to bear in mind.

In my personal opinion, the time to hire an SEO agency is very early on, if not from the start, of your company’s activities. Many companies will struggle along with poor visitor ratings before concluding that they need the services of an expert, by which time they will already have lost revenue and will have far more ground to catch up on than if they had budgeted for this in the first place. Think about it: if your business is based online then your website is your main selling tool, so why would you neglect to budget for the service that will bring customers to you?

Let’s assume, then, that however well-established your company is you have now decided to choose one from the burgeoning number of SEO agencies out there. All well and good, but how should you go about this and what should you be looking out for? The thing to bear in mind is that the best SEO service is not necessarily the most expensive one. Instead, you should be looking for those who can lay out every service they will be providing in a business plan so you can see exactly where your money is going. If a company won’t do this because they prefer to keep their mysterious ways to themselves you should probably give them a wide berth. After all, you’re a business person and you want to know what you are paying for.

Secondly, it is very important that you check out the agency’s credentials thoroughly. If possible, use a company that has been recommended by several sources and that has been proven to boost traffic to a number of sites. Of course, most of them will claim to have done this but really the only way to check this conclusively is by sufficient word-of-mouth endorsement. Obviously it will take a little longer to gather this information, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Thirdly, you should be aware of your time-frames if this is an issue for you. For example, if you have a seasonal product and you are hoping to shift large volumes of it then you really need to bring the SEO agency in several months in advance. Remember that driving the required business to your website is not an overnight process. Patience is required and no SEO company, not even the most experienced, can work miracles with search engines which all operate under specific rules of their own.

This is just a short list of points to bear in mind, and there are of course other issues to consider such as budgetary constraints, whether you want the kind of agency which will be on-call 24/7 and so on. But no business which relies heavily on its website for sales can really afford, in these days of fierce online competition, to ignore the need for SEO.

Using effective SEO tactics is a must today for any company that conducts its business online. So when should you bring in SEO agencies and what should you bear in mind when choosing the right one for you?

Marketing a Small Business on a Budget

Setting up a small business can be expensive and you may not have a huge budget available for your marketing. This article offers help and advice on managing your advertising in a cost effective manner.

Marketing is vital to get a business noticed by its target audience and this is possibly just as important if not more so if your business is on a small scale. With so much competition around you cannot simply sit and hope that people will find you or before you know it your business will be making a loss. Many people assume that marketing is going to be incredibly expensive and never make it past handing out a few leaflets. However this need not be the case and even those on a tight budget can find marketing methods to suit their needs.

Lead Generation and Email Marketing

Setting up a website is incredibly important as this gives you somewhere to refer potential customers to but you need to make sure that you are thinking about every visitor being a possible sale or lead. For this reason you should try and make sure that you entice them into leaving their contact details so that you can contact them with future promotions and offers and generally remind them that you exist. This can be as simple as you make it and many people often just have a short contact form for their name and email address. This is a great way to market your business without being expensive or too time consuming.

Search Engine Optimisation

This type of marketing is something you may have heard of since SEO, or search engine optimisation, is incredibly popular and does not cost much to put in place. It will however take a little time and effort initially to establish important keywords and phrases that people use to search for what you offer and make sure these are placed in all of your web content. In this way you should find that people are able to locate your website quickly as you will rank well in the search engines. If you are in a competitive industry search marketing companies could help you to increase your rankings.

Pay per click advertising

This is another marketing strategy that does not cost much but will take a little time and effort on your part; however the results will be worth it. It is important that you understand how this works before you begin otherwise it could end up costly. For this reason you should take your time to do your research or perhaps consider hiring a marketing consultant of some kind to make sure that you are doing it right.

How Link Building could Increase your Website Rankings

If you wish your marketing to be a success you will need to make sure that any online content ranks well within the search engines. This short article offers you a brief glimpse into link building and how this may help your business.

Setting up a business can take up a lot of time and requires a great deal of commitment to make it as successful as possible. You will need to focus on your marketing if you wish it to really take off since there is so much competition around that it is easy to get lost in the crowd. For this reason you should make sure that you come up with regular online content and that you keep your website and/or blog ranking highly in the search engines. Perhaps one of the best ways to help improve your internet marketing rankings is by using link building which essentially aids website optimisation.

What is Link Building?

If you have a computer then you will almost have certainly used a search engine to find something online and you will realise that most people only tend to use the results on the first page. Therefore if your website ranks lower then this you will often find it is overlooked; which is of course bad for business. This is where link building can prove to be useful since it allows you to increase and improve the ranking of your website so that it is on the first page of results. This may at first seem like it could be quite time consuming and whilst it will take time and effort initially the results speak for themselves.

Link building basically refers to the quality, quantity and the relevance of links that are focussed on your website. Say a link to your website is included on a number of other websites then it will be seen by the search engine as being of greater importance. Therefore marketing links that point people in the direction of your website tend to increase the popularity of your internet marketing and should increase the ranking of your site.

How Link Building Works

Link building tends to be focused in two different ways as some websites may ask for a reciprocal link, meaning they require you to place a link to their website on yours so that you help each other. Or you may be able to find one way links which will not require help from you. In some cases these sites may charge a small fee so it may be worth looking for other businesses that are perhaps linked in someway with what you do, but are not in direct competition and helping each other out for free. If you go down this route then try to pick sites that already rank well so there is a greater chance of your link being viewed.

Considering a career in PR

Getting a job in public relations can often seem like a glamorous choice – travelling, working with high-profile clients, maybe even celebrities – but it can be stressful and it’s certainly not for everyone. Before you decide to embark on this path, you need to be sure you are the right kind of person to cope with the challenges this sector can throw at you.

A career in public relations involves a lot more than you might think: It is not just about marketing a person or brand. To succeed in this industry, you need communication skills and the confidence to talk convincingly to a wide range of people. You will almost certainly have to give presentations to clients, as well as liaising with journalists or other groups, so if you are the shy retiring type you may find it difficult. It also helps to have strong writing skills as you may well be called upon to put together press releases, newsletters and other promotional material.

Creativity is also an essential attribute. Many a UK PR agency is involved in the building of a brand from the outset – including aspects such as product development, packaging, in-store placement - not just the marketing side of things. This being the case, do you think you would be able to contribute effectively to brainstorming sessions to come up with original ideas? Above all, this requires the confidence to put your ideas across and not be embarrassed if they seem a little ‘out-there’.

Organisational skills and the ability to work under pressure are also a must. PR work doesn’t come in a steady stream like some jobs. You may have periods of relative calm followed by a frantic few days trying to organise an event or product launch, etc. This means you must be prepared to work flexibly – even staying late at weekends and during the evening if the project in hand demands it.

Still interested? Then you will benefit enormously from some kind of business qualification. Whilst it isn’t an absolute essential, a UK PR agency will tend to prefer its employees to have a bachelor’s degree in communications, English language, journalism or public relations. Of course, nothing can compare to on-the-job experience but with the increasing competition in this market today you may find yourself at a disadvantage alongside other candidates if you have no formal training.
You should also research the kinds of roles that appeal to you: Do you see yourself as a media analyst? A marketing executive? Try to speak to people already working in the industry to get a feel for the pleasures and pitfalls of such positions.

Whilst there is fierce competition for such roles, trying to land yourself an internship at a PR company is a great way of getting a feel for the industry, and is also a good way of establishing contacts or finding a mentor – an invaluable asset when you’re starting out.

If variety is important to you when making a career choice then public relations could be the right path for you. There are certain skills you need your foot in the door there are wide and exciting range of roles to choose from.

Tips for Successful Online Business Marketing

In order to successfully run a business you need to give careful consideration to internet marketing. This article will advise you on the areas you need to think about.

It is important to understand what internet marketing is and how it works if you wish to make a success of your advertising. In the main, marketing online is about providing your potential customers with information on what it is you do or sell and offering them answers to any questions that you may have.


Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization or SEO is something that is often talked about but many do not realise how important it really is. Knowing what your target audience will search for is vital if you wish to gain their attention. Often the best way to do this is using a tool that will tell you what terms people are searching for when they visit sites such as Google. You can then include these keywords and any other variations within your text.

Blogs

Many businesses believe that blogs are no longer really used or read and that this is not an effective method of internet marketing. Blogs can take many different forms and they are in fact a really useful way to provide readers with clear information on what you do, as well as offering them advice.
It is also important to remember that blogs still rank well with search engines as they are generally updated regularly as well as containing high quality content. Therefore by having a blog linked to your website you are greatly increasing your internet marketing and the chance for potential customers to find you.

Can your Customers find you?

Having a website is vital and once you have one set up and have made sure that it is search engine optimized it is all too easy to forget about it and assume it will run itself. However it is important to keep trying to generate traffic by other means of internet marketing. Try to make sure that your website is featured on social media websites and perhaps consider taking out adverts as well.

It is also worth bearing in mind that once customers have found your website they need to be able to contact you. To make it easy for people to do this try posting this information on the footer of each page.

What to Consider when Using an Internet Marketing Company

If you decide that you need some help carrying out advertising for your business then you may wish to consider finding an internet marketing company. This article explains what you should look out for.

The invention of the internet has meant that the way people spend money and buy items has completely changed. These days if people wish to buy a product or service from a business they will conduct their research online. For this reason internet marketing is vital if you wish to capture as much of the market as possible.

No matter how big or small your business is you need to focus on advertising and creating an attractive and appealing website. However this may not always be easy, especially if you have little or no experience of running a business or advertising. If this is the case then you may wish to find an internet marketing agency to help you achieve your goals and advise you on how best to approach your advertising.

Why Advertise Online?

If you fail to conduct sufficient advertising online then you are not only losing out on potential prospects but also a platform that can reach out to your target audience all over the world. Internet marketing also has the bonus of being affordable for every business as there is a method of advertising to suit all budgets. This then gives you greater control over your business marketing as well as your brand.

Finding an Internet Marketing Company

If you are unsure of internet marketing and how best to approach this you could choose to find an internet marketing company to assist you. However it is vital that you run checks on the agency first and read as many reviews to ensure that you have chosen a reputable company. Be sure to select the best internet marketing company if you wish to help preserve and grow your company brand in the online world, as the wrong agency could actually damage your reputation. It is advisable to request for proof of their past results as well as asking for references if possible.
One thing you should be clear of before you decide to find an internet marketing company to help you is what your goals are and what you would like to achieve.

The Characteristics Required to Run a Successful Business

If you wish to run a successful business it is not simply enough to have a good idea these days. With so much competition around you need to make sure you know exactly how to run your business to get the most out of it and make a profit. There are a number of characteristics that are essential for running and marketing that you will need to possess; although having the motivation and willingness to work hard are essential from the beginning.

Have Confidence in your Business

Running a business is hard work so it is important that whichever area you choose to go into it is one that you enjoy! This will mean that you are more likely to be motivated to work hard and spend the time needed to get everything up and running. You will no doubt find that in the beginning you have to spend a lot of time and effort drawing up business plans, visiting the bank and suppliers and also drafting out marketing plans so if you do not believe in what it is you are doing you will find this much harder.

Planning

This may not sound incredibly interesting but planning is vital if you wish to meet your goals and make your business as profitable as it can be. Even with a great business idea many people have failed due to a lack of preparation as they are unsure of which direction to go in to make sure their business grows. It is also a good idea to have an idea of how your days will be spent to ensure that you meet all of your deadlines and that you get everything done within the necessary time frame. This is vital in the beginning since you will want to get your business up and running as soon as possible so that you can begin making money. If this is not an area that you feel you can manage alone then ask a friend or family member or perhaps consider hiring a business consultant for help.

Helping your Business Grow

All of the most successful businesses need to constantly think about what they can do to make sure their business grows. One of the easiest ways to do this is to think about your marketing and new and exciting ways to promote your business. Try to keep up to date with what your competition may be doing so that you do not get left behind and try to come up with new ideas and products. You may find that subscribing to newsletters and publications can help you to develop your business and marketing skills and keep you up to date.

What to Avoid when Choosing a Marketing Consultant

Running a business can be hard work so you may feel at some point that you need help. A marketing consultant could be just the person but it is a good idea to understand the traits you should avoid when looking to hire someone.

If you feel that your business needs some help then you may be wondering what you need to look for when hiring a good marketing consultant. In some cases it may actually be simpler to highlight the traits that should be avoided to make finding the right person for you that much simpler. In this was you should be able to find someone who understands what it will take to make a success of your business and who can help you find your niche market.

Overly Aggressive Marketing

To run a successful business you need to think carefully about your marketing, however if you come across as too aggressive this can often have a detrimental effect. Your marketing consultant should understand everything regarding your sales but they need to consider other areas as well and should not spend all of their time attempting to sell you an idea if you do not feel it is right. For this reason a good marketing consultant should take everything in steps to ensure that it is what you want and that you are happy with the level of progress that is being made.

You may come across some marketing consultants who are overly aggressive with the way they carry out their marketing which could result in you having a plan that you are not happy with. Therefore if you feel this may be the case or they fail to listen to what you want you should walk away and look somewhere else.

Not up-to-date

These days there are so many different types of marketing that you could pursue and if you want to stay one step above the competition you need to be using the most up to date methods. For this reason it is vital that the marketing consultant you choose knows all about the most modern marketing methods and how they work. If you feel they are not up to speed then look elsewhere.

Lacking Experience

For peace of mind it is a good idea to choose a marketing consultant with plenty of experience so that you know they can achieve what they say. Be sure to check their CV as well as reading client testimonials to be sure that they have done a good job for past clients. Try to choose someone who has lots of experience within your line of business so that they understand the market.

Why Link Tracking is Important for Successful Internet Marketing

Once you have set up your internet marketing it is vital that you keep track of how it is working and if it is as successful as you require. This is mainly because it is not worth spending out money on certain types of internet marketing if they are not generating the sales that you need. Link tracking is the process in which you use software, website logs and other means of tracking to keep an eye on the response that you get.

How does Tracking Work?

These days there are a number of different methods that you can use to track links including services that will actually do the hard work for you; although these will cost you a small fee. However if you wish to do this yourself then services such as Google Analytics may help and can be a great place to get started before spending out money on paid services. In the main you will need to know a few details about the pages you are interested in such as a small piece of tracking code.

You could also try your own version of tracking by creating separate pages that are identical and giving them different names and then linking your various internet marketing pages to these. This is one way to quickly see which pages are being viewed the most and therefore which of your adverts are proving most effective at generating leads.

Why Track Links?

The main reason for tracking your internet marketing is to see how effective your campaigns are and therefore which to continue with and which may need some work. By tracking this information you can create better advertising campaigns in the future and know exactly how to appeal to your niche market. In the long run this can help you save a considerable amount of money on campaigns that are just not working.

So if you want to make your business successful and profitable you must track your internet marketing and find out exactly how many visitors you are getting. It may seem complicated and time consuming to begin with but the results will be worth it!
Or if you aren't sure then try speaking to an internet marketing consultant, they should be able to help.

Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing

If you have come across internet marketing before then you will no doubt have heard many people talking about search engine optimization, or SEO, but what exactly does this mean and how can it work for you? Essentially it is a way of being aware of what your potential customers look for online and the way in which they search for similar companies. It is important to understand that SEO is crucial if you want to make a success of your online marketing and make your business profitable.

How to Get Started

Firstly you will need to make sure that you have a website in place for your business and that it looks good and functions well. SEO is a way in which you will set up the internal structure of your website so that it can be easily found in the search engines and by those who want what it is you offer.

This may sound complicated but it need not be. It is important that you pay attention to the keywords and phrases that you use within your site and search marketing as it is by using these that the search engines will rank your website. By ranking as high as possible you have a much better chance of being found since people tend to only click on the first few results that come up when they search. If you aren't sure then contacting a good B2B Marketing Agency should help you.

It is also vital to be sure that the content that you place on your site is interesting, informative and above all of high quality. This is because anything that looks or sounds unprofessional or is not interesting to read will put people off investigating your site further and returning.

Targeting Your Niche Market

When you are thinking about SEO as part of your internet marketing you need to always keep in mind your niche market and who exactly you are targeting. This is important as obviously you wish to attract the people that want your services or products to come and visit you and they will find you much quicker if you know the kind of words and phrases they will search with.

In this way your internet marketing should really take off and you should notice a marked improvement in the number of visitors to your website.

What to Look for in a Business Consultant

Setting up and running a business can be a difficult task, especially if you are unsure of what you are doing. Hiring a business consultant can be a great way to ensure that everything runs smoothly and your business is as successful as it can be.

If you are thinking of setting up a new business but have little experience in this area then hiring a business consultant could be a great way to get help and guidance. They can provide you with invaluable expertise with the aim of helping your business to become as successful as possible. Even if your business is a little more established you could still find that a business consultant is incredibly useful, especially if you are expanding or going through a transition period.

Finding a Business Consultant


Choosing the right business consultant for you needs careful consideration as you are placing some of the success of your business in their hands. For this reason be sure to ask plenty of questions, check examples of past work and see if you can talk to past or present clients to see if they come recommended. Check to see if they have delivered the work on time and that it has been of a high quality. Their reputation as well as their work ethics and ability to deliver what the task has required of them is a crucial factor. It is also important that when choosing a business consultant you find someone that you feel has an interest in your business and that you can relate to on a more personal level.

Working with your Business Consultant

Once you have found a business consultant that you think is suitable it is important that you determine the scope of the work you have and discuss a time frame for this to be completed. It is important that you select someone who can be flexible in accommodating your needs.

Hiring a business consultant allows you to stay up to date with the some of the newest marketing techniques around and will hopefully keep you one step ahead of the competition. Without one you would need to spend a lot of time and effort researching and carrying out your own marketing which is not just time consuming but could work out more costly in the long run. Above all, make sure that the business consultant you select is dedicated to your business to ensure its success in the long run.

Why you Should Consider Hiring a Marketing Expert

Running a successful marketing campaign is vital to attract new customers and increase your profits; however it can sometimes be a little confusing. Hiring a marketing expert can be a great way of ensuring that your advertising runs smoothly.

Marketing and advertising your business is absolutely vital if you want to generate sales and therefore make your business as successful as possible. If you are new to this area then you may find that hiring a marketing expert is a great way to ensure you are making the most of your advertising. No matter if you are a large or small business you can always benefit from the help of a marketing expert to keep you ahead of your competitors and gain plenty of traffic to your website.

How can they Help?

Search marketing companies will use a variety of search engine marketing tools as well as articles with plenty of relevant keywords and link building campaigns in order to generate as much traffic as possible for your business. They should also be able to look after the on page factors to make sure that your website responds well to all marketing efforts. Ways in which a marketing expert might do this include making sure that the content on the site is keyword specific and creating product tags, titles, relevant content and headers based around certain keywords to help build up your customer base..

By hiring a marketing expert and someone with experience in search engines they can help you to generate and build high quality back links for your business. This is especially important if you do not understand or have the time for search engine optimisation as this can form a key part of your advertising campaign. By approaching a marketing expert you can carefully select and target a niche area for your business to increase your ranking in online search engines.

An online marketing expert will also understand the many different advertising techniques that are available to you and be able to guide you as to which ones are most suitable. For instance creating and running a blog can be a great way to increase the traffic to your website and by updating it regularly and using unique, informative keyword rich content it can really boost your sales!

How Your Business Can Succeed With Email Marketing

In 2009 the US Direct Marketing Association (DMA) produced a report: ‘The Power of Direct’, which revealed that every $1 invested in email marketing produced a return of $43.08.

Additionally, Forrester Research, an independent IT and business research company, estimates that the Euro
pean email marketing sector will be worth around £2.15 billion by 2012.
Email marketing is far more than a cheap and easy alternative to direct mail. The fact is, anyone can do email marketing – but not everyone can do it well.

Here are 4 proven ways for creating better email campaigns:

Devise a Secure System for Collecting Email Addresses
Every time your business connects with a customer you should seek to capture their email address. You can do this through your website, via a call centre, surveys, exhibitions, point-of-sale, prize draws and so on.
There are strict rules regarding the keeping of personal data and how you use it. The Direct Marketing Association Email Marketing Council produces Best Practice Guidelines that will prevent you falling foul of the regulations. More information is available at: www.dma.org.uk.

Do make it easy for your prospects to opt-in or opt-out of your mailings. People who sign up to receive your emails/ newsletters/ offers need to be reassured they can unsubscribe easily, with one click of the mouse preferably.

Create an Attention-grabbing Subject Line


Internet marketing is all about satisfying your readers’ short attention span. Also bear in mind that some email service providers will display only the first 38-47 characters of your subject line in a recipient’s inbox – and for mobile devices the subject line is shorter still.
Therefore keep your subject lines short and to the point – and test them repeatedly. It’s often helpful to devise your subject line last – after you have finalised your message.

Keep Your Message Content Relevant

‘Irrelevancy’ has been dubbed the new spam, so make sure what you write is both relevant and engaging for your readers. Try not to think of it as blasting out an email to an entire database, try to picture one single customer that encapsulates your target market and write just for him or her. Personalise your communications as much as possible. For greater impact make sure each email focuses on one single message rather than several.

Sending Emails at the Right Time Can make a Huge Difference to Your Response Levels
A UK market research team analysed over 650,000 emails sent by some 34 companies. The results might surprise you.
Here’s what they discovered about the best and worst times to deliver your emails:
• 10pm to 9am – the worst time to send email (the email equivalent of the ‘black hole’).
• 9am-10am – the second best time for email opening, consumers are happy to be distracted by special offers, live events, and deals on consumer goods.
• 10am-noon – your prospects are focussing on work-related matters rather than opening marketing emails.
• Noon-2pm – somewhat surprisingly, the survey found consumers prefer to spend their lunch break checking out news alerts and online magazines rather than catching up on emails.
• 2pm-3pm – the immediate post-lunch period – again with the main focus on work, the only emails that elicited a response were those relating to financial services.
• 3pm-5pm –workers begin winding down, with more of a focus on their personal situation. Another positive time to send emails relating to property and finance.
• 5pm-7pm – a great time for recipients to receive offers about holidays and B2B promotions.
• 7pm-10pm – the best time to engage your customer: all sorts of communications fair well in this time slot, particularly offers on clothing and special interests. Gym, sports and leisure promotions are exceptionally well received during this period.

How to Improve Your Google Ranking . . . Strategies for Achieving Website Success

You type your business’s name into Google’s search engine and hey presto it appears on your results screen . . . on page 12.

Ouch.

In the mind of your potential customers that might as well be somewhere in outer space because you’re definitely off their radar.
So what can you do about it?

It’s time to consider employing a Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) strategy.

Search Engine Optimisation might sound technical – the sort of thing only a web developer should be interested in – but in fact it’s based on a simple concept and use of a search engine company such as the Leicester SEO company could be beneficial or using a web marketing company.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN put the most relevant choices per search at the top of their results page, so their users don’t waste time weeding through thousands of entries to find what they’re looking for.

The search engine companies use bots (robots) or spiders to crawl the Internet examining the context of pages and the quality of their content and rank them accordingly.

For sound SEO, keywords are vital. A keyword is simply a word or term someone might type into the search box in order to find your website, or a single page from it. Have a brainstorming session: write down all the possible terms potential customers might use to find your business. You can test your findings using Google’s AdWords keyword tool.

AdWords reveals how popular your search terms are by listing the number of local and global searches during the past month. It will also offer you some alternatives similar to those you have come up with.

Keep the search engine ‘bots’ in mind, but write for humans!
Ever come across a web page or online article that has been stuffed with a particular keyword to the extent it makes you cringe at every sentence, because the word or phrase in question has been so over-used?

It used to be that unscrupulous web developers could saturate their sites with keywords and fool the bots into giving them a higher ranking. Only now the bots have got savvy and refuse to take the bait!

So build your website for your human visitors (not for bots) and make it as engaging and user-friendly as possible. Remember, ultimately it’s the quality of your content that will determine your website’s ranking.

Another thing to bear in mind is that ‘spiders’ are unable to see Flash-based content, JavaScript content and other so-called ‘rich media’, techie people seem to love.

SEO Copy is the Spice of Internet Life

In these digital times, it's all about the internet – plain and simple. Get your online offering really in gear and you'll reap the benefits when it comes to increasing traffic taking notice of your product or service.

With readable and exciting copy on your website, that also contains the relevant SEO, trending keywords – your 'authority' rating within the Google/search engine stratosphere will quickly begin to grow.

But, before you go any further it's a good idea to compare your business model to the following key points to see if you can really benefit from organic SEO:

1. Think about what your product, service or industry is and research as to whether users/customers actually use a search engine to look for it.
2. Consider the appeal of your website. Customers will be drawn to a well designed site that has good functionality and champions the virtues of the brand.
3. It is a competitive market out there. Double-check that the pricing of your product or service compares favourably with competitors.
4. In terms of a customers’ search engine input, is your site brought to their attention via the relevant phrases and keywords?

Right, so now you've decided SEO is definitely for you we can highlight a few sure-fire tips that will have your online presence really begin to pay dividends. It may take a fair amount of hard work and time but ultimately, organic SEO will prove more self-fulfilling long term than the immediacy of paying for your Google/search engine ranking.

Appeasing the almighty god that is the ranking algorithm, as hinted upon earlier, starts with the quality and regular updating of your content – add sound link building into the equation for good measure too. So ensure you have professionally written and, just as importantly, unique copy with your carefully selected primary keywords and key phrases from Google Adwords. Search engines find it impossible to resist tantalising, natural and fresh content.

Another good trick to consider is to make sure whenever you refer to yourself on your site, you always include your location as often as you can. For example, when you mention your head quarters use "London based office" or "our London store/office". This means you will begin to snare local searches of your product or service.

Of course, this is just the tip of the SEO iceberg and just the beginning of internet marketing – search online for a good SEO consultancy and see what else they can do for you and your business to climb those search engine rankings.

How to Find More Customers and Increase Your Online Business

If your business has an Internet presence (and let’s face it, for most businesses it’s an essential requirement these days), you should constantly be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to increase your customer base.

Here are some simple ideas for winning new customers:

Discover Your Target Customers’ Other Interests:

If you are selling health-related products, for example, you probably already market via health forums, health blogs and other places where ‘health’ is the main topic of conversation. This is all well and good, but remember this is where your competitors will be concentrating their main marketing efforts too. So this time ask yourself: “What might my ideal customers’ other interests be?”

Although your customers are interested in staying healthy, they could also be avid sports fans, or movie buffs, or pet lovers, or DIY enthusiasts, so it’s worth casting your net further afield so that other potential customers get to hear about you and your products or services. Bear in mind also that people with the same interests tend to group together, whether that’s in the real world or the virtual one!

Vary Your Offering:

You know you provide a great product or service, but getting more people to try it can be a challenge, even for larger companies. Every now and then, a ‘household name’ will change the look of a product’s packaging (even though the product itself hasn’t changed) to appeal to a wider audience, or a different market sector. You could do the same.

If you are selling an ebook, you could turn it into a downloadable podcast for those who would rather listen to the spoken word than read your content. Again if you use video as a marketing tool, you could enable your site visitors to upload it to their MP3s so they can listen to it anywhere they want. By providing these additional options, people can choose how they connect with you.

Offer Free Stuff

Whilst you might not be ready to launch your own Freemium (free premium magazine) as seen on a recent episode of The Apprentice! giving away free content is a time-proven marketing tool for pulling in more customers.

If used correctly, this strategy may be all you need to get people to pick up that phone
and call you, or subscribe to your online newsletter.

If you are an estate agent, you could create a free report about "How to get more value from your home sale."

By creating content around a specific title like in the above example, you will primarily attract people who are considering selling their property. In building a rapport with your target audience, while establishing yourself as an expert in your field, who do you think your followers are going to ask to market their home for them?

Other freebies you could offer depending on the nature of your business:

 Free shipping
 Free sample of your products
 Free trials
 Free estimates
 Free DVD tutorials
 Free personalised stuff (with your company name on, naturally).


Use Social Networking to Attract More Customers:

There’s nothing more tedious than companies banging on about themselves and their achievements all the time. Savvy social networkers on the other hand provide entertainment without the hard sell. Innocent smoothies, with their amusing anecdotes and off-the-wall humour, are a prime example of how to do social networking right.

Think about how powerful these social networks are in spreading news and information. So be the source that influences other people. How do you do it? Look for the "in thing" or the "hottest trends" that could interest your potential customers and share it with them. Use Google Reader to glean this information.

Website

Most importantly you should have a website which matches or over delivers your potential customer's expectations. Using a professional Lutterworth Website Design team could help you to increase your web presence and sales.

Making the Most of Internet Marketing

To gain as much exposure for your business as possible you will need to consider internet marketing. This article provides you with information on a few key areas that you might like to consider.

Marketing a home business has never been easier, with so many different options for advertising available. Internet marketing has helped many small businesses become successful and profitable in their own right and provides a quick and easy way to speak to your target audience no matter where they live. If you do not have the budget for a more costly, larger marketing campaign such as TV and radio, then you may wish to try internet marketing. There are a number of different options available so pick the one which is most suited to your type of business and budget and that will help you reach your customers.

1.Google AdSense

This is simply a program that will let you generate income by placing text or image ads from other companies onto your website and in turn you advertise on the pages of other sites. Be sure to choose sites that are related to the products or service that you offer. It will also allow you to filter out ads from your competition which could otherwise hinder your success.

AdSense will place your ads over the web and will then generate back links to your site to help improve your search engine ranking. You should be aware that these are not the annoying pop up ads that often appear when you visit a website but are actually placed on the site itself.

2. Banner Ads

This type of internet marketing often takes the form of animated or visually appealing graphics that appear across the top of a web page. These ads will be linked back to your website so that if someone clicks on them they will be taken straight there. Be sure to make them eye catching and offer an incentive for them to click; however be warned that many find these annoying so keep them relatively simple.

3. Online magazines

This type of internet marketing will offer you ad space, normally for a fee but this will depend upon how popular the magazine is and the cost will vary depending on how big your ad is. This can be a great way to advertise since you can find a magazine related to your business area so you know that those reading will have an interest in what it is you do.

How to make Banner Ads work for you!

Banner ads are a great way to gain attention for your website by attracting people to click on your ad links. This short article will give you some areas to consider in order to get started.

These days advertising your business using internet marketing is not only incredibly popular but is also one of the best ways to find new custom. One method of marketing that has been around for some time and still proves popular is using banner ads or web banners. This type of marketing is still amongst the most efficient ways of advertising when it comes to internet marketing.

You will no doubt have seen the many banner ads at the top of websites and forums that you have visited and you may have even clicked on these yourself. They can really help to catch people’s attention and once they are clicked on they will quickly and simply take you straight to that company’s website. Many businesses add special offers and discounts on their ads to help encourage people to click and visit so this could be worth considering.

1. Areas to Consider

If you want to get the best out of your internet marketing then you need to think carefully about exactly where and how you place you ads and which websites to use. It is vital that the site you choose to place your ad on has a similar target audience so that they will be likely to have an interest in what it is you do or sell.

Make sure that when you work out the budget for your business you also factor in the costs of internet marketing as this is an important consideration. Placing one of your ads in a prime position at the top of a popular website is not going to be cheap, but it may well help you gain a large number of customers which will in turn increase your income. Remember that every time a visitor clicks to your website it greatly improves your chances of a sale.

2. Getting the most from your Banner Ads

By creating and using banner ads effectively you should find that you enhance traffic, sales, and profits from your site. However you will need to make sure that the content of your ad provides the correct information and really helps to encourage visitors to use your business but without being annoying! Be sure to spend your marketing budget wisely and choose sites that attract a lot of visitors already and are likely to be used by your target audience to increase your exposure. Also make sure that your ad fits in with the style and image of the website that you have chosen

Different Methods of Online Marketing

With so many different options for marketing online it is important that you choose the one that is right for your business. This short article outlines a few of the main types that you may like to consider.

There are a huge number of options available to you regarding the marketing of your business. To begin with you might like to try some of the free methods alongside the paying options to allow you to put your money into other areas of the business. Listed below are just some of the marketing options that are available to you along with a brief explanation of how these will work.

1.Article Marketing

With this method of marketing you need to write and then submit articles to various online web article directories. This allows you to talk about what it is you do and related areas that others may find interesting. Within the article you will often find a box allowing you to write a little about yourself in which you can also include a back link to your website. This allows you to promote your website and drive traffic to it quickly and easily as well as increasing your search engine ranking. The majority of sites are free to use although some may require payment.

2.Forum Marketing

Another great free method of marketing is using forums related to your line of business. These allow you to join in discussions, talk about what it is you do with like minded people and also promote your website. Be sure to integrate yourself into the community first to avoid alienating people. This can be a great way to generate traffic towards your website.

3.Pay Per Click Advertising

This type of marketing is a paid service in which you pay the service provider when your link is clicked. It has proved to be very popular and effective and there are a number of sites to choose from including Google and Yahoo.

4.Viral Marketing

With viral marketing you are required to have something useful or interesting that can be passed onto others via email. This could be something like an e-book or a piece of software; as long as it is something that others will want. By doing this it can help to spread links to your website as well as promoting your business with minimum effort.

5.Press Releases

This is a similar method of marketing to writing articles as you are required to create a press release to promote and inform others of your business. You can then submit them to one or more press release sites online, many of which are free to use. This can be a great way to really explain to potential customers what it is you do as well as promoting any offers you are running and creating back links to your website.

All of these can be time consuming and so it may be something you cold look to outsource to a business consultant to manage for you.

How to get the most out of Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is a great way to speak directly to those most interested in what it is your offer or sell. However you need to make sure that you approach this type of marketing with care.

Marketing your business is an important consideration if you want it to be as successful and profitable as possible. There are a number of different ways that you can approach this but just one of the more modern methods is using forums as a platform for your marketing. Forum marketing can be an incredibly profitable exercise for those that have just set up their business as they allow you to attract traffic to your website for free! For those just starting out this is a key factor as it means you can invest more money into other areas. Once you begin to make a profit you can then consider other methods of marketing that may require some sort of payment.

1.Making Forum Marketing Work

It is vital that you do adequate research as to which forums you should use as if you target the wrong forums you could be wasting a lot of time and effort. Spend some time trying to find those that are related to what it is you do or sell so that you are attracting the right people who may be interested. Some simple research which could be useful to you can be outsourced to a marketing consultant.

Once you have found several forums it is important that you do not launch straight into marketing yourself and your business. In order to make this type of marketing work for you it is vital to first become an established member and build up your credibility. If you tend to just spam the forum you will either be ignored or deleted so try to post on a regular basis and provide useful information and responses to other members in order to establish a good reputation.

You will no doubt discover that many forums allow you to have a signature of some sort that appears after your posts. This is crucial for your successful marketing as it lets others know about your website and what you do. Spend some time making one that is eye catching and appealing but that will not annoy others or take a long time to load as you may be asked to remove it. Be sure to include a link that will take the person straight to your website as the easier it is for them the more likely they are to visit. By having links on a number of forums you should find that it helps to boost your search engine rankings. Try to post regularly on different forums and you should soon be able to drive targeted visitors to your site!

How to Make Pay Per Click Marketing Work for you

You may not have considered pay per click marketing before but it can be a great way to get people to your website. Read on to find out how to approach this for maximum success.

If you are looking for a way of marketing your business but want something a little different then you could consider Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. This is said to help to direct large volumes of traffic towards your website to help spread the word about your business. In recent times it has been promoted mainly through the use of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, programs and many businesses will now devote much of their marketing budget to advertising in this way since it can be so profitable.

1.Getting Started

In order to get the most out of PPC marketing you will need to have a good understanding of your client base and the keywords that they will use in order to search for what you offer. Using keywords is the ideal way to optimize your PPC campaign so it is worth considering certain long tailed keywords that are perhaps not as competitive and therefore less costly for your business. Ultimately this will help to generate traffic that is targeted to your business and will therefore hopefully provide you with higher click through rates and sales.

If you would like to make it easier to discover the keywords that your competitors use and how well these work then it is possible to use free PPC web spy software. By doing this you will be able to trace the keywords that are being used by successful businesses which can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

2.Managing your PPC Marketing

The overall success of your marketing will of course depend upon how well you manage your PPC campaign and how you keep track of those that visit your site afterwards. If you leave it to just do its own thing you may find that you miss out generating even more traffic, so be sure to make sure it is working effectively.

3.PPC Marketing Programs

There are a range of PPC advertising programs available for you to use but perhaps the most widely used are Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Setting up a PPC campaign does need to be carefully undertaken or it can be costly a business consultant should be able to help you with this.
The benefit of PPC marketing is that it reaches the target audience quickly and really helps to generate sales leads. However in some cases it can be costly and its worth does depend upon leads that are converted to sales. For this reason be sure to choose the right keywords and include these in all parts of your PPC ads for maximum effect.

RSS Marketing Explained

RSS marketing is not particularly well known and many overlook this great way of advertising their business. This short article explains what RSS marketing is and how best to approach it.

If you are looking for a way of marketing your business online for free then you could try Really Simple Syndication, or RSS. Many people these days have blogs of some sort but are not necessarily quick to realize the importance of RSS feeds and just how good they can be for driving traffic to your business website. As with a standard newsletter the person must decide to opt in as a way to receive the feed and will then receive updates as you make them. For many this is a quick and easy way of keeping up to date with sites that interest them and can therefore be a great marketing tool.

1.Why Use RSS?

There are a number of reasons why you should use RSS as part of your marketing, including that it is a simple and free method of advertising. It is an ideal way to make sure that people do not forget about you as once they have subscribed they will always receive your new posts and articles which helps keep your business fresh in their minds. It also means they do not need to subscribe and receive yet more emails in their inbox; although it is a good idea to also offer your feed by email as another option as some may prefer this.

You will also find that using RSS marketing will help to drive more traffic towards your website as well as increasing your ranking with search engines. It can be a great way to build a relationship with potential customers or distributors since they begin to get to know you as a person. RSS feeds can help you to earn the trust of your subscribers who may then decide to buy or use your service later.

2.Setting up your RSS feed

The simplest way to get started is to create a blog dedicated to what it is you do and which provides information on topics related to your business. Once you have done this and activated the feed setup you will need to make sure that the content you post is regular, informative, interesting and well written to make others want to subscribe to you. Remember that the aim of a blog is to interact with others and provide them with information so try to get your readers involved if possible and offer discounts or offers to subscribers as an incentive. There are a number of good blog sites available including blogger and WordPress which will make setting up an RSS marketing feed quick and easy!
If you need assistance on RSS marketing speak to a marketing consultant and they will be able to help you.

Why you should always Consider Niche Marketing for your Business

Marketing is a vital part of running a successful business but you need to be aware of your niche market. This article will explain the reasons behind this and why you should thoroughly investigate this area before you get started.

When you first start thinking about marketing for your business it is important that you consider the niche that you wish to target so that you can focus your attentions in the right area. There are a number of reasons why niche marketing is so important and it is vital that you plan and prepare well in advance to avoid wasting time and money.

Niche Marketing Explained

As you begin to think about your internet marketing campaign and how best to tackle your advertising you should make sure to choose a specific niche, otherwise you could end up losing sight of your goals. It is absolutely vital that you are aware of who you are targeting and also what proportion of the market is perhaps not currently being sufficiently targeted. Should you select an area of the market that already has considerable competition then you are unlikely to be successful and make the profits that you need to run your business.

Niche marketing is also key when considering search engine optimization, or SEO. This is an important part of internet marketing and it is wise to know the niche that you wish to target so that you can utilise the keywords that they use so they are more likely to find you. Failure to plan your SEO marketing thoroughly will result in an ineffective advertising campaign and will therefore not generate the traffic you need to your website. Perhaps one of the most useful aspects to niche marketing is that it will help you to remain focussed at all times and prevents you from losing sight of your overall target audience.

Overall you will find that niche marketing is vital for a number of different reasons and is an area that every business owner should consider before beginning to advertise. If you are not sure of how to go about this then outsourced marketing could be a choice.By simply carrying out adequate research and then finding out where your target audience visit online you should find that you can attract people to your site and increase your sales!

How Using an Article Directory Could Improve Your Marketing

Using articles as a way of marketing and helping to generate business and sales is more popular then ever right now, but it is important to know what to do with your articles once they are written. Submitting them to an article directory is one of the most effective ways and this is essentially a website that allows people to publish their articles. You will find that in the main they are free to use but some will require you to pay for a submission so weigh up how worthwhile this is. Try to choose an article directory that has a good reputation and ranks well on searches to improve your marketing.

1. How Article Directories Work

It is vital that the articles you submit are well written and offer something useful to the reader otherwise they will simply not be read. Be sure not to over promote your business or company within the content as people will be immediately put off. Instead opt to include a link to your website offering further information or some kind of incentive for people to visit. You can then submit your article to the directory of your choice, but be aware that many have strict rules and guidelines that you must adhere to in order to have your article published.

2. Advantages of Article Directories

There are a number of reasons why you should consider marketing in this way, including that submitting articles can be a cost effective way of promoting your business. You will also find that when you submit an article you will get back links to your business website which can play an important part in your business marketing campaign. Remember that the more articles you submit, the more back links you can create. Submitting articles is quick and simple to do and they will usually be published within a 48 hour period.

Being able to have your articles published in this way is a fantastic method of reaching a much wider audience as sites are often viewed by people all over the world. With their ease of use and simple formatting your articles can be easily found and read by your target audience making this method of marketing incredibly effective!

How an Internet Marketing Expert could Help your Business

Marketing your business successfully is vital if you wish it to be as profitable as possible. Hiring an internet marketing expert is an ideal way to ensure that you do this correctly and attract new custom to your site.

If you want to make a real go of your business and to have as much success as possible then online marketing will be necessary. If you have little experience in this area then you may find that contacting an Internet Marketing Expert could be incredibly beneficial to you. Perhaps the main reason for needing to focus so much on internet marketing is that this is how so much of the world functions these days and if you want to get an edge over your competitors you need to follow suit.

1. Why Use an Internet Marketing Expert?

Research shows that these days around a third of the people that have a computer and internet connection will make purchases online, so this is a key way of targeting potential customers. It also means that you can find custom from all over the country and the world rather then just the area that you live. Internet Marketing Experts can help you to connect your website to the people that will be most interested in what it is that you have to offer; therefore helping to give your website the extra edge that may be required.

It is not simply enough to just set up a website or post a few adverts online; you need to make sure that your website ranks well with search engines and really stands out from all the rest. It is for this reason that hiring an Internet Marketing Experts could be a good move since they have the expertise to advise you on how to make the most of your business and advertising and attract the right customers. In order to do this a number of techniques will be employed including SEO, creating eye catching banners, setting up a regular blog and also using something as basic as trading links. By utilising these techniques you can increase the popularity and number of visitors to your website thereby increasing traffic and hopefully sales.

It is important that if you do choose to hire an Internet Marketing Expert that you find one with a good reputation and plenty of experience so that you know you can trust them to do a good job.

Should you Hire a Business Consultant to Help Your Business?

If you are new to setting up a home business then you may not be aware of the role a business consultant can play in helping to make your business a success. In fact a business consultant will often specialize in dealing with a variety of different company matters. Often their main role is in advising companies, be these large or small, in making the correct decision to help their company be profitable.

1.Why Hire a Business Consultant?

Business consultants are normally hired to see the issues a business may have from a wider perspective. They are often experts in their specific field and can therefore provide sensible, logical advice and guidance to a business that may need a little help. By having a different perspective it can help a business to establish any areas of concern that may have gone unnoticed, allowing them to attain the best solution.

Business consultants tend to specialize in certain specific business fields in order to meet the specialist demands of each business. For example a management consultant can help to advise on the different areas of corporate businesses such as the marketing and finance. There are also technical consultants able to provide more technical advice for those activities considered as non-management. No matter what field of business you are in you will be able to find an experienced and suitable business consultant that can help to advise on the running of your business.

If your business is relatively new then you may consider hiring a business consultant to help you in the early stages so that you can meet your initial targets and stick to your original plan. They can also help to formulate a business plan as well as advise on the best course of marketing.

2. Business Consultants are Available to All

Many people assume that a business consultant will only be of real use to a larger company but this is not true. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is that it is assumed that hiring a business consultant will be costly and therefore unaffordable for the smaller business, but this is not always true. They can be equally effective in helping a smaller business to get up and running. If you are just starting out or feel that your business needs some help then a business consultant could really help to improve your current situation.

Video Blogging and Internet Marketing

If you are looking for a new way to advertise your business then why not consider video blogging? This article explains why this method of advertising can be so effective and what you need to get started.

Creating a video blog can be a great way to let people see what it is you do as well as getting to know the person behind the business. This is a relatively new way of internet marketing and not one that is used perhaps as much as it could be. Initially it may require you to make a small outlay for equipment but the benefits often outweigh the cost. Internet marketing with a video blog is a powerful tool and is essentially like creating your own television advert but for free.

1. Why Use Video Blogs?

What makes video blogging such a useful way of advertising is that your potential customers get to see the products that you sell or produce so that they can get a better idea of what is involved. By posting something such as a video blog you are more likely to catch people’s attention as you can do something a little bit different and it is more entertaining for your target audience. Reading through standard blog posts and articles can get a little boring after a while and if what you sell can be demonstrated then this is more appealing to the consumer.

2. Getting Started

In order to get started with this type of internet marketing you will need a web camera, a microphone and some good software in order to edit your video later. You may find it worthwhile investing in a decent web camera in order to give you a better quality picture that will look more professional to those viewing. Make sure that you present whatever it is you sell in the best light to make it more enticing! Once you have created your video you will need to edit and you can find a number of applications that are good, even if you have little or no experience of this.

Although video blogging is a great form of internet marketing there are some drawbacks. If your video requires a certain specification of software to run then some people may not be able to view it, they may also find that it runs slower on their computer if it is very high quality and will therefore switch off. However despite this it is still worth pursuing video blogging as a way to promote your business as it offers a fun way of advertising by showing others the benefits of what you do and therefore can lead to sales. To help you maximise your opportunity a Lutterworth Marketing Company could help you pull this together.

Creating Press Releases to Help Market Your Business

Marketing your business is incredibly important but to begin with you may not have the funds to advertise as much as you would like. This is why creating free press releases can be a useful way to bring your business to the attention of a wider audience, without having to spend a lot of money.

If you have no experience of writing a press release, or perhaps have not seen one before, then you may be wondering what they are. A press release is simply a way of announcing a product, event or business to the press and other areas of the media. Perhaps what makes them so useful is that they look incredibly professional and are therefore a great way to draw people’s attention to your business.

1. Writing your Press Release
Writing a press release may sound scary if you have no previous writing experience but it need not be. As soon as you have written a couple you will soon become at ease in writing and submitting to various sites. It is important that you keep the tone of your press release professional as they are viewed as being an official statement. To make yours stand out from others that have been submitted it is vital that you create a title that will catch people’s attention and include a summary of the contents.

When it comes to the content it is wise to only include what is relevant and to keep it concise. If it is too long then people may get bored halfway through or be put off from the start and not read it at all. State what it is your do, how long you have been working, the experience you have and any other information relevant to your industry. Be sure to include contact details including a phone number, email address and if you have one your website link as these are key for internet marketing.

2. Placing your Press Release
Once you have written your press release you will then need to make sure you place it on websites that receive a lot of traffic. It is a good idea to submit your press release to a number of different sites to enable you to gain as much marketing exposure for your business as possible. Be sure to complete all of the necessary boxes when submitting your press release and think of ways in which you can make yours stand out to readers. Jenkinson & Associates Ltd provides marketing consultants to companies looking to grow their sales and profits.