Houston Marketing Agency

Bookmark me!

If you’ve tried to increase web site traffic with search engine marketing and search engine optimization but you still aren’t seeing the kind of web site traffic that you want to have it might be time to consider investing in some web advertising. There are different options when it comes to web advertising but the styles of web advertising used the most by businesses is and paid search advertising. Paid search advertising is a good option if you’ve already tried search engine marketing and search engine optimization because your site is already well set up for paid search advertising. Paid search advertising is paying to make sure that a link to your site and a description of site is placed at the very top of a search engine results page.

This is a smart move because studies have shown that people who are searching for a site will usually click on any one of the first five links at the top of the search engine results page and then they will stop. Consumers almost never click through to the second page of search engine results after doing a search. So paying to make sure that your site is at the top of the search engine results page can be a very effective way to drive traffic to your website. Figuring out how to manage your paid search advertising can be a little difficult if you’re not used to how web advertising works so you’re better off hiring a paid search management company to oversee your paid search advertising. When you’re setting up a paid search to increase web site traffic the keywords and key phrases that you choose need to be chosen carefully. A qualified paid search management company can help you set up your paid search to maximize the time and effort you’ve already put into using search engine marketing and search engine optimization on your website to increase website traffic.

Using paid search to increase web site traffic can be a very cost effective way to get the most of your search engine marketing. Essentially paid search web advertising is just giving your search engine marketing a boost and making sure that people see a link to your site before all your competitors. If your website deals with a popular topic then using paid search web advertising is really like insurance that your site make it onto the first page of the search engine results page.

Bookmark me!

Usually the main goal for any company is to attain maximum profits. In the telemarketing business world, there is nothing more critical then getting solid leads to boost sales and profits. It will be in your best interest to understand how to choose and manage the telemarketing leads.

To reach your highest sales volumes in the telemarketing field you may require the assistance of another company that helps to direct the leads that you need. Although there are many types of companies and programs, it would benefit you to research a few of the different types of organizations and determine which would be best suited to your business. The following paragraphs will describe a few options available to you.

A successful way to get quality leads is through the Home Site Generated program that is considered by most to be highly priced yet very effective. A website or search engine refers sites of the network provider and then the lead is generated via email campaigns. Should you wish to contact the customer you will not be bothered with questions about how you obtained their contact information or the reason why you are marketing to them.

Different types of media techniques are used in Third Party Website Generation lead programs. Some examples are; banners, search engine optimization, pop-ups and any other method that can drive traffic to websites. But, these websites must already have high traffic volumes in order for you to get solid leads.

The third program you may choose is the co-registration service for telemarketing and generating leads. After you have obtained the contact information of the lead then you have an opportunity to contact them for a sales offer. This service is priced according to the industry, type of provider required and the qualification level.

Now that you are aware of what the three most common programs are for telemarketing lead generation, you are now ready to find a service provider that will give you quality leads you deserve. To assist you in any telemarketing lead generation options that you need for your business to reach its ultimate goal, here are two sites we recommend you to visit:

The first site is Lead Generation Solutions. They make appointments, for your sales team, with top executives of companies who are potential prospects for your business. Your company is introduced as a fit for their organization and thereby being able to finalize the deal. Always count on Lead Generation Solutions to be more than enthusiastic in becoming involved in future projects.

Your company will experience unlimited success when retaining the services of Unicall Inc. Through specialized telemarketing or teleservices lists they can provide you with unlimited high quality leads. Imagine how your business will grow and prosper and, at the same time, reach your ultimate goal.

Bookmark me!

Bright vibrant color postcards are a proven marketing tool to reach out to your prospective customers and influence them into buying your products and services. This is the most cost-effective medium to communicate with your customer and to keep them updated with relevant information. Postcards have been used as marketing tools for ages, but with the advancement of printing technologies, full color postcards have gradually replaced black and white postcards.

Full color postcards make an instant impact in the mind of the customers because of its eye catching and appealing design. In these days, customers are time starved and do not have the time to go through lengthy texts. Postcards offer higher readability than multi-page brochures, booklet, or catalogue and more cost effective. The simple format and the design entice the customer to glance through a postcard in shortest possible time while comprehending the message.

Printing postcards in full color is usually done on an offset press. But as today’s marketers prefer a more personalized approach to their marketing campaigns to make it even more effective, digital printing is slowly gaining edge over offset. Thanks to the dynamic features like “variable data printing,” digital printing techniques can make each postcard personalized and unique.

By seeing your postcard on a monitor during the design stage gives you an actual view of what the original print will look like. By adding metallic or fluorescent colors it will make your postcard more eye-catching.

The ultimate look of the final printed postcard will rely on which type of stock that you choose and it will show in the quality of the postcard too. A gloss, matte or pearl finish, are just a few of the choices available and depend totally on the design of your postcard. Also, special effects can be used when printing your postcards to give emphasis to text or images by applying UV or special effect varnish.

It is possible to print any number of postcards depending on your requirement and budget. However it is recommended to print larger quantities in offset and small quantities in digital press for cost advantage.

Full color postcard will certainly ensure maximum reach and effectiveness of your promotional campaign by giving an insight of the products and services your company offers without consuming precious time of your potential customers.

Most promotional materials received in the mail usually goes straight into the garbage, based on statistics. But, by marketing with full color postcards you eliminate that concern because people are most likely to remember something that is vibrant and with colorful designs. They will help in turning your potential client base into loyal and long-term customers and in meeting your company’s revenue target.

Bookmark me!

Social marketing is a new form of advertising that is just starting to become popular. Often social marketing is a favorite of small businesses because it is virtually free although in order to use it to drive traffic to a website the company still needs to use traditional search engine marketing and search engine optimization techniques. It is build around the idea of link strategies and using personal networking to drive website traffic. Before the widespread use of social networking sites social marketing really wasn’t a viable option for most mainstream businesses but now the popularity of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook has made social networking and social marketing very popular. Link strategies that are often used in social marketing involve creating free accounts on these popular social networking sites and then using search engine marketing techniques to increase traffic and network with others who interested in the same topics or with customers. Using search engine optimization to create search engine marketing content on your social networking profile pages can help get your profile listed in search engine results pages and you can use search engine marketing articles to help gain readers and friends across the net.

This type of marketing isn’t just limited to using sites like MySpace and Facebook. You can use search engine marketing and search engine optimization to socially market your blog as well. Many companies these days prefer having blogs to having traditional websites because blogs are much more accessible to people and make people feel like they have a personal connection with the company. Blogging is hugely popular. Many popular blog sites are free so you can set up a free blog to be the front page of your web page and you can put links throughout the blog that lead to other pages on your web page so that your readers can find your other search engine marketing articles and information or buy your products. The best link strategies for blogs involve taking the time to form alliances with other bloggers. Blogging networks have huge followings and many times if you join a blog network or go to the blogs of people who share your interest or sell complementary products you can leave comments on that person’s blog that link back to your own site.

Even though that type of advertising can be a little time consuming it’s a great way to use search engine marketing to reach your target audience for free. Blogging communities also usually link to one another’s blogs which means that you can use your networking contacts to help you publicize your website. Social marketing can be tricky though because it’s more than just using search engine marketing, link strategies and SEO. There are a lot of social networking etiquette rules that need to be observed and if you don’t follow protocol you could be ostracized. When you’re using social networking you should never just post links to your website on other people’s blogs, that’s considered spamming. Take the time to read other blogs and leave relevant comments. Usually then you will be allowed to post a link to your own website.

Bookmark me!

Marketing your small business on the Internet does not need to be expensive, nor does it need to be complicated. However, there is still a lot of confusion (and the associated mis-information) about how to market a bricks and mortar business on the net. Most small businesses continue to ignore the Internet as a promotional medium thinking that it does not apply to them. They continue to do this at their own peril.

Opportunities to market your small business are many and varied, just like in the real world.

For small businesses Internet marketing can be a surprisingly low-cost way of promoting your local small business. This promotion can be targeted locally, regionally or across the globe.

So, what are these strategies and how does one apply them?

In broad terms there are THREE main types of marketing strategies, which apply to small business Internet marketing, being…

1. Paid search marketing (Pay per click marketing, and its numerous variations), and… 2. In-context link marketing (being commercial links within content on a specific topic), and… 3. Natural search marketing (SEO, content marketing, blogs and its numerous variations).

So, what are the PROS and CONS of these different approaches?

1. PAID SEARCH MARKETING:

The effectiveness of your paid search marketing campaign is directly related to the keyterms you chose to use. The other key factor here is your landing page for you PPC advertisement. In essence, Paid search marketing works a little like the marketing you (as a bricks and mortar business owner) already know and use in the real world. The main difference here is that you pay per click.

The PROS: If correctly targeted, you get prospects looking at what you want to sell and/ or promote quickly.

The CONS: A) Specialist skills required. And, you can lose a lot of money, fast! B) PPC specialists are not cheap. C) You continually need to run your ads. D) Can be very costly (especially for commercial keyterms). You only get to play as long as you continue to pay.

2. HYPERLINK within CONTEXT LINK MARKETING:

This model utilizes other people’s existing web content (for your advertising benefit). The text links are placed within their keyword focused web pages. So, let’s say you’re selling financial services. Your keyword-related hyperlinks are run within the content about (guess what) financial services. People click on that hyperlink and end up at your offering about financial services.

The PROS: This is a better approach for small businesses marketing on the Internet, because these embedded hyperlinks are not perceived by the reader as an advertisement. This reduces the visitors resistance to clicking through on these in context hyperlinks (ads) as the links are viewed by the reader as links to more information.

The CONS: A) You have little to no control over what web sites your links are placed on, which means that links can be placed within content that doesn’t quite fit sometimes. B) Best results are achieved by driving prospects to especially designed landing pages. Skill is required to set up these sales funnel paths. C) The demand for good, profitable commercial keyterms always exceeds supply, thus pushing up the price for the good terms.

3. NATURAL SEARCH MARKETING:

When a small business interfaces with the fundamental way people use the Internet THEY win. This approach is called natural search (or search marketing). This approach can be especially powerful for small businesses wanting to market themselves locally, regionally (or even across the world). Search marketing strategies require a different approach to the other methods already discussed.

Note: Search marketing is different from SEO. SEO (search engine optimization) relates to the optimization of existing web sites to make them search engine friendly to the search engines.

The PROS: With natural search marketing, if your business is the creator of the keyword-focused content, you have a distinct marketing advantage on the web. Long term, these advantages will far out weight both the PPC and In-context marketing strategies, because you are building a web business or traffic portal which belongs to you. Your results with natural search marketing are in direct relationship to your own efforts. And, here’s an interesting twist, small businesses wanting to primarily market themselves locally or regionally have a distinct advantage using this natural search marketing methodology.

The CONS: A) Search marketing strategies take longer to mature than the other methods discussed, however the cost-effectiveness and long-term results are better. C) The commitment must be to the continual addition of fresh content to the keyword-focused, theme-related content systems developed. However, for any business owner who knows their business and loves it this is never an onerous task.

So, in summary… Small Business Internet marketing no longer needs to be the mysterious world it once appeared to be for small businesses. However, there is still a great divide between those small businesses that employ smart marketing strategies as the foundation of their online marketing systems, and those that don’t.

Bookmark me!

Online video and video search is HOT! You have surely seen all the buzz on the internet about sites like youtube, blinkx, etc… With this, bloggers have been writing posts about how to shoot video, how to upload videos to these sites, etc… However, few have provided information on how to get these videos seen and discovered. Here enters Video SEO.

To ensure that your video gets seen and discovered on these search engines, it is important to first learn some of the technical aspects that are important to online video as well as search.

Keyword research is important for Video search engine optimization. However, there are some key differences in terms of the methods that should be employed for keyword researching video terms. In order to know your target audience for seeing your videos, it is important to first conduct some research on keywords and compile a keyword list. This list can be obtained by doing some simple searches for a related product or service. There are not yet any keyword research tools specifically for video. Keep in mind that video searches at this point tend to be shorter keywords, not “long tail” searches. In addition, more than anything, your keyword list should have the word “video” in it. Examples - car videos, car video, racing video, automotive videos, etc….

The next step after you have generated a keyword list is to take a good look at the video search platforms to see which channels and categories, tags, etc… tend to get the most views, as well as to look at which platforms have the highest performance in views, ratings, etc… You will certainly want to submit your video to multiple sites but you will want to make sure that at the least, you submit your video to the more popular engines.

Well, as you know with keyword research, it is an ongoing process. It is important to pay attention to the feedback, comments, and links to existing related videos to find related keyword terms that you may have missed in your original keyword list.

You will want to encourage readers to submit feedback as studies show that users who provide feedback tend to be more active and easier to convert. In other words, those users that provide feedback, typically are more likely to call, email, visit your site, etc…

It is much easier to get your video optimized and seen on search engine results pages when you are choosing a theme that does not already exist in mass. Dont make the mistake of creating videos that repeat videos already out there. Instead, choose fresh ideas and find a “content space” for your theme/keyword.

Nobody is interested in watching long and boring videos. Shoot or create short clips from your longer version of the video. This will make your video more interesting and crispier. People usually like to watch short clips online ranging from 1-3 minutes, as they are short and takes less time to download.

Finally, make sure that you take advantage of the fact that you can brand your video with a watermark logo, text for your URL, and additional information to get users back to your website or business. One of the main points for doing video SEO is to get users back to your destination.

Therefore, in order to get more visibility for your business, website, etc… search engine optimization for video is an excellent, and fairly new concept that you can take advantage of right now, while the buzz is hot.

Bookmark me!

You can build your list simply by writing articles, whether you have thought of it or not.

Quite simply, you write and submit your articles on your topic of expertise or business nature to popular article directories where eZine publishers and readers are looking for the information you provide.

Leveraging your viral marketing efforts on article writing can be rewarding, if done right. In the real sense, you are actually proving your worth and demonstrating your expertise about your business through the articles you write.

So, how can this method in effect build your mailing list? The answer: the resource box you attach to your articles. In your resource box (also known as bio box), you include a brief detail about yourself and your business site together with its URL.

It is strongly suggested that your resource box URL links to your mailing list’s landing page where you can get your visitor’s name and email address, which will in turn help you build your mailing list at no cost.

If your articles are found worth sharing, eZine publishers will republish your articles together with your resource box for their readers and subscribers. The wonderful result: viral marketing without effort on your part!

You can start by writing and submitting your articles to trusted article submitter sites such as http://www.articlemarketer.com/ and begin your article marketing journey today.

Bookmark me!

Paid search is a great way to get web traffic to your site from the major search engines. It also can drain your marketing budget in very quickly if not done properly. Someone is going to profit from your paid search campaign. Is it going to be the search engines or or us? Search engines make their money from clicks on our ads. The more clicks on our ads the more money they get. The real goal should be “more conversions with less clicks and lower cost”. Here are some strategies that should help.

1. Turn off Content Network in Google when you first set up a campaign there is a default setting that turns the “content match” setting to “on”. For now, turn that setting off. What this does is present your ads on websites that are using AdSense. If you go to a website and see “Ads by Google”, those ads are coming from Google paid search accounts. Those ads show up on these websites based on the content of the website. There are two things that you need to consider before turning on the content match. The first is that the website that is hosting our ad gets paid every time someone clicks on the ad. The second thing is that most people who click on these ads are doing research. The magic of search engine marketing is that you come in contact with individuals who are actively searching for what you have to offer. Only pay for clicks that come from people in that category.

2. Search Terms. The more general the term, less qualified the lead (generally speaking) and the more the cost. What I try to figure out is what terms would work in order to get my ideal customer to my site.

3. Keyword “types” There are three types of keywords “Broad”, “Phrase” and “Exact”. The rule of thumb that I use is: for single word phrases, use exact match and for search phrases that are two to three words, used “phrase matching”. I am also experimenting with using “exact” matching for these terms as well. The more specific the search term is to what you are offering and who your ideal client is, the more qualified to lead will be. Better a small number of qualified leads than a large number of leads that waste your time and ultimately cost a lot more money.

4. Just a couple thoughts on writing copy for ads. When you write your ads put the following in your “headline” box: {keyword: “your main keyword}. This will put your keyword phrase into the headline. Your ad should be specific enough to attract only your ideal client (someone who is looking for exactly what you have to offer). Your ad should contain at least one of your “unique selling propositions”. This can be very challenging because of the space limitations. Rule of thumb, find out what your competitors are doing and do something different. For example, if everyone is offering free shipping, use one of your other unique selling propositions.

5. Landing pages require a great deal of thought. Landing page have one purpus, answer the questions that are on the mind of the searcher, the reason for the search. He entered his search terms because he has a problem, needs a solution or is in some kind of “pain”. You have about two seconds to convince him that you understand what he is going through and what he needs. You must show him that you possess the answers to his needs. Don’t just send them to your home page unless your home page can accomplish the above. Once you connect with your searcher you must have a call to action. You must be very specific and clear about the next steps. Have your “phone number” or “contact us button” on every page.

6. Track everything. Paid search is not an exact science. It takes time to set up and optimized your campaigns to get the results that you are looking for. Monitor your campaigns weekly to catch market changes, account issues or even site issues. Google, Yahoo and MSN have free tracking tools that work great.

Paid search, if done properly, can yield big profits. If you are new to this or do not have several hours a week to devote to learning the ins and outs of PPC Management, it might be a lot cheaper to find someone who knows what they are doing. It may be wiser to pay a little up front rather than lose thousands of dollars trying to figure it out yourself.

Bookmark me!

Everyday that goes by you can bet that any serious website owner is wondering how to get more traffic to their site. This intense desire to generate more clicks makes virtually any online entrepreneur easy prey to many of the traffic schemes and scams that pervade the Internet.

Wild promises of high volume traffic and big bucks often separate even the most savvy business person from their money because they want to believe the promises made by these traffic hucksters. The problem is that high volume doesn’t necessarily translate into a high sales rate.

The visitors who come to your website as a result of a desire to find out more on a specific, niche topic, not as a result of exit traffic or membership in a safe list where members simply pitch each other. Good traffic comes from people clicking links on topics targeted to their interests and getting directed to a website containing information they want and expect as a result of clicking the link. The bottom line is that when you get right down to it the best and most dependable sources of targeted traffic come from links that people click.

Being able to determine which clicks actually result in sales is vital. To track conversions from click to sales, depending on the type of shopping cart software you are using, you can then create a custom order confirmation page - i.e. the page that is displayed once the transaction is complete. This is very easy to do if you’re using a payment processing service such as PayPal.

It’s well known that each search engine and each web site has a particular type of user (age, interests etc.), and they’ll all have different triggers leading them to purchase. All of these things are important for you to know so that your advertising dollars will be spent in the most advantageous places.

Bookmark me!

When it comes to promoting your online business, information is an extremely powerful but a very under utilized tool. Certainly, article information marketing is very powerful and can help to set your business apart from that of your competition. Through the right kind of article marketing, you could also see a dramatic increase in the revenue that your business makes.

Another thing to remember when it comes to article emarketing is that it can help to establish not just your business but you as an expert in a particular field and add to your credibility. Using this form of marketing a person is able to demonstrate clearly how they can help to provide solutions to a person’s problem without having to try to sell what they are offering too hard.

When writing any kinds of articles to promote your business they should have within them information that a person will find useful, but will also have them wanting to find out more by going to your site. It is a good idea that the information contained within these articles is of a practical natural as many people like to keep such information and then refer to it at some point in the future.

When you are thinking about writing any articles you will need to keep certain things in mind and these will then help you to ensure that you write good quality articles. But if you do not feel that, you are up to the challenge of writing your own there are plenty of others who are willing to do this (ghostwriters) for a fee.

Tip 1 - It is vital that you put those who are going to be reading your articles at ease, so write in a way that is both easy and simple that they understand what it is you are conveying to them. If you find you, need to introduce any new terms or words within the article that those reading it have not heard before then you need to clearly explain what these are to them.

Tip 2 ” When it comes to writing articles, it is best if you keep the paragraphs as short and concise as you can. Doing this the reader will find them much easier to follow, any longer and the reader will stop because very few people like to see lots of text in front of them. If you can allow for around 3, 4 or 5 sentences in each paragraph that you write.

Tip 3 - Before you begin writing your article you need to get organized as to what it is you are trying to say in it. A good way of doing this is to jot down a few bullet points of what it is you need included within the article to be written. You can then use these as a guide and refer back to them when you start writing.

As we have previously mentioned in this article, article information marketing is a very effective and powerful tool that one should be using when promoting an online business. Certainly, if you can produce good quality content articles that contain information then you have a better chance of becoming one of the leading businesses in your chosen market. This could then result in your business having more traffic being directed towards it and also it increases the chances of your business making more money.