Collective Clicks Internet Marketing Blog

Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing is a young field and will grow exponentially in the coming years.  It has changed the way marketing is done with the advent of Internet Affiliate Marketing, Social Media, Viral Videos, and SEM/SEO.  Marketing on the Internet allows for tracking of marketing campaigns and collects valuable client information for later use. 

Affiliate Marketing
.  Done with very little effort as websites become more sophisticated and search engines allow more options for precise searches.
.  Comparison shopping allows exposure to a wide variety of customers while searching for similar products.
.  Connect with similar websites in order to reach the target audience. 

Social Media
.  Capitalize on human nature through such sites as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter. 
.  Companies tap into a huge pool of clients by being referred through networks of friends and associates.
.  The fan feature automatically sends posts.
.  Forums allow the exchange ideas and opinions. 

Viral Videos
.  Viral sharing websites such as You Tube, Live Leak, Job Jab and Google Video provide limitless exposure, if the video is particularly good it will be forwarded. 
.  Provide comments area for open dialogue, use constructive criticism.
. Create interesting, entertaining and provocative video.

Web Design and Multimedia
.  Easy navigation and great content writing will direct the user.   
.  Images draw attention and explain your product. 
.  Use short and concise relevant video to attract clients. 
.  Integrate the brand with interactive features allowing the visitor to be a part of the experience. 
.  Use descriptive text on the landing page to draw the visitor in. 
.  Be visible to search engines, use SEO techniques to score high rankings and use descriptive text on every page.
.  Advertise on other sites with a video link to your site.
.  Statistically people read 28 percent of the words on a web visit, captivate the reader.

Press Releases
.  Communicate through blogs. 
.  Keep client base up to date with just one communiqué. 
.  Videos can be incorporated or links to other pertinent sites for information. 
.  Photographs will inform your audience about what you are writing about with a glance.

SEM/SEO
.  Utilize programs to help in the selection of keywords or keyword phrases to get high page rankings. 
.  Well-written, engaging content is what drives people and search engine crawlers to a website. 
.  Connect with the audience to pull them in.

WordPress/Blogs
WordPress formats posts beautifully and is free and easy to use making it a great tool for blogging.  It allows for simple incorporation of images, videos and links to other sites. 
.  Be brief and provide links, do not add too many keywords.
.  Categorize and tag posts correctly. 
.  Insert relevant large images and videos to convey your message. 
.  Write about unique and interesting topics.  Keep it fresh, current and compelling.  Enjoy what you are writing about.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, SEO, Social Media

Cycle of Internet Marketing

I think the most important aspects of internet marketing are social media, visual media, and real-time traffic monitoring and analysis.

Social media is important because of how well it fits into the budget of any business: if you don’t want to go the free routes of commercial exposure yourself, hire someone to do it. The great thing about is that it doesn’t take much training, and it truly improves the company’s exposure.

These items aren’t ranked in accordance with importance; however, the second significant aspect of internet marketing – in my opinion – is visual media. Along the lines of bang for your buck – nothing beats a low budget video conveying your idea instead of an overpriced advertising travesty. By fixing yourself up with visual media (pictures, videos etc.) you’ll ensure that everyone has something to interest and maintain their attention; perhaps, long enough to make a sale.

Knowing who sees it empowers you, the marketer

The third item is the value of content; by this I mean how much you get out of what you wrote. Spewing empty words and obnoxiously decorative language will force people to lose interest as they trip over five-syllable words, and odd sentence constructions. You may want to impress your audience, you may want to relate to your audience; the beauty of well crafted content is that it will work for itself. What’s great about internet content is that you can actually see what people want to read, and use that knowledge to tighten their focus on whatever you want to tell them. when you are able to know who is watching/ reading/ listening to whatever you are doing, you can extrapolate trends, and learn about your audience. In doing so, you will ensure that they become loyal, once you establish their consistent interest in your work.

So, to reiterate everything; overall, I find that social media, visual media, and the real-time traffic analysis are the most important aspects of internet marketing. Social media allows quick and cheap exposure, visual media ensures that there’s an interest for every type of visitor, and real-time traffic allows the webmaster to concentrate their audience, and learn about their preferences, which could then be incorporated to reflect upon the way business is carried out.

Technorati Tags: analysis, internet marketing, Social Media, traffic monitoring, visual media

Image from viral video of 3D dancing baby

Five things to avoid if you want your video to go viral.

1. Upload poor quality video. The very first item on your to-do list should be to create great content. Go the extra mile to record a high-quality video with a great storyline. Poor quality videos are an immediate turn-off and no one will want to forward this to their friends or comment with positive feedback.

2. Make a video that is similar to what others are creating. This may sound like a great plan – others are successful at x or y, so I should do the same. Wrong!

There are millions of videos on sharing sites such as YouTube. Quality is the first barrier that potential viewers encounter. Unique content is the next. If it’s high-quality yet boring or mundane and ordinary, browsers will continue on to another video.

3. Don’t worry about tags or labels. Wrong again! Do worry about tags and labels.

If your video is categorized or labeled incorrectly, or worse yet, not labeled at all, no one will find it. It may be the greatest video since the 3D dancing baby, but being the greatest video content ever created doesn’t mean browsers will magically find it. You have to help them get to your content through correct and smart tagging.

4. Get pissed when people leave negative comments. If people are constantly posting that your content is of poor quality, perhaps you need to consider that as constructive criticism. Additionally, if you’ve created a video that is so compelling, it divides viewers in to “haters” and “lovers”, and it consequently creates a firestorm of comments, consider yourself blessed. Oftentimes, great artists and successful individuals are ones that polarize others.

5. Stay way from channeling. Repeat this to yourself, Channeling is not the enemy. Channeling is my friend. Channeling adds to the uniqueness of your content, it gives you a tool for branding and to group together the content you have to offer. It’s a great tool.

Technorati Tags: avoid video viral, Social Media, social media marketing, viral video social media

Information Overload

Be aware of things that you should not do when making a video, here are a few suggestions:

.  Do not overload your audience with a long video that could lose the interest of the viewer before they get your message, keep it short.

.  Instead of one long video break up your storyboard into 15-30 second bite-sized clips.

. When selling through your video don’t make it look like an ad unless you are genius at it, people will have a tendency to stop watching it if they immediately think you are selling something. 

.  Be cautious about including commercial or promotional content, people are looking to be entertained first.

. Don’t forget to show your product.  You can get caught up in the wow factor and forget the main point of your video.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, SEO, Social Media, viral video

Effective Dialogue

To effectively market viral videos try these tips:

.  Channeling is an effective was to categorize videos.  Posting in a specific channel for your product will drive traffic to other videos for your brand.

.  Providing a comments area allows for open dialogue, people love to give their opinion and it would provide great feedback.  Take constructive criticism on rebuttal videos.

. Displaying the view count is good to show as it is an indicator of the success of the video and people love to go with a winner.

. Keep clips under 5 minutes, ideally set up a series of clips that are from 10-15 seconds.  People have short attention spans and if you can grab their interest they will look at subsequent clips.

. Make sure the video is interesting, entertaining and even provocative; it has to have the “wow factor” for people to want to pass it on to others.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, SEO, Social Media, viral videos

Viral Sharing Websites

Taking advantage of viral sharing websites such as You Tube, Google Video, Live Leak and Job Jab would provide a potentially huge audience for marketing a product.  If the video is particularly good it will be forwarded to other people and the amount of exposure is limitless. 

Tags and categories can successfully raise your chances of being found on the Internet when posting your video when done properly and for marketing this can be very advantageous.  By using the ‘similar videos’ box you can gain access to viewers who are viewing another video of similar style and content and yours will be in the sideline.  People love to check out what is similar to what they are already interested in.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, SEO, Social Media, viral video marketing

Your base of followers and clients is one of the most valuable assets you will have in social media marketing.

Here are five tips on how to effectively utilize social media outlets like Facebook. Keep your comments limited in order to attract as many people as possible. The goal should be to get users in and signed up as members or supporters of the group or page. Use a variable set of styles when posting on Facebook. Keeping it lively will ensure an intrigued audience. Put all the base information (discussions, videos, pictures etc) on your fan page, since people are likely to spend more time browsing that page the most. Be consistent with your posts, and interact with your supporters to keep them coming back.

All of these names fall into the realm of social media

Technorati Tags: effective, Facebook, Social Media

A properly designed Facebook campaign is invaluable

Here are five things that should be avoided when using Facebook, or other social media outlets: Do not use abrasive, or foul, language as this may offend potential customers, and could cause the wrong type of publicity for your cause or company. Do not be inconsistent, this will lose people’s interest. Don’t write too extensively as people appreciate terse content. Do not clutter your page with overwhelming amounts of media; people that are interest should have the ability to venture deeper. Don’t have several pages for the same thing, you want to consolidate your fan base to make sure that everyone hears what you have to say on behalf of the organization.

Technorati Tags: avoid, Facebook, Social Media

Twitter

Being that you cannot write more than 140 words, you must choose your words carefully and make sure they are compelling. Include links to the company website to pull followers into specific areas you want to share.

Press releases and news articles can be shared if you draw the reader into the website.

A live feed of an event can be streamed via RSS feed to followers. It is important to keep the interest of your readers with fresh ideas and activities.

Invite dialogue, set up an area for comments. People love to exchange ideas, make it inviting for them to do so.

The “communication stream of ideas” is what Twitter is all about, start the flow with the way that you write.

Technorati Tags: SEO, Social Media, twitter marketing

Twitter

Marketing tips when using Twitter:

. With short and compelling messages you can reach a lot of people. Post a link, a TinyURL, acknowledging the limitations in a Tweet, which will allow a longer URL post on Twitter with less space used.

. Utilizing the reader restriction function tweets can be sent to followers regarding news about a company that are only able to be viewed by followers, you can restrict your audience.

. To find out the effectiveness of a campaign or a product you can monitor conversations about your company by RSS feed.

. People like the ability to “tap into a collective conscientiousness” and to be part of a following on a brand. To capitalize on this would greatly increase awareness about a product.

. Twitter quickly brings brand awareness and loyal following. Its ability to receive immediate responses appeals to those who like the aspect of social networking in a simple and concise method.

Technorati Tags: SEO, Social Media, twitter marketing