Understanding marketing trends can put you at an advantage as you seek to improve your ROI on your marketing spend. WSI Webpro is offering ”Internet Marketing Trends Report 2010” to you free of charge.

I assume that everyone still loves “free”. No strings attached. Not collecting your email address to follow up with you. Nope. Just want you marketing folks to have something free, without trying to sell you anything.

The “Internet Marketing Trends Report” is in PDF format, and about 2.6MB in size.

Let me know if you find it valuable. A simple comment would be appreciated.

Have a great day!

Search Engine Ranking Optimization and Online Marketing are not mutually exclusive. The two must be blended to generate revenue.

How would you evaluate your level of understand regarding converting your targeted Internet traffic after acquiring it?

Do you genuinely believe that your web pages should, and must produce sales for you initiatives to be successful?And if so, then how are they (web pages) going to produce this? What is the strategy or sales-funnel look like?

Online marketing in many respects is just like real world marketing and advertising, with the primary difference being you don't need to coerce people to buy your product. Hopefully that is not a new concept to many of you.

A good marketer will supply a qualified and legitimate need to the marketplace. Have you identified the needs of your prospective clients? Does your web copy address those needs?

Only weak salesmen resort to attempting to convince people that their item is a true need or is in demand from customers. The same is true of your online business presence. If you have to convince, you have already lost.

If your company is "leaving money on the table" in either area, we would love to help you figure out why, and then remediate the issues.

There was a fine gentleman who entered into a contract to purchase a beautiful car from the local car salesman. He made a quick trip to the bank and signed up for a lone that would eventually make the beautiful car "all his". Driving home that day the chap thought himself to be the happiest fellow in all the land.

The car was shiny and bright, and oh did it smell so new. He paid constant attention to it. Washing and buffing the paint. Cleaning the wheels and tires. He happily drove that beautiful car, even waving to all those that he passed. That was the greatness of his joy.

After some time the new car smell faded and a bit of trash began to accumulate in the corners. Other things soon stole the attention of the fine gentleman from the service and value that this now slightly faded car had provided him. Onlookers were started to one day see him kick the door of the car.

The owner of this car one day said to himself, "I no longer think this car has value. I will go to the banker and tell him I no longer want the car." Off trudged the bloke to the bank. Upon hearing the tale of the gentleman who expounded on why the car no longer was giving him value and that he would no longer pay for it, the banker saw the gentleman take out his keys and head for the door.

"Where do you think you are going", said the banker? "Why, out to my car to go home", said the gentleman. The look on the banker's face puzzled him.

"I don't think so, If you are not going to pay for the car, I will be required to take it back from you", exclaimed the banker. "But I have paid for that car for over two years", stammered the gentleman. "That makes no difference", said the banker, as he continued, "If you do not satisfy your contract with me, you do not own the car."

The gentleman used every excuse that he could to dissuade the banker from taking back the car, but to no avail. It was hard for him to understand the he couldn't keep the car, even though he had not fully satisfied his obligation to the banker.

Guess who started walking?

The purpose of search engine optimization, (SEO), is to position keywords that are appropriate for your business on a search results pages that will give your company exposure to those who want to buy your “stuff”.

We call the process of this type of work SEO positioning or SEO placement.

SEO positioning is critical for marketing success. I have yet to come across a company, or organization that has all the leads or business that it wants. Customer acquisition continues to be a priority for every business.

Selecting the right words to be found on is absolutely essential. The selection should take into account your target market demographics, how people search for your type of products or service, how often a term is searched, as well as the competitive levels of the words and phrases. Otherwise you are putting a blindfold on and throwing darts at a board with no frame of reference.

SEO positioning can put you in a position to be found by those who need YOU! It is a powerful tactic that is being taken advantage of by millions … yet there is still plenty of room for your company to capitalize on SEO placement. Don’t believe me? Give me a call and I’ll conduct some preliminary research for you at no cost. You might be surprised at what we find in the data.

Every business is trying to make each marketing dollar count. Most companies do not want to commit a large investment of dollars into a new marketing campaign until they are convinced that the campaign is going to provide a decent ROI (Return on Investment).

Can you really blame business owners for adapting this philosophy, especially in an economy like this?

Let's face it. Not every marketing tactic is going to work the same for every company, even in the same industry. Your goals for marketing could be quite a bit different than the guy down the road. As a result, you may find out that Plan A isn't working well, and you need to adjust your strategy to Plan B. It is easier to do that if you are working with someone who is Micro-Testing. In essence, coming up with a measured strategy, implementing that strategy and testing to see how it performs before committing additional resources to expand its reach.

Maximizing your marketing dollars is the goal. Testing, testing, testing is absolutely essential for success, and the only way to know how effective marketing is going to perform for you is to get out there and Micro-Test.

1) Lack of Systematic Approach

Best practices and experience matters. Replicating results requires having put a system in place that will behave and perform as expected. The right procedure will make the tweaking required for each campaign speedy and require fewer iterations to dial it in.

2) Wrong Market Focus

Choosing the wrong market is one of the primary reasons for a lack of results. Make sure you work with someone who can identify your target demographics, and who performs the kind of keyword research that finds the "windows of opportunity".

3) Poor Design Quality of your System

The first thing to look for is a system. The second, even more important criteria is that the system be designed appropriately. Is the blend of marketing tools appropriate? Is micro-testing being conducted to protect your investment during the testing stage?

4) Lack of Frequency of Contact

Multiple touches are invariably required to achieve the highest conversion rate. Does the system have built in tools to put those additional touches on the prospect? What happens after the lead is received?

Not every marketing endeavor delivers a good ROI (Return on Investment). Improve your odds of getting right by avoiding these four marketing killers.

I was reading a Dave Ramsey book and I came across the statement, “Even a turkey can fly in a tornado.” He likened it to people doing all kinds of crazy things with money when the economy was good, but not realizing that they were being unwise and risk taking with their money.

Your marketing plan has to work in a good or bad economy to be sound. That got me to thinking about how we business owners handle our “marketing money” in both types of economies.

I have seen money spent on some pretty crazy stuff. Expensive marketing endeavors that you can't even track to see if it is successful outside of the cash register ringing. And even then you don't know the source of the revenue.

The highest priority KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for marketing is ROI (Return on Investment). If you put $5.00 in to marketing, you want to earn $20.00 in return. That is a great goal. Just like your retirement planning, you want to make a sound marketing investment.

Let me quote Dave a bit further in his book, “Just because you see a turkey flying in a tornado doesn't mean turkeys can fly.” Making wise marketing choices can keep you firmly grounded in the good as well as the bad times.

In today's world full of new media and digital communication technologies, companies of all sizes and industries have a huge opportunity to expand the reach of their messages using social media.

Social media has the potential to attract and hold the attention of a vast demographic of people, especially those who have grown numb to traditional media. Great marketers have always figured out how to stay "ahead of the curve" in their marketing efforts. Social Media is the new frontier of marketing.

Below are some other benefits your company will experience by utilizing social media:

• Affordable Marketing – There’s no need for a large budget to conduct social media marketing
• Viral Nature – Users can easily share your messages with their friends with a click of a button
• Enhances Brand – Through social media you can build and enhance your online reputation
• Builds Credibility – User generated endorsements are more credibility than traditional advertising
• Increases Traffic – A well-planned social media strategy will drive more traffic to your website
• Engages Customers – Connect with your customers and respond to their feedback in real-time

WSI has developed a comprehensive "Social Media Strategy Kit" that will smooth the way for launching a social media strategy for your company. Download the Cover Page and Table of Contents to gain a sense of how complete this document is.

Contact Michael Richards at 636-244-3684 to learn how you can acquire this 65 page social media strategy kit for your company.

Understanding the different message types for the four social media portals that we are reviewing will help you target the right demographic, as well as the most appropriate delivery of your message for each portal.

Here are some basic characteristics of Twitter, LinkenIn, Facebook and MySpace.

Twitter:

Twitter loves rumors and intriguing calls to action
Does not like pictures
Links in your posts will feed growth
Repeat postings are a must to be seen and heard

LinkedIn:

Loves factual content
Q&A section is a must
Used to like only I.T. people, but now enjoys variety
Likes on-to-one conversations more than broadcasting messages

Facebook:

Updates are a must
Pictures keep it happy
Video's keep it somewhat happy
Games, games, games
Does not like selling outside of it's own plugin

MySpace:

Music
The more friends you feed it the more it likes you
Loves self promotion
Flashy attracts it more than content

Of course these are generalizations, but you can begin to see where certain messages might be more applicable, and more effective as a result. Experiment a bit with your social media endeavors. Social Media marketing is new frontier in Internet marketing.

Finding quality SEO services is critically important, because it lays the foundation to being found for your products and services. If people can find you, they can buy from you. If not … well, you know the answer to that one.

There is a massive gulf between the best SEO companies and inexperienced ones. It is easy to “hang up a shingle” and announce to the world that you are a Search Engine Optimizer, but it is much harder to deliver quality traffic that converts.

Spending your marketing dollars wisely is one of the most important decisions you will make as a business owner. Demand quality SEO services.