Category Archives: Internet Marketing Strategies

Using Google Adwords Pay per Click Advertising Tool to Drive Targeted Traffic to your website

If you do business over the internet through your website, then one of the most important things you are going to need is targeted traffic. On the internet, traffic is king. Without targeted traffic, your web business is dead on arrival. But with more targeted traffic comes revenue.

Today, i just don’t want to talk about generating web traffic. I want to focus on generating targeted traffic and the system we will be leveraging to achieve this is Google Adwords Pay per Click Advertising tool. One of the goals of setting up a website for your business is to attract target traffic that will in turn buy whatever you have to offer.

I have seen entrepreneurs spend their hard earned resources buying mass traffic that made them nothing. One attribute of success is to watch what the failures do and do the opposite. So instead of chasing shadows in the form of mass traffic, why don’t we channel that same resources and energy to attracting targeted traffic using Google adwords pay per click advertising system as a tool.

Getting your business and products in the face of customers requires a strong marketing plan and the implementation of this plan requires money. One good way to spend business capital is by buying result producing advertising slots.

Right now, i can’t think of an advertising system that can fetch you targeted traffic other than Google Adwords. Google Adwords pay per click is one of the most popular advertising system on the internet.

In using Google Adwords, you will be required to pay a certain amount of money per visitor sent to you by Google. The amount to pay per visitor is not static but dependent on the competitiveness of the keywords you are using to find potential customers. Each time a person does a search relating to the keywords you chose, your ads will appear.

One good thing about using Google Adwords is this; you don’t pay a dime unless they send you targeted traffic. This means that if they send 100 visitors to your website per day, you get to pay for those 100 visitors regardless of how often your ads is shown. Isn’t it cost effective?

Another good thing about using the Google Adwords pay per click advertising system is that aside from Google displaying your ads, your ads also be featured on their other search networks. These networks includes sites like, AskJeeves, AOL Search and Netscape. These sites also show Adwords ads that react to searches done by visitors.

There are also content networks, non-search engine sites out there that feature Google Adwords; they will also display your ads. But your chosen keywords will determine which content network will feature your ads. The frequency of display of your ads will also be determined by your allowed budget. So no matter your budget, Google Adwords can accommodate you.

To get a good estimate of the web visits to buying ratio, it is advisable to target your traffic by choosing only keywords that is related to your website content, products or industry. Google Adwords also has a keyword tool that will help you select the best keywords for your website. It also provides another tool that will help you determine the cost per click of each keyword you are targeting.

 

With Google Adwords pay per click advertising system, you are sure that every click on your ad is a potential customer that is precisely looking or interested in what you have to offer. Please ensure that your Google Adwords ads has the right keywords so that you can drive targeted traffic to your website.

Using Google Adwords pay per click advertising system to drive targeted traffic to your website will prove to be very beneficial to your business both in the short and long run. The benefits are high with the cost relatively justifiable, many other companies including mine can attest to that.

So if you are not on the Google Adwords bandwagon, you better get on it fast. A word is enough for the wise. Good luck.

How to Use the Alexa Web Traffic Ranking or Rating Tool to Track Your Internet Marketing Success

If you have been in the internet marketing game for sometime, you must have heard of the alexa web traffic ranking tool. I have heard of alexa rating too but i never made use of it until January 2010. Do you run an online business and you don’t know about Alexa web traffic rating tool? Then it is time for you to have a rethink.

The Alexa web traffic rating is a system that ranks websites according to its popularity. Though not a 100% perfect tool, it is a bench mark for tracking your internet marketing success. The alexa ranking system runs from one to infinity; where the most popular website carries a lower rating.

For instance, as at 17th of April 2010, Google.com has an alexa web traffic rank of 1. Google was closely followed by FaceBook.com with a rank of 2 and Yahoo.com with an alexa ranking of 4. It means that the lower your alexa rating or ranking, the more popular your website.

Let me briefly illustrate how the alexa web traffic rating can help your internet business. Using myself and business as a case study; i use the alexa web traffic ranking as a bench mark to monitor my marketing efforts on the internet. I use it as a tool to track the progress of my company on the internet. It can also be used to set future goals and targets.

The Alexa web traffic ranking tool is also used by advertisers to determine your website visitors and page views. This will help them estimate how much an advertising slot on your website is really worth. It means that the lower the alexa internet ranking of a website, the more money advertisers will be willing to pay for a slot on that website. This will in turn result to an increase in revenue for the website.

To use the alexa web traffic rating tool, you must have an active website. Using my website as a case study, i will share with you how i used the alexa internet ranking to its advantage.

This website, www.StrategicBusinessTeam.com was launched on the 7th of October 2009. I was so busy trying to make sure this website gets off the ground that i never paid much attention to monitoring its external progress.

Note that internal progress can be monitored using your Stats tracking tool which is sometimes provided by your web host. But you also have to track your external progress such as backlinks, page rank and alexa ranking.

When our website internal operations normalized by December 2010, i remembered alexa web traffic rating tool and decided to check how our website was faring. When i checked, lo and behold; we were ranked somewhere in the range 6,000,000. This was very poor and it got me thinking.

As my company’s chief of strategy, i set a six month goal to achieve an alexa web traffic ranking lower than 1,000,000. Of all the strategies i formulated, my top priority was to deliver quality content in an easy to understand format. With God’s help and a dedicated team, this is how far we have fared:

Date: 2010           Alexa web traffic ranking

January                                range of 6,000,000

February                              within the range of 3,000,000

March                   1,333,879

On the 12th of April 2010, we hit our target of ranking below 1,000,000. On this day, we reached an alexa ranking of 937,889. I congratulated my entire team on this land mark achievement. We were supposed to achieve this in six months but we did it in less than four months.

After the celebration, i set a new six month goal for my team to get our website in the alexa top 100,000 sites. This is quite a big challenge because we will be competing against the well established web based companies; but i know we can do it. I have overhauled my strategies but delivering quality content in an easy to understand manner remains my top priority.

This is just an example of how you can use the alexa web traffic rating tool to inspire yourself and your team. For me, the race is still on. As at the last check on 25th of April 2010, www.StrategicBusinessTeam.com has an alexa web traffic ranking of 811,657. That shows that we are on the match.

Now that’s for me and my team, what about you? The earlier you begin to use the alexa web traffic rating tool to your advantage, the better for you and your business. Good luck.

Internet Marketing Strategies For Beginners: Marketing Your Small Business On the Internet

Today marks the beginning of a series on internet marketing strategies. This series is going to be strictly for those who are interested in marketing their small business on the internet. But before i kick off, i want to make the beginners feel at home with this series.

So today, i will be dealing with internet marketing strategies for beginners. Now what is internet marketing? Internet marketing is simply the art and science of finding and keeping customers using the internet as a medium.

Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective internet marketing strategies can be extremely difficult. This can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing, not to talk of the newcomers.

With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing banner ads, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.

Now why do you need to market your business on the internet?

You see the internet is a huge network of computers linked together in a world wide web and behind each computer is al least a potential customer. The internet connects nothing less than 3 billion individuals across the globe. That makes it a really huge market place.

Now how does this affect your business?

Take a moment to reflect on the answer to these questions. What if your business competitor is marketing on the internet and you are not? That means his business will have access to 3 billion potential customers. What will be the difference between both of you? This article will answer these questions and examine some subtle ways you can begin marketing your small business on the Internet.

One of the most basic strategies to marketing your business on the internet marketing is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.

Having a live website means there is the potential for curious internet users to access your website. You may not be actively marketing your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors; this is a form of passive marketing.

Below are Basic Overview Of Internet Marketing Strategies You Can Apply When Marketing Your Business On the Internet. I will be ripping each of them open as we go further in this Internet marketing series:

Banner Ads:

Banner ads are another popular option for advertising/marketing your business on the Internet. Banner ads are advertisements which typically appear along the top of a website but it may also include smaller ads in other locations. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement. Once a user clicks on the ad, they are directed to your website. This type of advertising can be very effective when care is taken to place the advertisements on high traffic websites which attract an audience who may have an interest in your products.

Sending out e-newsletters:

Sending out e-newsletters is also a part of the numerous effective Internet marketing strategies we have. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, useful quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.

Email marketing campaigns:

Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. Another way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.

Participating in Discussion Boards or Forums:

Savvy small business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards/forums to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts. However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing which result from message board participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.

Search Engine Optimization:

Finally, optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject.

This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. Therefore if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic.

At this stage, i believe the word ‘beginner’ has been removed from your neck. I officially welcome you to the world of internet marketing. Till i come your way again, fasten your seat belt and prepare for the accelerated growth of your business.