Posts Tagged With: marketing
· March 31, 2008 at 5:19 am · Interviews
There is no doubt in my mind that Internet marketing and search engine optimization are playing a larger and larger role in a webmaster’s life. A few years back, you would put up a web site and hope for the best. These days though, you must really study and learn several aspects of the marketing game if you want to stand a chance.
Marketing in general has really always excited me, so I thought it might be a good idea to talk with somebody who does this as their day to day business. Daryl Kennedy is the VP of Operations over at TechWyse Internet Marketing. When approached about the interview - my first thoughts were “Whoo hoo! Now I can pick the brain of somebody who really understands this Internet marking stuff” and I have to say I was not disappointed.
How did you find yourself in the Internet marketing world? Most people on the web want to get to the top themselves in popularity. You guys specialize in helping other people make a name for themselves.
Daryl: Getting into the Internet marketing world for myself was quite by accident. I have always been a resourceful person. I have always enjoyed efficiency and understanding new technology. After being in the business of developing web sites, I decided it would be far more resourceful to learn and understand the newer search engine phenomena then hit the streets cold calling which was far more traditional.
After studying search engines for about 6 months, I quickly found that by following search engine principles I could get our own company on the first page of Google, Yahoo! and MSN rather easily. Ironically, many other companies across North America and especially Toronto, Canada began noticing themselves! Since this was clearly a way for companies to begin to generate revenue they began asking me to help them in the same way.
Read the rest of this entry »
· February 27, 2008 at 6:55 am · Online Tools
I have friends that come to me and say…
"Ok Mitch, I got a Twitter account, now what?"
Many people look at Twitter and either don’t understand it or use it to give me a summary of what they had for breakfast (just in case you were wondering, I had toast). Here are five ways of twittering your way to success:
- Share with me one of your bookmarks, or an article on a site you found interesting today
- Grab a photo from your Flickr (or any other photo sharing service) site and link me to it
- Plug your own blog, projects and work so I can check it out
- Use a service like Twitter Feed to bring your other RSS feed content into your Twitter account
- Invite your interesting friends, that you think should be twittering
If your looking for your first friend on Twitter feel free to use me:
http://twitter.com/mitchkeeler
I once was one of those people who thought that Twitter was nothing more than a waste of time. I am happy to say though I am a full fledged Kool-aid drinker now. Honestly I see no reason why any person or company shouldn’t be doing this. From a marketing stand point alone it is another great way to get yourself out there.
· September 12, 2007 at 6:47 am · Web Development
Always willing to try a new thing, if you have not noticed lately we have had a number of great guest postings here on Mitchelaneous. From copywriting to Ubuntu - I think it has been nice to see a few new posts from another opinion here on the web site. Apparently so do you - because the number of page views over the past few weeks has gone up.
Want to get a few guest writers on your own web site? Here is something to keep in mind.
Make sure you go after your friends first. If anybody will be willing to help you out, it will be the people that know you best. After that - recruitment might move into the realm of blogs you like to read or people who like to read your blog. All I did was post the offer or deal out there, and I have been more than happy with the result. Read the rest of this entry »
· May 31, 2007 at 7:55 am · Personal, Web Development
If you have several mildly successful Web sites, how can you gain even more attention and readers without doing much work? Well, one technique I have been doing since day one is self promotion. Think of it as loving yourself when nobody else wants to do so.
Learn to Love Yourself
Now we all put links back to our own Web sites and projects. There is nothing new or different about that advice. If you have several dynamic Web sites though, you can plug links in that will lead to real content and not just give you another link or two. Let me explain.
Thanks to a few WordPress plugins here and there, I have at the bottom of my three major Web sites links where you can find “other work” I have done. So if somebody was reading this for an example and thought, “Damn that Mitch is pretty cool, where can I find more of his work?” they have it right there for them.
Thanks to that and to me linking to my other projects - I bring more links into myself than anybody else on the Web. In a way, I guess you could think of me as my own little “network” of Web sites with each one promoting the next one in the circle.
No Super Tool To Help You Here
There is no special extension or super plugin that will help you make this happen. You just have to use a little imagination and the tools that are available to you. Remember you are giving your visitors just a little more content - not an advertisement.
· May 21, 2007 at 5:00 am · Hot Web Topics, Web Hosting
Now there is no doubt that launching a neat video on the Web is a good way to get attention. The question is, why aren’t more Web hosts doing it? Searching through YouTube there are only a handful of Web hosts that have tried to go down this route. A few of them look like they might have made out big as well.
For the best example, check out this video:
+ YouTube - Hot Girl + Web Hosting = WTF!?!?!
At the time of me writing this, this average (a little boring for my tastes) video has gotten 89,927 views. Web hosts, that could be more than “just a few” new accounts. Now I’m off to go search for a female mascot/spokesperson for the Web Hosting Show. Any volunteers?
· May 14, 2007 at 9:44 am · Hot Web Topics, Web Development
Want to be the best of the best? Well if you are ignoring all of the social networking that is being done out there you are missing out on a lot of big chances to expand your audience and bring in a few new customers, readers, or listeners - depending on the business you are in. Here are a few proven social networking tips I have either used myself or seen used by others.
1. Building Your Brand via the Social Networks
If you have a brand that people like, chances are they will want to be your friend on these various different social networks that are out there. There days there are more and more MySpace and Facebook profiles based around businesses, podcasts and important people on the Web.
2. Make Friends With People Like Yourself
Find like-minded people and friends and add them to your lists via the different social networks out there. This way you are building a little network of people who are just like you and probably will enjoy anything you write or post about. Don’t just go adding a million random people just for the sake of adding people. Find people who you think would interested in what you have to say.
3. Share Your Posts and Content Via the Social Networks
Use the message posting and sharing services they provide to your advantage. MySpace has the “Post a Bulletin” where you can pimp your goods. Facebook has the “Share a Link” function that does much of the same thing. Post teaser links (giving a little ‘bit of information) and a link to go back to your own Web site.
4. Use Widgets and Gadgets to Pimp Your Digital Goods
Take advantage of some of the RSS gadgets out there you can add to places like MySpace to spread the word about yourself. You could use FeedBurner’s headline animator or something like SpringWidgets - where you can put a flash powered RSS reader right on your profile.
5. Add a Player for your Podcast Promotion
Podcasters - there are a number of flash mp3 players you can use as well on MySpace and other social networks that let you plug in custom code. One of my most favorite ones is the one that Odeo produces. Check out my list of the five best podcast players to get a couple of more suggestions.
6. Watch the People Watching You With MyBlogLog
One of my favorite networks out there, MyBlogLog provides you with a little widget you can put on your Web site that shows other MyBlogLog members who are visiting your Web site. Not to be one to show the trap door in the hat that the rabbit is being pulled through - but this is a good trick to make yourself look more popular than you really might be.
7. Add a Link to your Forum Signature
Forums are those social networking tools before social networking had a name. Adding a few link to your signature (if allowed via the forum rules) is a good way to get some links coming back into your Web site too.
8. Add Your RSS Feed to Facebook
On Facebook you can plug your RSS feed right into your profile. Just edit your “Notes” section and include that they should be importing from your RSS feed of choice. Word of warning though, if you post like 20 messages a day you could be getting yourself into trouble. Might just want to include your “light” RSS feed here.
9. Stumble Yourself on StumbleUpon (and get others to stumble you too!)
Make sure you get your most popular content and Web sites listed on StumbleUpon in one way, shape of form. They will deliver you a boat load of traffic (if you content is good) and they also have a pretty cool advertising service as well.
10. Always Digg in Moderation
To digg or not to digg - is that really a question? Now I am not going to tell you to submit everything you do to Digg. Most people find that very annoying and it could get you blocked from the service. It is good to have an account there though so you can meet like-minded people and you can also watch (and interact if you must) when something of yours makes it to the top of the list there.
11. Include a URL on Your Profile Picture
Create a profile icon or picture for the services you sign up for that has your URL on it. This might sound like a cheap form of advertisements - but the more often you can get people to see that URL - the more likely they’ll give it a visit or at least have it stuck in the back of their head to use at a later time and date.
12. Add a Link Back to All of Your Various Projects
More likely than not, all of these services allow you to list at least one link back to your Web site or Web project - take advantage of that. Make sure you include your links and give them descriptions as well so that people know what they are clicking to.
13. Don’t Forget Your Subscription Links
When you include your link to your Web site on one of the social networks out there, also make sure that you list your RSS feed as well. You might put that little orange icon next to each link so people know how to subscribe to you content. You might also include the “Add to Google” or “Add to My Yahoo” type subscription buttons as well to make it easier for people look at your link to subscribe via their subscription method of choice.
14. Is Your Project Social Network Friendly?
Do you have something that others might want to share? Online comics like bLaugh are a good example of this. Right on the Web page, you are given an little “embed code” so that people can share your link on the Web via any social networking service.
