The (marketing strategies) Role of Social Bookmarking in Marketing your Website
By Mercedes Aspland
Have you seen the social bookmarking symbols on web pages and wondered what they are all about? The aim of this article is to explain what social bookmarking is and how it can help you to market your business on the internet.
What is Social Bookmarking?
Social Bookmarking websites are those that allow us to keep our favourite sites online rather than in the favourites section of our web browser. The biggest advantage of this to the user is that it means you will be able to access your favourite sites from any computer and even possibly your mobile phone.
The other advantage is that you can use social bookmarking sites to search for relevant topics and find information. For the user this can have a distinct advantage over using search engines. Why I hear you asking? Well the main reason is that search engines rank their result by using a computer program. However social bookmarking sites will rank their sites on popularity, so how useful they are to the user. This will enable you to find the most useful sites in a certain topic as determined by other web users.
Most social bookmarking website will group sites together under tag which are similar to keywords. These are usually broad and so are best used by people that are searching for general topics rather than specific information.
The Main Players
Probably the main social bookmarking sites are Del.icio.us, Digg and StumbleUpon. They all have their different qualities and will be used by different groups of people.
Del.icio.us - This is probably the biggest social bookmarking site and really kick started the use of social bookmarks. This is very easy to use and to integrate with your browser which makes it quite popular. It is possible to make sites either private so that you do not need to share them and also public.
You can search bookmarks of other people and if you like what they do you can add them to your network. This will allow you to very quickly see what bookmarks they are posting.
Digg - This is also a very large social bookmarking website that allows you to set up a full profile giving information about yourself and what you do.
StumbleUpon - One of the most interesting of the social bookmarking sites out there. As with the other sites you can set up a full profile adding as much or as little information about you as you want.
This site works quite well as it allows for a lot of interaction between different users. Not only will you be able to become fans of other user and they fans of you, but you will also be able to make friends. This adds a lot for of the social networking functions that you see on sites like Facebook and Myspace. You can set up your own blog and keep all your friends informed on what you are doing.
Addition features include the ability to have sites that are in your top pics and those that you have just discovered, this give more colour to what you do than on other similar sites.
How to Use Social Bookmarking Sites for your Website Promotion
The first thing to consider is that if your site appears on a social network then it will create a valuable backlink to your website and so help your search engine rankings. On the idea of search engines, it is also worth thinking about the fact that they consider social bookmarking links when raking your site. The more links you have from social bookmarking sites the more popular your site. This says to the search engines that you are more important and so they will take this into account when raking your site.
Also think about the traffic that these sites get and the people that will see your links. You can get valuable traffic coming to your site directly from the social bookmarking websites if you are posting your links accurately.
Now lets consider the best way to use these sites:
1. Make sure you tag your website and any other relevant pages on as many social networking sites as possible.
2. Encourage visitors to your site to bookmark your site and pages if they like them
3. Get on the social bookmarking sites and network with people who have may be interested in your business.
Conclusion
Social Bookmarking is fast becoming one of the most effective ways to market your online business. When you consider the fact that it is free it is a great thing to get into. I will make one proviso here though, dont just bookmark your site, include other sites that you find interesting. This will keep people interested in your profile and not just see you as marketing your business.
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The Logical Way Of Marketing Through The Internet
What is the Essence of Affiliate Management
By Prince Kumar
If you have a product that you want to sell, whether it’s an e-book, audio or video, it’s usually a very wise idea to create an affiliate program around it.
If you have an affiliate program for your product, you will get a ton of traffic that you would not normally have received.
The reason is because a lot of people will promote your product for you when you’re paying them a commission to do it! For more helps visit on www.affiliate-directories-online.com, Would you rather have 100 people buy your product from you? Or would you rather have 100 affiliates when each has a hundred people buying your product from them?
It’s a no-brainer when there can be a better way to boost your income by leveraging on the combined efforts of hundreds of affiliates to sell for you. This demand for a better way creates a market for affiliate management software which makes the whole process of setting up, recording and releasing commissions so much more…well, manageable.
Without such software, you would never have been able to get the amount of traffic and sales multiple promoters could give you, compared to achieving it all by yourself. It would have been impossible to ‘promote’ every customer into an affiliate automatically. Talk about missing out on an exponential effect on your financial bottom-line!
Let’s begin with explaining what an affiliate program is.
An affiliate program is a way to offer partners who are interested in promoting your product or service a share of the profits generated after they make a sale. Your affiliate partners are “commissioned salespeople” who will take your marketing message to their audience, convince them to buy from you, and then get paid a proportion of the profit they create for your business.
The advantage of having affiliates (or associates) build your business and help you with marketing is that you have no upfront expense to cover. Apart from setting up an infrastructure to manage affiliates and create marketing material for them to use, you pay nothing until after a sale has been made. Contrast this with conventional advertising where you pay first, and then hope you make enough sales to make back your investment. Another benefit is you can reach an audience through your affiliates which you otherwise wouldn’t be able to by yourself. This multiplies your reach and can explode your sales and profits.
Unfortunately, despite the benefits, running an affiliate program is not as easy as it seems because the symbiosis or synergistic relationship between affiliates and merchants is not always and fully understood. The most successful programs are based on mutual respect, open dialogue, and proper recognition and reward for success.
The affiliate management software can only go so far with proper reporting of up-to-date statistics like number of impressions, click-throughs, leads, sales, 2nd-tier affiliates and others on a monthly and daily basis Or go on www.success-affiliate-marketing.com. But of course it wouldn’t be called an affiliate management software if it can’t process these data, so there are features that affiliate managers must look out for and diligently evaluate before they prepares to invest in a software. Affiliates would want to know what statistics are available so that they can determine how well they are succeeding.
On the managers’ part, they are obliged to provide all the sales tools and material affiliates need to sell their products as effectively as possible. This is not easily done because:
1) they become lazy 
2) they presume affiliates know what to do.
Affiliates must feel they are well equipped to sell the merchants’ products because even if they have not reviewed the products themselves, only the merchants know their stuff best and how to present them to the audience in the best possible light.
Besides the standard affiliate link, the tools for online promotion include banner graphics, e-mail messages, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, a giveaway viral report, a review article, PLR articles, testimonials, one-time offer (OTO) page, forum signatures, press releases, popup HTML codlings and other affiliate marketing suggestions affiliates can take up.
The truly successful affiliate managers are the ones who can respond and better still, pre-empt the kind of help affiliates typically ask for, thus providing an optimal level of support affiliates require, leading to every possible sales conversion whenever the opportunity arises.
Successful affiliate programs have dedicated personnel that work with the affiliates to ensure that they have the tools that they need, the reporting that is required, and to ensure that they are compensated fairly and in a timely fashion. Again these services are either provided to the affiliates by an individual or team that works directly for the merchant, or by an independent affiliate management company. Either solution is acceptable to affiliates providing that they receive the level of support that they require.
Providing that the affiliates are successful in delivering prospects to merchant-customers that convert into paying customers-and they earn money, they will continue to promote them, and the more that they earn, the better the promotion is likely to be. Online affiliates have a set amount of “real estate” on their sites for promotion-they of course have to provide content to their visitors-and this is allocated to those merchants from whom they earn the best return. In return, the manager can reward better-performing affiliates according to the results they have achieved.
To keep affiliates motivated, merchants should work with them to create incentive programs and special events that will provide them with opportunities for increased recognition and revenue; for example, increase affiliate commission for a certain time period. They should also take the time to communicate with them whenever possible to help them with their promotions. One method is to publish regular affiliates-only newsletters that contain their statistics for the week/month, affiliate marketing tips, product and promotion updates, and interviews with successful affiliates etc. Your affiliates will never forget they joined your program.If you have a product that you want to sell, whether it’s an e-book, audio or video, it’s usually a very wise idea to create an affiliate program around it.
If you have an affiliate program for your product, you will get a ton of traffic that you would not normally have received.
The reason is because a lot of people will promote your product for you when you’re paying them a commission to do it! For more helps visit on www.affiliate-directories-online.com, Would you rather have 100 people buy your product from you? Or would you rather have 100 affiliates when each has a hundred people buying your product from them?
It’s a no-brainer when there can be a better way to boost your income by leveraging on the combined efforts of hundreds of affiliates to sell for you. This demand for a better way creates a market for affiliate management software which makes the whole process of setting up, recording and releasing commissions so much more…well, manageable.
Without such software, you would never have been able to get the amount of traffic and sales multiple promoters could give you, compared to achieving it all by yourself. It would have been impossible to ‘promote’ every customer into an affiliate automatically. Talk about missing out on an exponential effect on your financial bottom-line!
Let’s begin with explaining what an affiliate program is.
An affiliate program is a way to offer partners who are interested in promoting your product or service a share of the profits generated after they make a sale. Your affiliate partners are “commissioned salespeople” who will take your marketing message to their audience, convince them to buy from you, and then get paid a proportion of the profit they create for your business.
The advantage of having affiliates (or associates) build your business and help you with marketing is that you have no upfront expense to cover. Apart from setting up an infrastructure to manage affiliates and create marketing material for them to use, you pay nothing until after a sale has been made. Contrast this with conventional advertising where you pay first, and then hope you make enough sales to make back your investment. Another benefit is you can reach an audience through your affiliates which you otherwise wouldn’t be able to by yourself. This multiplies your reach and can explode your sales and profits.
Unfortunately, despite the benefits, running an affiliate program is not as easy as it seems because the symbiosis or synergistic relationship between affiliates and merchants is not always and fully understood. The most successful programs are based on mutual respect, open dialogue, and proper recognition and reward for success.
The affiliate management software can only go so far with proper reporting of up-to-date statistics like number of impressions, click-throughs, leads, sales, 2nd-tier affiliates and others on a monthly and daily basis Or go on www.success-affiliate-marketing.com. But of course it wouldn’t be called an affiliate management software if it can’t process these data, so there are features that affiliate managers must look out for and diligently evaluate before they prepares to invest in a software. Affiliates would want to know what statistics are available so that they can determine how well they are succeeding.
On the managers’ part, they are obliged to provide all the sales tools and material affiliates need to sell their products as effectively as possible. This is not easily done because:
1) they become lazy
2) they presume affiliates know what to do.
Affiliates must feel they are well equipped to sell the merchants’ products because even if they have not reviewed the products themselves, only the merchants know their stuff best and how to present them to the audience in the best possible light.
Besides the standard affiliate link, the tools for online promotion include banner graphics, e-mail messages, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, a giveaway viral report, a review article, PLR articles, testimonials, one-time offer (OTO) page, forum signatures, press releases, popup HTML codlings and other affiliate marketing suggestions affiliates can take up.
The truly successful affiliate managers are the ones who can respond and better still, pre-empt the kind of help affiliates typically ask for, thus providing an optimal level of support affiliates require, leading to every possible sales conversion whenever the opportunity arises.
Successful affiliate programs have dedicated personnel that work with the affiliates to ensure that they have the tools that they need, the reporting that is required, and to ensure that they are compensated fairly and in a timely fashion. Again these services are either provided to the affiliates by an individual or team that works directly for the merchant, or by an independent affiliate management company. Either solution is acceptable to affiliates providing that they receive the level of support that they require.
Providing that the affiliates are successful in delivering prospects to merchant-customers that convert into paying customers-and they earn money, they will continue to promote them, and the more that they earn, the better the promotion is likely to be. Online affiliates have a set amount of “real estate” on their sites for promotion-they of course have to provide content to their visitors-and this is allocated to those merchants from whom they earn the best return. In return, the manager can reward better-performing affiliates according to the results they have achieved.
To keep affiliates motivated, merchants should work with them to create incentive programs and special events that will provide them with opportunities for increased recognition and revenue; for example, increase affiliate commission for a certain time period. They should also take the time to communicate with them whenever possible to help them with their promotions. One method is to publish regular affiliates-only newsletters that contain their statistics for the week/month, affiliate marketing tips, product and promotion updates, and interviews with successful affiliates etc. Your affiliates will never forget they joined your program.
www.master-affiliates-marketer.com
www.ppc-profit-marketer.com
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