headermask image

header image

One of Those Days

October 6, 2008 – 4:42 am

Ever have one of those days when you look at all you have done, be it offline or on, and wonder what am I doing here and why am I doing it?

Today is one of those days.

Over the last year, I have invested a ton of time and money into this blog, and for reasons I will not go into, I have seen very little in the way of return.

Frankly, I am sick of it.

I am sick of this blog, and the effort it requires.  It consumes my time and returns NOTHING, not even personal satisfaction anymore.

I was going to just take it down this morning, but then I thought there might be a few of you who would want to grab some of the info here.

Copy all you want.  When I come back next time, I’m going to erase it.

D

Blog Master | Business infomation | Comments (0)

Why and How E-mail Viral Marketing Works

September 4, 2008 – 10:07 am

What does a virus have to do with marketing? Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands and then to millions.

Public health nurses offer sage advice at flu season: stay away from people who cough, wash your hands often, and don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. Viruses only spread when they’re easy to transmit. Viral e-mail marketing works great on the Internet because instant communication has become so easy and inexpensive. Digital format make copying simple. From a marketing standpoint, you must simplify your marketing message so it can be transmitted easily and without degradation. Short is better. Remember the K.I.S.S. standard….Keep it Simple Stupid.  The shorter and easier to remember is always better than long and complicated.

Clever viral marketing plans take advantage of common human motivations. The desire to be cool and greed drives people. So does the hunger to be popular, loved, and understood. The resulting urge to communicate produces millions of websites and billions of e-mail messages.

Most people are social. Nerdy, basement-dwelling computer science grad students are the exception. Social scientists tell us that each person has a network of 8 to 12 people in their close network of friends, family, and associates. People on the Internet develop networks of relationships, too. They collect e-mail addresses and favorite website URLs. Affiliate programs exploit such networks, as do permission e-mail lists. Learn to place your message into existing communications between people, and you rapidly multiply its dispersion.

If you can design a marketing strategy that builds on common motivations and behaviors for its transmission, you have a winner.

Blog Master | Blog Monetization, Blog Ranking, Blog Rankings, Business Tips, Business infomation, Traffic and SEO, blog optimization, blog ratings, blogging tips, viral marketing | Comments (1)

How to Get and Use E-Mail Addresses for Viral Advertising

September 1, 2008 – 7:01 pm

Viral marketing has an array of possibilities and ways to achieve your overall goals.  However, just like everything else, pre-planning and the right setup to create success, are the things you will need to make it work for you and your e-business.

The first thing you want to be sure you don’t do is get over-zealous.  The one thing you need to avoid at all costs is spamming. Spamming is still used widely, but with the government establishing more restrictions and fines you don’t want this to be a problem for you.  The professional image of your site will also suffer if you send mail blatantly.

Spamming requires a database that contains a huge list of e-mail addresses set up so that the message can be delivered with one click.  The problem with it (aside from the governmental restrictions and associated fines) is that it irritates the recipients and kills the validity of your campaign, which in turn kills the factors that would motivate someone to refer your site.

You need to personalize by creating your website with personal appeal.  You must see to it that your website makes your customers feel safe, secure and cared for.  E-mail is important, because it is going to be one of the most affordable ways to keep in touch with your customers.

The proper way to handle email permission is to first let your customer know that you will not transmit their e-mail addresses to third party companies. The next thing to do is to attach the need for their e-mail addresses to benefits they can receive.

For example: Coupons or discounts that are only available to members who receive e-mail notifications. With each e-mail you send the viral marketing effect takes place.

Blog Master | Business Tips, Business infomation, Resources, viral marketing | Comments (1)

Using E-Mail to Achieve Your Viral Marketing Objectives

September 1, 2008 – 8:34 am

Viral marketing is an integral part of any strategy that is used to achieve objectives.  It is not the objective itself. If the main objective of an e-mail campaign is branding, in order to achieve greater branding success you craft your message or offer in a way that it encourages ‘pass-along’.

Producing a message with a quality offer or an incentive for pass-along is what viral marketing is all about.

Just suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and relatives is not viral marketing.  A message at the bottom of your e-mail that reads “Feel free to forward this message to a friend” is nowhere close to viral marketing at its best.

On the other hand, if something worthy of sharing, such as a valuable discount, vital information, additional entries into a sweepstakes, an added discount or premium service, a joke/cartoon, or a hilarious video, is included in the e-mail, viral marketing happens naturally and quite successfully.  Naturally is the way you want it to happen.

The bottom line is that your message must be perceived as having value.   Relevant or timely information, research, or studies are all good examples of content that might be viewed as potential pass-along material.  Interactive content like a quiz or text can inspire forwarding, especially if it is fun. Personality tests, fitness quizzes, or compatibility questionnaires are all things that have been passed on by many people many times. Why?  Because they are entertaining and entertainment has value.

A multimedia experience is always going to achieve some pass-along.  Someone is always touting the benefits.  It is a bit more of a time and money investment but the messages have a great appeal and rich media has the advantage of being new.  The tech factor alone is often enough for the message to be perceived as valuable.

Blog Master | Business Tips, Business infomation, Resources, Traffic and SEO, viral marketing | Comments (0)

The Many Facets of Viral Marketing

August 31, 2008 – 2:50 am

In the beginning,  it started as e-mail signatures.  Since then, viral marketing has gone from a marketing strategy to an art form, and there are many ways to accomplish the objective of creating a successful viral marketing campaign.

Seven of those ways are:

1. E-mail: It was first but it is still around and still used. It is, however, getting a little harder to use as more and more government restrictions are placed on it.  Still… it does work.

2. Newsletters: This is an extension of e-mail but it a very effective tool.  If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter can drive up the number of visits to your website.

3. Blogging: Providing the tools on your website to enable bloggers to interact with one another is a terrific way to get the message about your product of service out there and being talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.

4. Chat Rooms: A chat room on your website can and does encourage interaction among your customers and that can’t be a bad thing. Also, you can use the chat room to schedule special events like having an expert available to answer questions on a given day at a given time.

5. Tell-a-friend Script: If you add this with a statement saying that e-mail addresses supplied will never be shared with third parties, you can increase your potential customer list greatly.

6. Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website will keep the interest up and increase traffic.

7. Flash Games: Although they are a little costly to start, they are an extremely effective tool to get your viral marketing campaign going. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.

Blog Master | Blog Monetization, Blog Ranking, Blog Rankings, Business Tips, Business infomation, Resources, Traffic and SEO, blog optimization, blog ratings, blogging tips | Comments (0)



Search Engine Placement



Warning: stristr() [function.stristr]: Empty delimiter in /home/dnkstore/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wassup/wassup.php on line 2093