The Changing Face of Search Engine Marketing

The Changing Face of Search Engine Marketing

A Quick Review: Search Engine Marketing?

For those of you who are new to SEO – Search engine optimizarion is a type of Internet Marketing that has one main objective – increasing visibility of your website so that when users search for a topic, product or service they find you!  If you can get strong and powerfully effective SEO you are almost guaranteed to increase volume of sales, purely because volume of web traffic increases.  It is simple cause and effect:

INCREASED SEO + WEBSITE EXPOSURE = HIGH WEB TRAFFIC = INCREASE SALES

Many people hire specialized firms to boost SEO, however, it is a good idea to have a firm grasp of the basics so that you are not taken for a ride if you outsource your SEO.

Introducing Bing Powering Yahoo Search

The Internet landscape is set to dramatically transform.  There is a new search engine in town, threatening to give the almighty GOOGLE a run for its money.   BING offers quite a few innovative new options for search engine marketing.  Basically, according to the experts, BING has everything that GOOGLE has and more.  The only catch is because it is relatively new, it obviously does not currently outperform GOOGLE and has yet to create a similar, all consuming presence on the virtual Internet landscape.  However, considering how FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE and TWITTER have rapidly exploded onto the Internet marketing scene – Microsoft’s BING is almost certain to be the next big thing.  BING is essentially a decision-making search engine, because it provides the user with the opportunity to

• View related searches
• View a brief section of the possible document or visual

More effectively and specifically optimize providing enhanced search engine marketing opportunities

Search Engine Marketing Tips…

Focusing on Website Architecture

Set up your content pages so that information is sectioned into logical segments over many pages, rather than hitting all of your content on the homepage or first link – create a highly structured and logical journey for your user.  Think of your website as a gradual unfolding and revelation of information, rather than an instant and overwhelming blast.

Start with an overview or introduction and go into detail as the user navigates further in to your site.  Use strong tags to highlight keywords in the body of your text.  Your keywords should be in the content of your website text - don’t rely on flash players or banners to attract the search engine crawlers.

Organize your content with header tags and bold these tags

For example:

<h1>TOP AFFILIATE PROGRAM - CLICK KINGDOM</h1>

Focus on keyword placement.  Keywords work best as headings and subheadings.  Use keywords quite sparingly in content.  The new generation browser’s bots, such as BING and GOOGLE, will view ‘over stuffed’ keyword content as inferior writing and shun accordingly.

Ensure that the code in your website is structured so that web browsers and search engine crawlers will find the content that you want found – use keywords in your sitemap descriptors and select relevant images – search engines will be looking for visual content. A free great tool for creating site maps can be found here.

Have high quality inbound links placed frequently throughout your site and refer to, and explain, the value of these links to your user.

All of the techniques that you currently use, or that currently work, with Google, will work with Bing – Bing just adds new options so that users can get their information more quickly and easily.

• Make sure you register your website with Bing Webmaster Center Tools and Google Webmaster tools
• Keep your content high quality – well written and keyword optimized

Google and Bing have excellent articles that go in to far greater depth on this topic – simply run a search and start reading!  Or if you are a more visual learner, go to YOUTUBE and start searching.  You could start with - “SEO using BING”.

Marketing tips post from Click Kingdom

Promoting Products using Video Marketing
YouTube.com is the second largest search engine in the world.  It is absolutely crazy not to take advantage of this!
Here’s one of our examples…
YouTube.com/ZENMED
Why is video marketing so effective and successful?

• Before you race ahead and start creating videos to sell your products, you need to understand a little bit about why this method of marketing is so effective.
• We live in a visual world - and the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” still holds true.  Images get ideas across far more quickly and simply than words.
• Video marketing is a cheap and affordable.  Once you have downloaded the software, it really should not cost you much to create multiple videos and post them on a regular basis to YouTube.com to market products.
• Using a search engine like YouTube.com gives you instant access to a massive network of potential customers. 

Getting the right software
You can spend as little or as much as you like on the software and equipment that you will need to create a video marketing product. 

• Outsource it and pay someone to do it for you - There are loads of video marketing services available that will take a written article or product description and convert it to video format for you. 
• Free software is available or software with free trial periods.
• Video editing software allows you to create a professional looking YouTube clip quickly and easily – for example:

Sony Vegas Movie Studio
Adobe Premiere Elements
CyberLink Power Director

Tips for a making a great video marketing clip

• The more professional your clip appears, the more it will be noticed and valued.  This will attract higher levels of web traffic and get you a strong ‘following’

• Have a neutral background and create a banner or sign with your product name – or wear it on your T-shirt while you are presenting

• Speak clearly, carefully and with expression.  Don’t speak too slowly or too quickly and use pace and pause for dramatic effect.

• Use smiles, hand gestures and expression to make your subject interesting. 

• Be concise.  Quick.  To the point.  Fast.  People want information NOW… you only have moments before they close your link down.  DON’T BE BORING.  BE ORIGINAL AND INTERESTING.

Steps to uploading your video on to YouTube.com
Go to www.youtube.com and hit the sign up button to create an account

There are several options, each offering a wider and more complex array of functions, but you will probably want to start with a standard account.

You tube will allow you to upload most video formats

Your bandwidth will be 320 x 240 – basically this simple bandwidth gives you a wider audience base because then more people can access your clip

Log in to your new account and select Upload Video

Enter a description of your video – this is where you should put your affiliate link to direct traffic to your affiliate and generate a commission

Chose the option which makes your clip public and enable users to leave feedback

YouTube will convert your video to flash animation

You will be able to see your URL code to send your video to users and you will also be able to access your HTML code so that you can insert your video on to a webpage or a blog.

Creating an angle…

• For enhanced web traffic and high volume user attention, you really need to ‘grab’ the interest of your target audience with an interesting angle.  AND DO IT FAST…

• The description for your YouTube video will be indexed by search engines so make it effective and to the point.

• Try to think of connected topics or issues that can be related to your product.

• For example – If your description is ‘Get Gorgeous Skin’ you are far more likely to tempt users to click your link than simply writing a product name, or buy product x.

• Use Humor and Comedy

• People share YouTube clips because they are funny.  If you can think of a humorous sketch or scenario to promote your product – go for it!

• Human Interest or Celebrity

• Connect your product to a celebrity or newsworthy story

OVER TO YOU…
THINK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBE CLIPS. 

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THEM THAT GRABBED YOUR ATTENTION OR MADE THEM INTERESTING OR SPECIAL?

SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND COMMENTS HERE...

Online Marketing tips from Click Kingdom

Social Media Marketing – CREATING PERSONAL CONNECTIONS…

Generally, consumers are pretty savvy. They know when they are being directly marketed, and usually, they resent it. Using Social Media Marketing (SMM) strategies to promote your affiliate links can be a wonderfully subtle, and indirect, way of strongly promoting your domain and creating a steady flow of web traffic to your affiliates.

But be careful! Social media marketing only works if you are able to establish a genuine and personal connection with users. Social Media is hugely popular and, if used strategically, has the ability to transform your business and rapidly expand your affiliate traffic.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media is a powerful tool that you can use to create a domain PRESENCE, MONITOR consumer trends and CONNECT with a wide consumer base. Social Media includes –

• Social Networks – Facebook, MySpace
• Microblogging - Twitter
• Blogging - Blogspot
• Media Sharing – YouTube, Flickr

IS SOCIAL MEDIA HERE TO STAY?

Social Media Marketing, SMM, is an area of digital marketing that is literally exploding. The majority of all large companies devote a massive 40% of their advertising budget to digital campaigns and for small business this figure is even higher.

Erik Qualman, in his excellent article ‘Statistics Show Social Media is Bigger Than You Think’ compares the rise of social media with the Industrial Revolution. According to Qualman, “Social media represents a fundamental shift in the way people communicate, it is transforming the world”.

THE FACTS…

1 BILLION … … Internet Users globally

250 MILLION … … Facebook users

200 MILLION … … Blogs posted

18 MILLION … … Twitter users

HOW DO I USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR AFFILLIATE MARKETING?

The cornerstones of any social media marketing strategy should be making personal connections, sharing real life experiences and following a genuine community-based approach.

• PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
• REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES
• CREATING A COMMUNITY

The core essence of social media is the virtual conversation. You simply cannot come at social media from a hard marketing perspective. You will alienate, and bore, your audience. They will switch of and skim to the next interesting and informative link or post.

If you are blogging, or tweeting or video sharing, you need to be able to create a personal connection with your audience. And there is a sure fire way to do this. Be genuine. Follow the following principles:

1. Write about what you know

2. Relate your product to your actual life experiences

3. Expose your values, beliefs and culture

4. Think outside the box

5. Think laterally

6. Explore hot topics, burning social issues and newsworthy items

7. Share useful, funny and informative information

HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA CREATE AFFILIATE CONNECTIONS?

You can use social media to drive web traffic to your affiliate links and to create a virtual following to penetrate your chosen market.

Social Media is a highly effective way of vividly capturing the attention of your target audience.

YouTube

The idea here is to do a short product review or ‘How To…’. YouTube allows you to place a URL in the description box of your video clip. This will allow you to direct the viewer of your YouTube video to your main domain, and then onwards to your affiliate.

STEP 1 - Create YouTube Product Review or How To…

STEP 2 - Insert a link to your domain

STEP 3 - Redirect traffic to your affiliate

Flickr

Create a Flickr pro account. Cost = $30 per year. The idea here is to upload pictures of products. The description box accepts URL so you can put your affiliate link in the description box. If someone is searching on Google for a particular product, your image will come up in the search response. Images jump out at the user more than text, so they may click on your picture.

STEP 1 User performs Google search – e.g. Black tie

STEP 2 Your image comes up

STEP 3 User clicks on picture of you wearing the black tie

STEP 4 User follows your URL link to affiliate to buy tie

Twitter

A Tweet is an extremely short ‘micro’ blog. You are limited to 140 characters. The idea here is to create a following by making personal and genuine connections with your audience. You can place your links in Twitter and connect them to your blog. Don’t just advertise, think of a short and catchy tweet and then connect the user to your affiliate link further down the track.

STEP 1 Create short ‘tweet’

STEP 2 Build a following by connecting with your audience

STEP 3 Insert affiliate link

SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS…

Social media is about the process more than the destination.

Although you hope that ultimately your user will take a look at your affiliate links, this should not be your main goal. It is ultimately the virtual experience that you create for your user that counts.

Take them on a visual journey, get their interest, and make them want to return to your social media spots. People need to care about, and be interested in, the content of your social media topic. If you can build real and personal connections you will be able to increase traffic to your affiliates, make your user happy and make money!

New Flash Banners are available

We are excited to announce we have just added some new Flash Banners to Click Kingdom. These new banners are General Skin Care Banners for ZENMED.com, they make a great addition to any site and are available in four sizes

• 728 x 90 Leader board
  
• 300 x 250 large rectangle
  
• 160 x 600 large sky scraper
  
• 120 x 600 normal sky scraper

Here are some examples, but we always recommend you log in to your click kingdom account or visit our banners page directly to get your code with tracking information.

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