Sunday, March 28, 2010

Marketing On-line

I have been learning how to market on-line for about 5 months now. It has definitely been a learning process. Anyone who says you can make $10,000 a month by work 30 minutes a day is either lying or a veteran marketer. I find myself spending, at least, 30 minutes a day just answering messages and emails.

I am learning how to automate some things but I am not a very techie person. So, this in itself is quite time consuming. Teaching yourself how to market and save time actually takes up quite a bit of time. For me, educating myself is the most time consuming task I am doing.

There are thousands of programs out there that claim they are the best at their speciality. Whether it be auto-responders, list builders, splash page makers, banner makers, or traffic exchanges, they all claim to be the best. You could spend days sifting through each of these specific areas trying to find what you think gives you the best quality at the best price. And yes, there are some free programs.

So, how can you save time picking which program is going to work for you? Whatever your business opportunity might be, you need to find a person who is successful in that program and find out what that person is doing to succeed. If you can pick the brain of someone who is succeeding, you are one step ahead of the game. Plus, this will save you loads of time investigating the different programs. I guarantee this person is using good programs.

Let's say you now have your programs picked out. Now you have to learn how to use each program effectively for your personal marketing campaign. This can usually be learned by watching tutorial videos or reading the information. Again, this will take time.

For me, I am learning something new everyday about marketing. While I am learning how to use these programs, I am still finding time to do some on-line marketing. Otherwise I feel I would be at a stand still. So, my business is still growing as I am learning how to effectively market. I guess it is kind of hit and miss for me but I am getting some results.

I feel I am a typical average person who wants to improve my life with extra income from on-line marketing. I have another income but I would like to replace that income with a nice residual income from my on-line business. It's a great dream. I get frustrated because I feel it is taking so long to learn everything. I don't believe in doing something half way or I would just stick with my hit and miss marketing. I want to learn how to do it right. I believe I have found the right tools and I am heading in the right direction. Now, I just have to find the time to learn how to use these great tools.

So, let me close with an old saying "You can't rush success." I don't know who said it or when but it is true for me. Or, what about this one "Patience is a virtue". Wise words that I am trying to live by in my day to day life of learning how to become an effective on-line marketer.

Monday, March 22, 2010

OVERWHELMED

Has it happened to you? You finally find the opportunity you were looking for and suddenly you become OVERWHELMED. There are many things that can Overwhelm a person. The main thing is finding the time to promote your new opportunity. If you are like me, your spare time is limited. I find myself staying up later so I can work online to promote my new opportunity. This, of course, makes me even more Overwhelmed as I am tired the next day.

Last week I decided I can't do it all. I have grown my personal referrals to a respectable level. So now, I want to help those referrals grow their personal business. I have been concentrating on helping each referral "Brand Themselves" and start their own promotions online. This has included building "Landing Pages" and "Banners", with a quick lesson in promoting on "Traffic Exchange Sites". Plus, a short tutorial on how to build your Facebook and Twitter friends list. Because with today's online presence, social media is still the best FREE advertising a person can receive.

So, this week, I am feeling much better about myself. It's only Monday but I all ready feel, as if, I have accomplished more today than I did all of last week. It has been said over-and-over if you help others succeed, your success will follow. Well, I am here to tell you, besides that well known fact, it really feels good. So, Stop what you are doing and HELP YOUR TEAM. Maybe the good feelings you get will make you feel not so Overwhelmed. It worked for Me!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Social Media In One Year

Where will Social Media be in one year? This is a relevant question which is on every ones mind. From the independent Internet ranking company, Alexa, the top 4 sites are social media sites: 1.Google; 2.Facebook; 3.Yahoo; and 4.Youtube. These top 4 sites have been in the top 10 for quite some time now.

Why is this question relevant? Well with the influx of social media sites popping up every other day, at least it seems that way, it is important to know where to spend your time when you are online. Where will you get the most "bang for your buck", as they say. This is a good question. If you are marketing on social media sites, where should you concentrate your time to get the best results?

Twitter is now ranked at number 12 and one time Giant Myspace has slipped to number 18. I point this out because 2 years ago all you heard about was Myspace. That was the number one social media site with not much competition and no one had heard of Twitter. So, will all this competition be good for social media or will it just become a watered down system of random posts? Well, in my opinion, that is what Twitter is all ready. There is not much flow to the posts and they are definitely random. To have a conversation, you have to dm the person you are wanting to make contact with if you want to make sure they see the info. Is Facebook much better? At least at Facebook, you can respond to a post and it will be linked to that specific post. Thus, a conversation is formed.

So, where is Social Media headed in the next year. There are several new companies on the horizon and making a push to get noticed. The flavor of the day is Geostring.(ranked 13,604) They are trying to lure in members by paying them a $10 sign up fee. Of course, you can't get paid until your account reaches $100. Most members will quit before this happens. I am, also, hearing a buzz about Swom.(ranked 2186) They are calling themselves the social network for marketers and home based businesses. I am not sure what that means but I think I will pass.
Then you have the one year old company Peoplestring.(ranked 898) I think this is a company worth watching. Their Alexa rating has climbed over 300 points in the last 2 months. This is going to be the first Social Network to be traded on the stock exchange as a public company. The company is all ready sharing 70% of its ad revenue with any active members. The company will pay its members when their account reaches $25. Plus, the company is now fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter. So, over the next year Peoplestring is the company to watch. I believe 2010 will be the year Peoplestring changes social media as we know it today.

So, if you are a marketing using social media to build your business, I suggest you use the social media site which is paying its members, Peoplestring. You can link your account to two major players in social media. And, get paid for doing what you are all ready doing each day. This is a win / win situation for you. Good luck and happy marketing.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Internet Marketing Tool Traffic Exchanges


I have posted a page on this topic.

Please follow this link: Internet Marketing Tool Traffic Exchanges.

I hope you enjoy the post. If you are having success with other programs, please leave a comment and tell me all about it.

Thanks and happy surfing!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Branding Yourself

You here it over and over. BRAND YOURSELF. This is the one element of success all the "gurus" seem to agree upon. For some of us, it takes a while to understand this point. I was a little slow myself understanding what this truly means. Finally, I think I get it. So since I didn't truly understand the concept, I am sure there are others out there who are like me. So, today I want to talk about BRANDING.

The first thing you have to know is you can't be shy. Get yourself a camera and take a nice photo of yourself. Make sure you like it because you are going to use it everywhere. Some people, like me, don't really want to put a photo of themselves on their account. You will see their kids, their dog, their cat, their car but people want to see YOU. I compromised, I am using a photo of me and my kids. (for now)

The second thing you have to do is put all your accounts in the same User Name. This was a mistake I have yet to correct everywhere. Now I am using Catherine D. White. At first I was just making up different names for each account: CDWhite, Cathy White, etc. All me but this can cause confusion with your followers. Pick the one name you want to be known by and stick with it everywhere. Luckily some sites now let you change your user name.

Start your social BRANDING by getting accounts at all the major social networks. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Google, Peoplestring, Linkedin and more. You have to get your face out there to get your business opportunity exposed.

I recently found a traffic exchange site that is combining Social Integration with Traffic Exchange. I was amazed at how easy it was to use the program. This gives you the contact information at your fingertips. What a great concept developed by John Guanzon at Thumbvu.
Now you can actually meet the people whose ads your are clicking. This site just gives you another opportunity to Brand Yourself.

The bottom line is this: Get your name and your picture out there on as many web pages as humanly possible. Then watch yourself rise in the google rankings. Which reminds me, have you googled yourself yet? If you are not in the top 10, you have not been branding yourself. If you need more tips, contact me at catherinedwhite@peoplestring.com I will be glad to help.