Inexpensive Internet Marketing

 

CUTTING CORNERS?

Are you guilty of cutting corners? You know, using software to spin articles for your web content? There are many Internet marketers who are able to perform the required tasks for their business without losing that personal touch. There are others with limited time and no ability to take their business to the next level.

In short, if you are building an Internet marketing business, you need to create a business that is personal, respectable, and profitable. There are times when cutting corners is just fine and times when you should avoid doing so at all costs.

It can be difficult to know when to cut corners and when you should not. What we mean by cutting corners is quite simple:

 You are using robots to do a job that is supposed to be personal or one-on-one.

 You are not interacting with your readers on a personal level because you do not have the time to do so.

 You are using software to do the tasks that a human should be doing for your website.

 You are not checking the quality of the content or of the messages after using such software.

Everyone is concerned with their bottom line, but if you hope to grow your business profit-wise, you need to focus on what will make your reader click, buy, or sign up. Getting a website up and hoping to make a few dollars a month from AdSense is simply not enough. The good news is that you can get your website up and running –inexpensively- and still have a website that is performing well.

NO SOFTWARE? NO WAY

It goes without saying that using software to manage your website is a must. But there are times when you need that personal touch. It takes minutes of your time or the time of someone you hire to do the work for you, but it makes a lasting difference in the hands of your readers.

The key is to know when to use software and when to use humans to do the work for you. In this book, we will talk about all of your options and give you pointers on making more money with less investment.

2. WHEN TO USE SOFTWAREWHEN TO USE SOFTWARE

Internet marketers are one of the most targeted individuals when it comes to software products. The more well-known you become in this industry, the more product offers you will get. There are definitely advantages to this, such as being the first one to review products or to getting the leg up on the other guy. But which types of software do you end up using? Which types of software should you invest in?

In the end, the investment into any type of software needs to pay you back by increasing your profits in some way. If it makes your job easier, that may be a good investment, but only if that means you will be able to invest more time into your business.

Think of it like this. You are a manufacturer of steel drums. A company comes along wanting to sell you a great new tool that is supposed to make it easier to cut the steel. It does not save you time. It does not do a better job than what you are already using. But you do have to pay for it. Do you buy it? Most likely you will not since there is no real way to recoup the cost of doing so.

The same is true for Internet marketing software. Purchase what is going to make you money. Even more so, you may not need to purchase it since there may be a free version out there that is just as beneficial to you. As you can see, you should never invest in a product until you have done extensive research on it.

Let's talk about some of the top software products you could be using. These items can help you to save some time and help you to increase your profit margin. Check them out.

EMAILING SOFTWARE

One of the most important things you can do for your business is to have constant communication with them. When someone visits your website, learns about what you offer, and signs up for your email list, you can draw them back to your website time and time again through effective email marketing.

To have effective email marketing, you do need to have some type of software to organize the process for you. Autoresponders or other forms of emailing software can be an ideal investment. They keep bringing interested customers back to your website, minimize the amount of time you spend

emailing clients, and give you a forum for communication with those most likely to respond.

There are many things to look for in this form of Internet marketing software, including:

 Look for an easy opt-in system; the process should be automated so that you do not have to manage it.

 Look for a program that manages opt-outs too, since this is a legal requirement.

 Track your campaign. How many respondent emails went through? How many opt-outs did the message get? Find out what type of tracking the software offers to you.

 Personalization features can also be quite helpful for those who want to communicate with their sign-ups.

 It needs to be reliable. A product that does not work or fails to send messages because it is too complex to figure out is unlikely to actually help you with your email marketing campaign.

Internet marketing software that handles your email marketing campaign can be an ideal investment. You do not have to spend a lot to get a decent product. More so, you likely do not need to invest in a lot of features, especially if you are unlikely to use them.

DOMAIN NAME DATABASE MANAGEMENT

Some Internet marketers have ten, twenty, or even more websites to manage. What is happening on one of them can be completely different from another. As you can imagine, having this many domains can make life a bit more complex, especially if you hope to get the most out of each one. Before you invest the time in each of these that you need to, you may want to consider some software applications that can manage your domain names for you.

These programs can do many things for you.

 Some will monitor the activity at the websites you input into them to help you "watch" your domains.

 Server problems are reported to you quickly so that you can handle them. It alerts you when the server fails the ping test.

 Monitors when domain names are expiring so that you can avoid losing them.

 Spot problems within the domain so that you can handle them, such as when they point to an invalid IP.

In addition to this type of service, there are other software programs that can help you to come up with domain names for your websites. If you want to learn about all the websites that relate to the one you are hoping to create, these programs will tell you. They can help you to find the most appropriate domain name for the goals you have.

These programs are often referred to as domain name analyzers. Your investment in them is really dependent on the number of domains you plan to buy and invest in. If this directly relates to the way you are running your Internet marketing business, it can be a good investment.

KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS

Keyword research is something that most Internet marketers spend some time on. Keywords are what drive the industry after all, so having the most up-to-date and top quality keywords is critical. But do you need software to find them?

In a way, yes, you do. You want to be able to know what is being used online, and the only real way to know that is by using a program that can tell you. But there are many free keyword research tools that can be quite effective. In fact, some of them are able to give you thorough results that are as detailed as you would like them to be.

No matter if you use a free or a paid keyword research software program, there are several things you want to keep in mind when using it. Before you invest your time….

 Look for a program that gives you a long-term view of keyword usage, since many topics are seasonal. A 12-month historical search trend output is really the best.

 Automatically recommended keywords through an analysis of a page is also a helpful service.

 Keyword depth: this is not just about the simplest form of the keyword, but about the most detailed usage. This is the best way to build your site since it gives more direct results with less competition.

 For those using or developing an AdSense campaign, knowing the cost of such keywords is also important. Some of the better keyword research tools give you estimated cost and competition levels so that you can compare them right away.

 Delivery of the keywords is also important. You need something you can work with, such as an Excel spreadsheet.

 How many terms are listed is also important. Some programs only give you the top ten, which is not as effective as a thorough display, especially when you are looking for long-tail keywords.

 Regional options. Some keyword research tools give you a nice geographic region display, which can be helpful in some Internet marketing campaigns.

It is highly recommended that you find and use a top-rated free keyword research tool rather than pay top dollar for them.

Also keep in mind that there is a level of human interaction needed here. You need to have someone make decisions about which keywords to use, how to use them, the importance of each one, and whether the keyword even remotely fits into your company's website or your Internet marketing theme. This is a human-only job!

MORE TOOLS TO CONSIDER

While we have listed some of the more commonly used software tools for the Internet marketer, there are others that are definitely worth investing in (or just using). Take a look at the following types and see if they could work to improve your business model:

Competitive Research Tools

These tools help you to find out more about your competition. Specifically:

 Learn which websites are using which terms

 Find out how websites using similar keywords to you are ranking in Google

 What are the competitor's rankings worth?

This is a nice software tool for analyzing where your business stands as compared to your competitors. The only time to invest in such a tool or software program is if you will use this information to better your business.

Local Ranking Tools

If you have an Internet business that is directly related to the local marketplace, then knowing where you stand in the local market can be very important. There are some decent tools on the market that can help you to accomplish this.

They often provide you with:

 Information on which top rated sites are affiliated with your local area

 Some provide help with finding links to top-ranked Google websites

Again, the only benefit to using this type of software is if you will use it to better your business, not to just drool over the competition.

Duplicate Content Checker Tools

Another type of tool you do want to invest in is something that will help you to ensure that the content on your website is authentic, original, and not duplicated elsewhere on the Web. There are two reasons you need this tool.

First, it will help you to find websites that may have stolen your information. Since duplicate content can cause your website to rank lower, it is important to know about other sites that stole information from your website so that you can have those sites remove that information and/or even have them shut down.

Second, if you are hiring someone to do the work of writing your content for you or you are doing it yourself using other online resources, it is incredibly important to know if the information is going to pass duplicate checks or not. These tools can help you to do that.

You can find some very affordable software products to do this, with nearly free costs to them. You should not have to pay top dollar for these types of software, but it is recommended that you do use them!

3. WHEN NOT TO USE ITWHEN NOT TO USE IT

There are some people who will tell you that using spinning software is just fine. There are others that will tell you that you can use automated article writing software to craft your pages for free. These people may be promoting those products, and you will want to see them for what they really are - sales people, not Internet marketers.

To be truly successful at Internet marketing, you do need to invest in software to help you, but you should look for programs that can enable you to better communicate with your readers, rather than tools that try to create short cuts for you.

There are many of these products available, some with promises that you will never have to pay more than $5 to get all of the articles you’ll need for your websites. The problem with this type of software is that it lacks the human touch, and this is blatantly obvious.

Before you invest in this type of software and use it on your website, there are several things you should know about it first.

CONTENT SHOULD BE HUMAN WRITTEN

First and foremost, any web content that is placed on your website represents your business. It is what gives that first impression to those who visit your website.

Imagine searching Google for computer speakers. You wind up on a page that provides you with articles that do not make sense. You see ads for speakers, but the website seems to be lacking real information. Do you feel like buying from a website like this? Will you even bother clicking on an ad here or will you just close that site and choose another from the search engine results page instead?

If your content is designed to be read by human eyes, then it should be written by humans, not by software. There is no software program available today that will be able to pick up on the small intricacies of language and human interaction.

ARTICLES AND SEO

If you do use article spinning software or other forms of software for this purpose, it is incredibly important that you actually invest time in fixing the finished articles. Some Internet marketers use this type of software for the simple reason of building their SEO. If you do this, there are several things you need to do before you post those articles at your website or elsewhere online.

1. Ensure that you proofread and fully edit any page that comes from article spinning software. This is critical since it ultimately determines if the content is usable online.

2. Fact-check anything that is produced. Small changes in the content's wording could make statements untrue or inaccurate, which could cause problems for you.

3. Run plagiarism and duplicate content checks, even if you think the content is 100 percent unique. There is no way to tell this until the pieces are carefully compared.

4. It is not an endless process. In other words, it is not possible to keep spinning one article an endless number of times. There should be some limit or the finished article won't relate to the topic any more.

5. If you are using these articles for search engine optimization, you will need to go back and add keywords in places. This can be time-consuming in some instances.

GO WITH HUMANS

In many cases, it is just better to pay a few cents per word to pay a profession to write the content you need. In many ways, this is the best route to go since it decreases the amount of time you’ll have to spend on the process and it enables you to have content that you’ll feel confident about putting on your website.

It may cost a bit more to use people to write your articles and content, but the finished, top quality will bring in more sales and sign-ups than any type of spinning software can do. The follow-up on your end is often needed in any of those applications to make them effective for your business.

4. CHEAP INTERNET MARKECHEAP INTERNET MARKETING TIPSTING TIPS

Since we want you to have all of the tools and tips you need to develop your Internet marketing business successfully, it is important to provide you with some cheap ways to grow your business. Here, we want to show you just how affordable it is to use software and online tools to help you to build your business without compromising the quality of your website.

IF your website is not reader-friendly, chances are high that no one will stick around long enough to sign up. All of your time investment will be wasted then. Instead of making that mistake, incorporate some of these highly usable tools and programs instead. They are likely to help your business to grow and become more profitable without sacrificing your customer in the process of doing so.

USE RANKING TOOLS

You need your website to rank well in the search engines, especially in Google. Therefore, you want to use tools that can help you to rank better, such as the keyword research tools we have already discussed. Search engine optimization is more than just a few keywords, however.

 Learn where to use keywords

 Learn how often to use them

 Find out how to use long-tail keywords

 Invest in keywords that deliver results for your business in a local market

In other words, get your website ranking well in Google and in the other search engines if you hope to do well in Internet marketing.

USE FREE BLOG SOFTWARE

Having a blog on your website is one of the least expensive things you can do for your business that will also provide the greatest impact for your business. These websites really deliver in terms of providing you with usable tools that allow you to stay connected with your readers. Blogs do not cost a lot, or even anything, in some cases. But they do provide you with a way to accomplish several key things:

 You will always have fresh content on your website

 You can use a variety of keywords to rank well for all of them

 You can communicate with your readers, answer questions, and find out what they need.

 You can use RSS and other tools to drive people back to your website

Blogs are simple tools to use as well. They do not require a lot of time, but they do require a human touch. Do not use spinning software or article creation software here. You will not get the traffic and readership you want and need from the blog if you do.

YOUR WEBSITE’S TOOLS

Does your website or blog provide you with a lot of tools or features that you have yet to take advantage of? If so, you are not alone. Many people do not take full advantage of all the tools that they have there.

Check out your website's tools and find out which ones can benefit you. One of these tools can track the pages visitors are landing on. These tools are great because they tell you just what your customers are looking for.

 Are they going to the About Us page? This signals that they want to know whether they can trust what you have to say or not.

 Is a page pulling readers away from the landing page? For example, do you have links on your home page that are keeping people from getting to your sign-up page?

 Where do people go once they get to your website? This could show you why they came to the website in the first place.

 How did they get to your website? Was it a Google search, a link from someplace else, or perhaps even from an email that you sent out to them?

Check out the tools you may already have and are not using. Can they help you to build your email list? Could they help you to improve your search engine optimization? They may even be able to help you to tailor a website that is more user-friendly.

What is even better about doing this is that you are either already paying for these tools or you have bought them anyway through your domain name purchase. In other words, there is likely no additional cost to you for using these tools.

ARE YOU SOCIAL?

Beyond anything else, one of the best free tools and software programs you have at your fingertips to promote your business is social networking. There are many ways to be "social," but the key here is that they are virtually all free to use.

The only drawback that people may have to social networking is that you cannot (or at least should not) use any type of automated method here. It does need to be true human interaction, since this is what will create the bond that you need to grow your business.

If you are not sure how well social marketing and networking will work for your business, check into some of the following websites. Use them. Get to know some people there. Build your profile at the website. Then you will be likely to see traffic coming in easily from it. These social websites will not cost you a thing except for some moments your time, but they can provide real worth to your website, including the ability to increase your profits.

1. Digg.com: Submit your blog posts. Network with others there to grow the readership you have.

2. Twitter.com: Send out short, 165-character messages to your followers. Interact with others. Include links back to your website when something there is interesting.

3. Facebook.com: Are you updating your profile and sending out messages about promotions there? It takes minutes, but also connects you to people around the world.

4. YouTube.com: Do you have a marketing message to share with the world? Post it on YouTube.com, then send links out on your other social networking websites to the YouTube.com link. Or incorporate the link into your blog or website.

These are just a few of the online software tools available to you, all of which can help you to boost your business and your bottom line without costing you a thing. Yes, you have to use human interaction here, but it pays off when you do so.