Keepers Step-by-Step Guide To Kick-Starting Your Internet Marketing Campaign!
The World of Internet Marketing is huge. If you haven t yet dipped your toes into the water, you should. That s the purpose of this e-book; to show you exactly how to set up the main avenues of Internet Marketing, and how to Kick-Start your Internet Marketing Campaign. Did you know that the vast majority of Internet Marketing is free?! Blogging is free, Social Networking is free, sure; email costs a little bit, but it s well worth it. What I m trying to say is that Internet Marketing is hugely cost-effective. Think of how much it costs to send out a piece of Direct Mail to, say, 100 of your customers. I can guarantee that, with email, not only will it be cheaper, but it could also increase the response rate; it s a lot less effort to do something online than it is to do it practically. This means that for each response you get, it s cost less, so will make you more money! More and more businesses are establishing a presence for themselves online, and it s no wonder; the internet is constantly evolving, sprouting new opportunities for businesses to grow and expand. So; are you ready to take the jump? If you are, keep reading, and I will show you how to set up a Blog, a Facebook Page, a Twitter Account, and a LinkedIn account. Oh, and there ll also be some goodies at the end of this e-book, which I would highly recommend using to increase both the productivity of your time, and the amount of fun you have!
The Art of Blogging The word Blog originated by combining the words web and log. A Blog is, therefore, a log of what you do, published on the web. There are a vast number of professionals on the Blogosphere, and their incentives for being there vary largely. There are professionals that use Blogging to develop and grow their businesses, through adding value to their reader s lives, either by showing them how to do something, or keeping them informed on the latest news in their industry. Some of the top Business Bloggers give their opinions on the latest news, as well. For example, when the Budget came out this year, there were a huge variety of Blogs with different opinions on the effects the Budget would have on us. There are also Professional Bloggers, who do a variety of things with their Blog; they either use it literally as a web log, to publish what they have been doing or to give their opinions on different subjects. Obviously there are a lot of other ways this particular type of Blogger uses, and this type of Blogger will usually be Blogging either for the money, or to build up their personal Online Presence. Overall, there are a huge variety of blogs on the internet. I would suggest, to get the most out of a Blog (business-wise), to talk about news happening in your industry, any promotions you may have, and anything you can teach the visitors that will add value to their lives.
So; do you want to know how to set a Blog up? The software I m going to show you how to do it with is Wordpress, which I have been using for quite some time, and would highly recommend. The first step is to go to http://www.wordpress.com. On this page, to the right, you will see an orange button that says Sign up now. Click on this, and you will be directed to this page; Once you have filled in all the fields, make sure that Gimme a Blog! in selected, and then hit Next. It will then ask you what you want your Blog Domain name and Blog Title to be. Bear in mind that with both of these fields, you want to include some of your Keywords. After you have done this, click the Signup button. Wordpress will then send you an email to activate your Blog.
Once you have clicked the link in the email Wordpress sent you, you will be sent to a landing page that tells you your account is now active. Click Login, and enter your username and password. You will then be taken to your Dashboard. Now, have a look at the picture below; I ve annotated the main features of your Dashboard. And now it s time for you to write your first post!! Click the link that says Add New Post. Wordpress will then take you to where you will be spending most of your time; the new post section. The interface here is pretty fool-proof; you have a title section, main body, categories, and you can just see Post Tags, which is what Keywords you want to optimise your post for. Once you have written your post, all you have to do is click Publish, and it s live! Your very first Blog Post! Now, bear in mind; this is not where my help stops regarding Blogs. If you need more help on Blogging, please feel free to have a look at my Blog, which has lots of tips to making the most out of your Blog. You can find these posts at http://keepersacc.wordpress.com/category/e-marketing/blogs/
Email Marketing Email is probably the best form of Online Marketing there is. It is one of the few methods that does cost money, but the return you can get on this if you do it properly is amazing. When talking about Marketing Emails, there are a couple of different types of users. You have the Businesses that are trying to make money directly from their email list, through selling their products on it, and you also have businesses that use email simply to form a stronger relationship with their Clients/Prospects. When you are trying to get the most out of your email list, I would suggest sending the recipients highlyvaluable information that is relative to them. This will add value to your reader s lives, and will make them more open to doing business with you. So; let s set up some software that you can use. The software that I m using, and will use to show you how to do it, is ConstantContact. To start, either click the link above, or type in www.constantcontact.com into your browser. On the homepage, you will see a link that says Try it 60 day free trial. I would suggest that you click this rather than buying it straight out, just so that you can get familiar with it and decide if ConstantContact is the right software for you.
Once you have clicked the link, you will come across this page; All you need to do here is enter all your personal information; name, country etc. This is also where you will choose your User Name and Password. Once you have completed all the fields, click start trial. ConstantContact will then send you an email, and you need to click the link in that email to activate your free trial. Once you have done this, go back to ConstantContact and log in. under that tab, click Create. You will then be taken to the dashboard, if you like, of ConstantContact. This is where it will bring you every time you log in. So; let s get started on your first email! Firstly, click the yellow tab at the top named Email Marketing. Then, just You will then be asked to enter a name for your email. Bear in mind, this is only a reference for you; none of your readers will see this. After you ve named your email, click the next button. After this, it will ask you whether you want to use the new email wizard, or the classic. I would recommend using the new email wizard, so click on this and then next again. You will then be taken to a screen that has around 300 different templates that you can use. Take some time to have a look and see which one you prefer, as it is best to stick to a certain template for a while; just so that your readers get used to it.
Once you have picked your template, click next. Now is where you get down and dirty, creating your email! Have a look at this picture; this is what you will see (will be slightly different if you chose a different template obviously!) Add blocks is where you will add different sections of your email. The title block usually has your Company name, and the date. The article block is the main body of your email, and the signature block is obviously where you say goodbye, and possibly add a Call To Action. The icons on the blocks, from left to right, do this; edit block, copy block, delete block. When you edit a block, you will also notice towards the bottom a section called insert, where you can insert pictures, links, or some HTML. So; this is where I will stop regarding emails. Remember; on my Blog, if you ever get stuck or want some tips to help you improve, there are lots of posts regarding emails and how to get the most out of them. Go have a look: http://keepersacc.wordpress.com/category/e-marketing/emails-emarketing/
Facebook Facebook is probably one of the most-used social networks for businesses. But, it s not used in the way that other forms of Internet Marketing are; the basic idea of Facebook is to interact and build a relationship with your fans, whereas other forms of Internet Marketing may be leaning towards the sales side a bit more. Facebook is also a great place to make your marketing go viral. Viral basically means that it has been shared, shared again, and again, and again, so that it reaches far more than your target audience. The best way to make this happen is to run some sort of competition through your Facebook page; but remember to make sure that the competition is relative to your business. So many businesses are already reaping the benefits that Facebook can bring them, and with 400 million members, it is the largest Social Network, and a good place to start your Social Network Marketing. Right then, shall we set up a page? I am going to assume for this that you already have a personal Facebook profile, but if you don t, it s easy enough to set one up; just go to the Facebook Homepage and enter your details in the sign-up form. So, one you ve set up/logged in to your Facebook account, you need to type Create new Facebook Page into the search bar at the top. The result that you want to click will be one with a Facebook logo, or, to save all that hassle, you could just click this link!
When you are at this page, you need to choose what sort of page you want to create, and the name of that page. I would suggest that you start with a basic Local Business page, and remember to include at least one keyword in your page title. Once you ve confirmed all of this, you will be taken to your page, which will look very bland and boring. The first thing you need to do is to add some pictures of you and your business. Do this by clicking Edit Page, which is under where your logo will be. On this page, click edit under the Photos section. It will then ask you to create your first album. When creating your album, remember to include Keywords wherever you can, but avoid stuffing them too much! In the description tag, write a short description, and then re-read it, and replace certain words with Keywords, so that it still makes good reading sense. So, once that s done, go into your album, choose the picture you would like to use as your profile picture. When you are viewing the picture, there will be a link under it that says Make Profile picture for Page. Right, now you ve got some pictures, it s time to enter a short bio about yourself. Underneath your profile photo, you will see Write something about [pagename].
This is where you put your bio; what you do, how long you ve been doing it for, why you are on Facebook, and any links that you want people to click. After you ve done this, it s time for your first post. This is the area you use to update your status. As you can see, you can attach video, pictures, a link, and an event if you wish. Where it says what s on your mind, click here and this message will disappear. This is where you will write your status. For your first status, just say hello, introduce yourself, and let people know what to expect from your Page. Once all this has been done, you need to get your first few fans. There are a few ways to do this, but the best is, if you were already on Facebook, ask some of your friends to join. Simple! If you weren t, consider emailing some of your friends or business colleagues. You can even incorporate your Facebook page on your business cards if you wish, and a lot of companies have started doing this. And that s it on Facebook pages! If you need any further guidance on this, once again, there are plenty of helpful posts about Facebook on my Blog, ranging from getting fans to getting the best response from your audience. It s all here: http://keepersacc.wordpress.com/category/emarketing/socialnetworking-e-marketing/ Once you start getting your number of fans higher, and start interacting with them, your page will look something like this - As you can see, I promote my Blog on Facebook as well, and I would highly suggest that you do to!
Twitter Twitter is seen by many as the platform to engage on if you re a business. The reason for this is that Twitter is growing is size hugely, and that the users are usually more responsive than on other Social Networks. The main feature of Twitter are the Tweets. These are basically updates, but limited to a maximum of 140 characters. Because of this, many Twitter users now use URL shorteners, which reduce the size of a URL to around 20 characters. There will be more about URL shorteners in the Other Goodies To Help You section. Twitter currently boasts a user base of around 75 million people, and is growing at a rate much faster than Facebook! In just the few years that Twitter has been available, there have already been many success stories from people that only use Twitter. They can use it to boost traffic by posting links, building relationships by interacting with potential customers, and also by sharing links that would be of value to their followers. On it s own, Twitter can reap huge benefits for your company when it s done right. But, when included as part of your overall Internet Marketing Campaign, it will have an even stronger effect. So what are you waiting for? Scroll down, read the instructions on starting a Twitter account, and start Tweeting!
Firstly, go to www.twitter.com, and in the top-right corner, you will see a box that says New to Twitter? Let me in. Click the orange Let me in button. After you ve hit that button, you will come across a screen that will ask you for your Full Name, the username you want, password, email address, and then it will ask you to agree to the terms and conditions. Once that s completed, you will see a page that says Browse Suggestions. It s up to you; you can do this if you want and get your first few followers, but in the Other Goodies To Help You section, I will be detailing some much more accurate software to get followers. Once you ve been through all that, it ll take you to your Twitter profile, which looks like this. The Tweet box is where you will post your Tweets, or updates, to your Followers. Where it says @[yourusername], if you click on this, you will see if anyone has mentioned you in one of their Tweets. The trending topics section is what s most talked-about on Twitter at the moment. And there you have it; that s how to set up your Twitter account. If you want, you can go it alone from here, but if you need it, there is a helping hand at http://keepersacc.wordpress.com/category/e-marketing/social-networking-emarketing/
LinkedIn LinkedIn is known as the most business-orientated Social Network on the internet at the moment, and that can be a good and a bad thing. Here s why; it s a good thing because the Network is actually built around what business professionals need. The bad thing is that, if you sell to consumers rather than businesses, there probably won t be a lot of consumers on there. Most companies have started using LinkedIn to assess possible employees when they re in the hiring stage, and this is what has been focused on when people speak about LinkedIn, but there is also a great wealth of other possibilities that lie within LinkedIn. For example, when you want to connect to someone, you can ask one of your connections who already know them to introduce you, through the Network! Or, you can use it how most business professionals use it; simply by creating a profile, and then updating it as you would Facebook or Twitter. Bear in mind, though, that because LinkedIn is aimed towards businesses, there is a different etiquette you should use. LinkedIn currently boasts a user base of over 50 million users, most of which are businesses. So; if you sell business to business, this could be perfect for you. If you don t, you need to evaluate if LinkedIn is worth your time. If you are going to set up a LinkedIn account, the instructions are below; Go to www.linkedin.com, and fill in the box that says Join LinkedIn today Once you have filled this in, it will take you to another page which asks what company you are from, your job title, country and postcode. Fill these in, then click continue. After this, it will ask you if you wish to send an invitation email to everyone in your email address book. That s up to you. After that, it will ask you to confirm your email address by clicking a link in the email they will send you.
Once you have clicked said link, you will be taken to a page where you need to log in. Once this is done, you will be directed to your homepage. From here,lick profile. On your right, you will see this; This is how complete your profile is, and recommendations to increase it. I would strongly recommend getting your profile to 100% completeness. In some cases, it can increase your success by up to 40x! Once you have completed your profile, you re ready for your first update. Click home again, and you will see this; This is your status box, where you will be updating your LinkedIn profile. Go ahead; create your first update, and then let the rest flow! LinkedIn is a pretty complicated Social Network. If you can go it alone, good enough! But, if you need some help, you can always find it at http://keepersacc.wordpress.com/category/e-marketing/social-networking-emarketing/
Other Goodies to Help You This is where I show you around a few pieces of Software that I personally use, and find that it helps me be a lot more productive with my time, allowing me to do more with my e-marketing. The first one I m going to tell you about it TweetDeck. This is basically a desktop client for managing your Twitter account. At least that s how it started out. You can now, wait for it. Manage all of your Social Networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) from within TweetDeck. Here s what it looks like; This is, seriously, probably one of the most useful applications I ve come across; instead of flicking between ¾ different browser tabs, you can now simply put them all in one place. Not only that; it s so much easier to manage your Twitter account on TweetDeck than on the actual Twitter Website! The second application/ piece of software you re going to see is called bit.ly. This is the URL shortener I was speaking about earlier. Basically, you get the URL you want to shorten, enter it in the box area, and click shorten. Once you ve copied your short link, you can also get stats for it! Simply add an + at the end of your shortened URL. For example, if bit.ly gave you a URL of bit.ly/34hg6, all you do is enter bit.ly/34hg6+ and you can see how many people clicked your link, where from, etc.
Other Goodies to Help You continued Geofollow.com is the third application I m going to show you today. Geo follow is an application for finding followers based on their location, so is great for businesses that need a local follower base. You can also BulkFollow, which means following say 30 people at a time instead of one, so this also increases your productivity as well as how qualified your follower base will be. The final application I m going to show you is for Facebook. This one application has the power to transform your Facebook page into a mini-website! It s called Static FBML, where FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language. Basically, you use Static FBML by inputting normal HTML, minus the <head> and <body> tags, or you could input Facebook s FBML; either or will work. To start using Static FBML, search for Static FBML in the search box, and then go onto the page. Alternatively, click here to get to that page easier! Once you are on this page, simply click Add to my Page and then choose the page you wish to assign it to. Once you have added Static FBML to your page, you can edit it by going to your Fan Page and clicking edit page. Click on Application Settings, de-select boxes and select tabs. Once you ve done this, go back and click on Edit. Once you have done this, you will come across a plain white box. This is where you put your HTML code, but remember not to include Head or Body tags, as it won t accept these. Here s a tip: create your FBML page in a table format, ie. <table> <tr><td>, etc. It makes it a lot easier to keep control of the layout. For a list of which HTML tags are and aren t aloud, click here. That s it for the Goodies to Help You section; to see some more applications I recommend, click here.
About the Author What Next? My name s Ben Williams, and I m currently working for Keepers Accountancy. My main responsibilities are all e-marketing; Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Article Marketing, Website Maintanence, SEO, pretty much everything! I don t claim to be an expert; far from it, but I do know a fair amount about what I do, and my aim with this e-book is to help other people understand what e-marketing can do for their business as well. Remember to visit my website at www.keepers.info, and my blog at www.keepersacc.wordpress.com. Thanks for reading, and if you gained something from this e-book, pass it on to your friends and colleagues! Have a look at some of our other ebooks by clicking on a picture below (or use the link below). Alternatively, if you need more help, why not book a free consultation? http://www.keepers.info/keepers-guide-tocreating-a-marketing-plan/ http://www.keepers.info/keepers-guide-togetting-more-customers-for-next-to-nothing/