Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Viral Marketing 101 - Not Using It Could Kill Your Business!




Creativity.

This is one virtue a site must possess to lead the race in the ruthless competition in the Internet based business. With so many competition and rivalry going on, every method of marketing must be employed and utilized.

It doesn’t matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don’t know that you exist, it doesn’t matter, and you are not going to make it big. Worse of all, you business could just get killed.

While there are so many methods and schemes used by so many e-commerce sites today, there are still some of those that can help you with an extra boost in the popularity ratings. One of these is the so called Viral Marketing.

While the term Viral easily depicts a virus, a word very much dreaded by all computer owners, it is not what it seems. You do not actually use a computer virus to spread your business; on the contrary it just might kill you. Everyone has had enough of all those pop up ads and spywares.

Viral Marketing Overview

Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one’s product or company. They use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product by riding on in other forms of addictive means that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family. They sponsor the certain media, such as a cool flash game, funny video, amusing story and such, which one may pass on to another with the company brand or logo or the products description or any other content to help promote the company or its product.

Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pas on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won’t block it and open it as well.

Many companies offer incentives such as discounts and rebates when they help in spreading their viral marketing. They rely on the number of recipients a viral marketing gets from one person in determining the amount or number of incentive they can be attributed with.

Using Viral Marketing to your advantage

The main and foremost advantage of viral marketing is that you get a lot of publicity and public awareness about your site and your company. You get to generate a flow of traffic that are potential customers. With a little ingenuity and imagination, plus some incentives or prizes, you can reach out to a great number of people and announce your existence.

Most every site and companies are catching on to the effectivity of Viral Marketing and Advertising. Not using it could kill your business. Along with other schemes and methods in promoting your site, like Search Engine Optimization and such, viral marketing could easily push you ahead in the rating games.

Viral Marketing could be a sneaky way to get people to know about you and your company. You get them to pass your advertisement along. They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide. All it takes is a great idea, a good addicting game, a funny story many ideas are still out there. Create a gossip or a buzz, many movies are promoted by using scandals and gossips to make them moirĂ© popular. Remember the movie “The Blair Witch Project”?

Many big companies have tried viral marketing and have had many success stories with it. A classic example is Microsoft’s Hotmail. They were the first known big company to utilize the scheme and it has worked wonders for them.

Now it’s your turn to use viral marketing to work wonders for you. Act now and reap the benefits Viral Marketing will provide for you and your sales figures.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Ways To Improve Sales Through Your Website




Anyone who has been marketing online knows that the lifeblood of a business is the traffic of a site. More visitors equal more sales. However, here are some ways that you can tweak your sites with to improve sales without the need to get more visitors.

The first method is to weave in your personal touch in your sales message. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger, but many people will buy what their close friends recommend to them. If you can convince your audience that you are a personal friend who has their best interest at heart, they will be convinced to buy your products. Remember to speak to an individual in your salesletter, not to your whole audience.

The second method is to publish testimonials and comments from your customers. A good idea would be to publish both good and bad comments; that way prospects will be really convinced that these testimonials are real. When prospects see testimonials on your website, they will have the confidence to buy from you because human beings follow the herd mentality; when others have bought and proven it authentic, they will jump on the bandwagon and buy too.

Use visual representations for the problems and solutions that your product offers. Not everyone will read your text copy from the head to the tail, but most people will pay attention to images on your website.

Offer quality bonuses to accompany the product. When you offer bonuses that complement your product, your prospects will feel it's a very good deal and it would be stupid to miss it. Be sure to state the monetary value of your bonuses so that people will be even more compelled to grab your good bargain.

Lastly, ask for the sale! Many people entice their prospects with the benefits of their product, sell to them with stories of how it has solved many problems, even offered killer bonuses but forget to ask for the sale. Give a clear instruction on how to buy your product (e.g. "click the button to buy now!").

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Affiliate Tracking Software: Who Can Use It


In the United States, and all around the world, there are a large number individuals who own and operate their own business. The goal of any business, however large or small that business is, is to make money. Unfortunately, some businesses have a difficult time doing that on their own. If you are a business owner who is struggling to make a profit, you may be able to benefit from the creation on an affiliate program. To do this, you will also need to examine affiliate tracking software; it is a key competent to the successful operation of an affiliate program.

But what about me? Is that what you are wondering? A large number of businesses could profit from the creation of an affiliate program, but many business owners mistakenly believe that they cannot. It is uncertain exactly where this misinformation comes from, but, unfortunately, a large number of business owners believe it. You are encouraged to not be one of business owners; it may cost you money that you cannot afford to lose. To better understand who can use and benefit from affiliate programs and affiliate tracking software, it is important to understand what they are and what they do.

Affiliate programs are a collaboration between a business owner and a webmaster, web publisher, or website owner. This partnership is used to benefit both parties. The goal of an affiliate program is to help a business generate more sales. This is accomplished through the use of advertisements, such as links and banners. Those links will be used on your affiliate partner’s website. In the event that those banners and links lead to a sale, you will compensate your affiliate with a preset commission amount, often just a percentage. However, to determine whether or a sale was just a traditional sale or one that was generated through one of your affiliates, you need to use affiliate tracking software.

Affiliate tracking software is a software program that will work with your own affiliate program. Different software programs will vary, but many require you to create your own banners or links, once you have signed up. These banners will often be tagged with unique affiliate id codes. These codes will be able to distinguish your affiliates from each other. Those codes allow an affiliate to properly be rewarded for brining traffic to your online business.

As you can easily see, there really are no special requirements for using affiliate tacking software; however, it is advised that you have your own affiliate program. As with affiliate tracking software, just about anyone can benefit from an affiliate program, especially business owners. Both small and large business owners should be able to benefit from the use of affiliate programs and affiliate tracking software. Perhaps, small business owner could benefit the most; this is due to the sales increase they will see. In most cases, a small business should be able to profit from even a small revenue increase; with affiliate programs that increase is almost guaranteed.

Affiliate programs and tracking software can also benefit large business owners. This is because large business owners, unlike small business owners, are more likely to be able to afford to the costs of operating an affiliate program. These costs may include the cost of affiliate tracking software and the cost of paying affiliates. The costs associated with starting and managing an affiliate program will likely payoff in the end, but there are many small business owners who are unable to afford it or find it difficult to afford the startup costs.

In addition to categorizing businesses by their size, it is also important to examine what those businesses do. Since an affiliate program relies on an affiliate tracking software to record sales that an affiliate website generates, it is a good idea that participating businesses specialize in selling something, including a product or service.

As you can see, just about any type of business owner can benefit from the use of an affiliate program. If, by chance, you do not sell any products or services, you may also be able to make money as an affiliate. This is where you would end up receiving commission for helping another business increase their sales. Either way, you and your business could make a substantial profit.
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Monday, October 11, 2010

Travel tips to European Countries: Bulgaria



About the county

Officially known as the Republic of Bulgaria or Bulgarian Republic, Bulgaria is a beautiful mountainous country lying in Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe bordering the Black Sea to the east, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south. Bulgaria also borders Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia along the sea. The largest and the capital city is Sofia. The country may be very small in area but it is rich in ancient culture, picturesque locales, down to earth and friendly people who provide the warmth and hospitality of old days. Bulgaria is known as “Land of Roses” due to the largest production of roses here. Although Bulgaria is known mostly for its sea resorts much of the actual country can be explored in great mountain regions, with many ski resorts a perfect destination for skiers. With unique customs, spectacular crafts, colorful festivals, folklore and so on Bulgaria has it all to take the imagination of visitors by surprise and excitement.

Population & Languages

The population of Bulgaria is roughly 7.4 million and the official language being spoken is Bulgarian. Turkish and Roma are also spoken by considerable percentage of the population.

Electricity

The voltage is 230 V and the frequency is 50 Hz. The types of plugs used are Round pin attachment plug and "Schuko" plug and receptacle with side grounding contacts.

Geographic Location

It lies in Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe bordering the Black Sea to the east, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south. Bulgaria also borders Turkey, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia along the sea. Bulgaria is strategically located near Turkish Straits making it the control point of key land routes connecting Europe to Middle East and Asia.

Climate

The climate of Bulgaria can be termed as temperate with hot and dry summers and cold and damp winters. Summer temperatures average around 75°F (24°C) and winter temperatures average about 32°F (0°C). The ideal time to visit Bulgaria is summer.

Local Customs
Like any other country Bulgaria has its own customs too and normal courtesies should be followed. Handshaking is customary. Dress should be conservative but can be casual. Souvenirs from home country are appreciated if invited to home. Here is Bulgaria, a nod of the head means ‘no’ and a shake of the head means ‘yes’. Tipping up to 10 to 12 percent is customary for all services including restaurants, bars, clubs, taxis etc.

Attractions

Sofia
* St. Sofia Church
* St. George Rotunda
* Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
* National Ethnographic Museum

Mountains
* Village of Momchilovtsi
* Pirin National Park
* Rila Monastery

Travel

By Air – The national airline of Bulgaria is Bulgaria Air. Other international airlines operating from Bulgaria include Bulgaria include Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, El Al Israel Airlines, KLM, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, MALEV Hungarian Airlines, Olympic Airlines and Swiss Air. Sofia International Airport EAD (SOF) is the biggest airport which is like six miles east of Sofia. Other international airport is Varna International Airport (VAR) located in the western outskirts of the city about five miles from Varna.

Sea - The important international ports are Bourgas and Varna along the Black Sea.

River – Ferries can cross into Romania from Vidin to Calafat.

By Rail – Sofia is connected to Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Thessaloniki, Paris, Vienna, Munich and Berlin through frequent services of trains.

Duty Free Items
1. 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250g of tobacco
2. 1 liter of spirits and 2 liter of wine; 50g of perfume and 100g of eau de toilette
3. Gifts and personal use items.
Prohibited Items
Un-canned goods, meat or dairy products, Narcotics, pornography, firearms, ammunition, weapons, eggs, plants, endangered species, fireworks and alcoholic beverages that contain more than sixty per cent alcohol.

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Friday, October 8, 2010

Tutoring Golf Accessories To Improve Your Form



Besides hiring a personal trainer to help you become better at golf, there are few other ways that you can get advice on your form and technique. However, with the increasingly amazing technology of this era, you will be able to find products that contribute much more towards helping you achieve great golfing capabilities and technique to your full potential. Here are a few of the most popular items designed with this intent. As you read through, you may find out about something you didn’t previously know about, and you may have your fancy tickled by the thought of being able to use it. If this is the case, then you should embrace your motivation and track down the product in question. The possible benefits are endless.

Many experts use golf club weights which they simply attach to the end of their clubs. They make slow swings just like they normally would, and they repeat the action over and over. This repetition with the added weight resistance allows the golfer’s muscles to grow at huge rates. All of the muscles required to make powerful swings are built up even stronger than they would be after a normal game of golf. This is how professional golfers are able to use the lighter golf clubs and still make powerful shots that will go hundreds and hundreds of yards accurately.

Another way to get better at golfing is to have some sort of putting green equivalent set up someplace that you can access it every day. Use the same putter and the same golf balls that you would regularly use, and set up the situation like it would be at the end of a game. Practice getting it into the hole over and over, so that your putting skills progress and you are able to get it almost every time whenever you get towards the end. This is a valuable skill to have, and will keep quite a few points off of your score while everyone else is racking up unnecessary points by missing the hole.

Instructional videos will always help you to improve your technique. If you can watch people who are trained to make the motions perfectly without any flaw, you will have much more luck in your efforts to emulate them. You can find instructional DVDs in almost any golf store, or you can simply find free movie clips to download from the internet if you are feeling up to it. They will give all of the tips and tricks you could ask for, so be prepared to stand in front of the TV with your club as you learn about how all of the pros situate themselves in preparation for a swing.

If you are not very good at golf, there is no reason to stay that way. Using some of the accessories and tools that I mentioned, you can improve your physical ability as well as your knowledge about how you should handle the clubs. With enough determination and application of what you learn, you can start to immediately notice your games being played better. So get started today, and look for some of the things that can help you. You will be glad that you spend the money and time to do so.

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