Secret Marketing Strategies

Ok, we made it to number 5!  It’s a simple, overlooked, free strategy that will help in getting content about your site across the web.

Drum roll please…

Use article directories.

This is not a new technique. But it will help with your SEO efforts (because the content, of course, contains links that lead directly back to your site). It will further establish you as an expert and the possibility of other people using your content on their blogs and websites, newsletters and ezines is quite high.

Lacking in ideas? Try one of these out to get your creative juices flowing…a series of articles about a hot topic in your industry, unusual or fun uses for new products, tips and tools to educate people about a topic or even first-hand reviews of new products…any of these are considered informational and likely to be picked up and used by others.

Submission to article directories is free. However, each one has its own separate writer’s guidelines and rules for embedding links and images. Here’s a quick list of directories. There are TONS more but these will get you started.

Ezine Articles

GoArticles

Article City

Idea Marketers

Article Alley

Article Depot

Amazines

Googlebase – Articles and reviews as well as videos, product information, resumes and just about anything else you can think of can be uploaded to Googlebase and displayed in search results

But wait, there's one last super secret strategy that goes along with this. When a blog or web site or ezine picks up and uses your article, let them know you appreciate it and stumble it using StumbleUpon - or any other social bookmarking service (del.icio.us, digg, newsvine, etc.). You are giving them a boost by helping get their blog or web site out there and giving yourself a boost because the article contains information about you!

See how fun sharing the marketing love can be?

As promised, here is #4 and it's on…Reviews.

Reviews, for all intensive purposes, are based on the opinions of your users and clients and are published on your site - they are not testimonials. While they might sing your praises as a testimonial does, they might also tell a tale of poor customer service or a faulty product. 

So, why, might you be wondering would anyone publish information that is less than stellar about themselves, their product or service?

The answer is balance. You are looking to create a relationship of honesty and trust with your customers and clients. The best thing you can do is admit fault when and if it happens and then…this is important…take action to correct it. You are balancing out the good with the bad. 

But reviews aren't static. They are dynamic pieces of important information submitted by your customers and an important part of the community you are hopefully creating around your brand. People want to know about other people's experiences with that product or service. It's a component of word of mouth marketing.

Obviously you DO want positive reviews - the more the merrier, as they say (whoever 'they' are). But when you get a negative review (and you most definitely will) it's an opportunity to look hard and what went wrong and fix it. The beauty is that you can respond to negative reviews and show your customers what you did, the action you took, to correct the problem which in turn fosters that wonderfully exciting honest relationship you are working hard to establish. 

Now, here's the secret part of reviews that you maybe didn't know about.

Reviews are content. They can be submitted to the search engines and when reviews are picked up in the search engines the result is similar to what happens with a digital press release. They are viewed as pure content and generally rank pretty highly and quickly for the product or service the review is about. If that review is about one of your products or services…well, you are probably getting the drift…yes, it's a strong link back to your site which brings both traffic and gives your SEO and SEM efforts a nice boost.

Reviews can be as simple as a script you install on your site where people can give a thumbs up or thumbs down or you can employ companies like Power Reviews (which I'm sorry to say is no longer free…bummer) or Bazzarvoice. 

So, there's your mid-week tip for this hot and hazy July. A little something to think about and to add to your arsenal of marketing tips.

So, here's number three of our top 5 secret marketing strategies. 

Truthfully, though, there's really no secret too it. It just sounds really good and has a nice flavor plus doesn't it make your mouth water in anticipation of what's to come?

Ok, enough fluff. Here you go…

Inbound link text should be varied based on the search phrases you are using to optimize a particular page.

For example, let's say we are using the phrases "indie jewelry, eco jewelry and recycled jewelry," on a page. Obviously our page content is written in such a way that these phrases are picked up in the meta information, in the header on the page and in the page content as a whole in a natural (never forced) way. And let's also work on the assumption that you are out there really working hard to solicit links from other sites and blogs that are similar (but not in direct competition) to your own.

Using the search phrase examples from above,you want to be sure to that the keyword/search phrase is being used in the content that is the link back to your site. Here's what I mean using some example text.

"Indie jewelry that is one-of-a-kind and luxurious is being touted as the new must-have for today's modern fashionistas."

The blue text "Indie Jewelry" would be a link directly back to the category page you are optimizing for that search phrase.

So, the idea is to use that phrase and the other search phrases we listed above - eco jewelry and recycled jewelry - in that way on other sites linking back to your category page. Not once, not twice but over and over. You DO, however, (please pay close attention here) want to vary the instances of the sentence or paragraph you are using the search phrase in. You DO NOT want to use the same paragraph over and over again - keep the search phrase but change up the paragraph or sentence that you use the search phrase in.

Make sense? If not, as usual, drop us a line, ping us on IM or leave a comment, The result is a page that will rise in rank in the search engines for those three search phrases.

And yes, we WILL get to the review info in the next strategy…PROMISE! 

Ok so you got number one and got busy using it correct?

If not, you need to and while you are at it, start thinking about how and when you are going to use number two. Remember, what you create begins as nothing more than a thought in your head and you need to do at least one thing each and every day to market your business.

This strategy is so simple yet so overlooked that almost no one does it. The mere act of taking initiative and following up with customers in and of itself can set you apart from your competition and will help your customers remember who you are.

After a sale is made and the product has been received, call the customer, email them - contact them somehow. Ask them how they liked the product, if it arrived in a timely fashion, if it met their expectations. Give them the opportunity to voice their feelings and opinions. If there’s a problem, this is your chance to fix it.

Invite them to provide a review of their product or experience and place it on your web site (we'll talk about reviews in the next strategy). They won’t forget you AND they’ll be very likely to tell their friends, family and co-workers about you.

There’s absolutely no price tag you can put on word-of-mouth!

Yes, it's Monday. The start of a bright, fresh new week.

Ready for some secret strategies to get you off to a roaring start?

My goal is to give you one for each day of the week. So, here's 'numero uno' straight from the online marketing trenches…

Always include inbound links FROM your press releases and articles you are crafting for other blogs or web sites TO your web site. Each and every time your release/content is used in a blog, on a web site, or anywhere online for that matter, it will help to increase your web site ranking in the search engines.

It’s a two-fold SEO trick that works.

The information in the article is pure content, optimized and web-ready. Google and the other search engines LOVE content. So the odds of the information getting indexed quickly are pretty high. Also when your release is used by news organizations, blogs, web sites and individuals you’ve got 100s, possibly 1000s of links coming into your web site.

How cool is that!