Business Marketing Consulting | Sales Growth Strategies » Tips

Host Unlimited Domains for $0.01

Roger Bauer — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:17:58 +0000

I usually don’t pass along promotions, but this one is a dandy! I’ve been a customer of this company for a few months now and can’t complain so I don’t feel guilty about promoting them.

Visit: http://bit.ly/6ix23 and enter the coupon code “1cent” (without the quotation marks) and you’ll be able to host unlimited domains for a measly penny for the first month. Disclaimer: you’ll be billed the regular amount after the first month depending upon which package you choose.

Anyway, deals like this don’t come down the pike that often so I thought I’d pass it along.

Content Promotion Strategy

Roger Bauer — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:51:00 +0000

Here’s a content promotion strategy that is used by some of the top internet marketers although they don’t talk about it all that much (probably because they don’t want everyone using it).

Guide as much traffic as possible to the content sharing sites that link to your lead generation site first and foremost. Then have your lead generation pieces (downloadable reports, how-to videos, free trials, etc.) somehow link to your money site instead of linking straight to it from all possible sources. Complicated? It can be, but it can generate huge results if done properly.

A little more on this strategy: build the value of the content sharing sites, and their value will trickle down to your lead generation site which will then promote the site you’re ultimately hoping to generate revenue from. Sounds a bit counter-intuitive, but it works because people are naturally curious and will take that extra step if they find your content valuable and interesting.

Think about it this way–if someone views one of your videos that promotes a free report on your lead generation site, and that person finally lands on your money site (after you’ve collected a lead and gotten some marketing materials in front of), they’re likely pretty interested at that point, right?

Furthermore, if you write a quality article or create a video about a topic within your chosen niche, link to that article or video from the social bookmarking sites (or better yet, have someone else do it for you) instead of linking directly to your lead generation content or your main site.

Many people make the mistake of driving ALL links to their main site (I did this for too a LONG time until I learned this lesson). If you learn how to leverage the content sharing and social bookmarking sites properly, you can ultimately generate a ton of very qualified traffic to your “money” site while limiting its exposure in the process.

Hopefully this all makes sense, but feel free to comment below if you’d like me to dig deeper.

10 Transcription Services to Consider

Roger Bauer — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:46:17 +0000

Since everyone has their preferred communication method, a handy list of transcription services may help those that prefer to create audio or video records of their thoughts, musings, and knowledge to be transcribed into textual media. Here is a list of transcription services you may wish to consider if you’re not interested in becoming the next Mavis Beacon.

Escriptionist.com – reasonable rates and a solid reputation place this firm at the top of the list.

GMR Transcription claims to offer:

Accurately processed transcripts for both medical and non-medical dictations
Expert, prompt, courteous and flexible service to meet your specific business needs
Expeditious and courteous communication
Maintenance of confidentiality for all transcriptions
Affordable pricing

Production Transcripts – not the most affordable of the bunch, but they offer fast turnaround times and two types of transcription services.

Franklin Square – their website isn’t the greatest, but they have a very good reputation and seemingly charge reasonable fees for their services. Their specialty is interviews, and they have a “per line” pricing option that can save you money compared to those that charge by the minute.

Absolute Docs – a transcription company that has been around for 15 years and promises to deliver high quality services. No pricing was available on their website when I last visited, but there is a pricing request mechanism provided.

NYC Transcription – Impressive client list leads me to believe these guys must be all right. Free pricing quote available but no pricing visible on the website from everything I could tell.

WeType4U – affordable transcriptionist that promises fast turnaround depending upon the type of job you’re looking to knock out.

Casting Words – very affordable services depending upon your turnaround time needs. Worth looking into if you’re not in a hurry to get your transcription back tomorrow or the next day.

iDictate – “Your pocket secretary” offers transcriptions from BlackBerries and pocket devices with no monthly fees or obligations.

Fantastic Transcripts – offers $150 service for audio hour for a draft transcription and $195 for proofread transcription. Offers Spanish transcription services at a premium price.

There you have a quick rundown of 10 Transcription Services to consider for your next job or if you’re not as good at typing as you are dictating into a recorder or creating a video. Re-purposing and repackaging content is a great way to increase your online “footprint” and attract more of your target audience.

Real Estate SEO: Carving out a niche with keyword analysis

Roger Bauer — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:06:20 +0000

Today, I have created a video that speaks directly to the real estate industry as I am in the middle of a large prospecting campaign which targets real estate professionals. Even if you are not in the real estate profession, this video may help you carve out a nice little niche within your market.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://smbconsultinginc.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/niche-research.swf" width="500" height="334" allowfullscreen="true" /]

If the above embedded video doesn’t show, click the link below (wow, that rhymed!):

Real Estate Niche Research

If you haven’t received an email from me about downloading your own FREE copy of “The State of Online Search for Real Estate,” please head on over to http://smb-seo.com and register now.

Let me know what you’re thinking after you’ve finished watching the video.

EMarketing Tips – Personalization

Roger Bauer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:43:11 +0000

Personalizing your emarketing items, such as newsletters, broadcasts, etc. is not new; most people who use email regularly are used to seeing their first names in email subject lines or within an email newsletter. And, if you regularly send out emails to your subscribers, you probably have remembered the “first name” merge code by heart.

But many of you may be wondering, “What is the effectiveness of personalizing my emails?” “Does it really work?” “What else can I do besides add a name to the subject line?”

According to emailstatcenter.com, “Inserting a person’s name into an email increases open rates by as much as 10%. – Jupiter Research (2006).” So it does seem that personalizing emails does have an impact, even just a little bit. But the trick is to personalize correctly.

I would bet that you have received at least one or two emails that read like the following: “For , free ebook covers this weekend only.”

Um, there should be something before that comma. Yuck.

There are a couple of instances when I recommend NOT personalizing the subject line. 1) You DO NOT require that the name field is a “required” field on your sign-up box on your website, and 2) you already have a cramped subject line slot and adding a first and/or last name or two would just be a bit too much (stick to a subject line of 56 characters or less).

By default, most programs require an email address, but you normally have to manually define other fields, including the name field, as being a “required” field in which a subscriber must enter information or they will get a reminder to input something into that particular field.

If you feel like getting fancy with personalization, there are many personalization fields to choose from and many ways to liven up your broadcasts. You can add merge codes that contain names, dates, geographic location, email address, ad categories, URL where subscriber signed up, to name a few.

Here is one example of one way you can personalize your newsletters:

One of my clients asked that I attach a subscription management reminder at the bottom of her newsletter. Basically it reads something like, “[name], you subscribed to this publication on this [date] using this [email address].” Great idea – lends credibility and reminds your readers that you aren’t spamming them. In fact, I really liked this idea so I tried it out on my own newsletter!

Check with your shopping cart or list management program to see what other merge fields or variables you can add to liven up your publications. You can search the FAQ or support pages or do a search on their site for keywords such as “personalization” or “merge fields.” I bet you’ll get a lot of ideas just by looking!

Lisa Wells is a Certified eMarketing Associate who partners with coaches, consultants, entrepreneurs, and small business owners, managing their many online marketing needs. Move your business to the next level and up your e-marketing game – sign up for her FREE e-course “e-Marketing Toolbox Essentials” at http://www.emarketingtoolboxessentials.com, where she shares ideas, tips, do’s and don’ts, as well as programs and strategies you need to avoid!

For more information on direct response personalization:

Please visit http://personalizationprecept.com to register to download our complementary special report entitled “The Personalization Precept” that is jam packed with personalization tips and statistics to help you improve your marketing ROI.