13 Hot Internet Marketing Trends in 2013

Internet marketing is now a critical piece of just about any company’s marketing mix. There are few marketing options with the speed, efficiency and reach as internet marketing. And so you should take the time to ensure you are focusing sufficiently on your internet marketing to maximize your revenue and growth.    

The year 2013 will prove to be another year in which the array of internet marketing vehicles, tools and techniques will continue to increase. To help you capitalize on the opportunities, here are 13 hot internet marketing trends for 2013 that you should consider when planning your marketing initiatives throughout the year:   

13 Hot Internet Marketing Trends in 2013

1. Design Matters

Design matters, because design sells. Just look at the success of Apple, Pinterest, Desk.com or Nike. All four websites are stunning, and that’s no coincidence. Apple is the most valuable company of all time. It actually carries very few products, though. It’s the design that powers Apple’s value. Nike is a shoe and apparel company, yet pays just as much attention to the design of its website, videos and ads as much as to anything else. Focus on great design for all of your internet marketing in 2013.

2. Marketing Goes Visual

Similarly, communication through visual means is hot, and only getting hotter. Whether the explosion in infographics, or the dramatic rise in the popularity of Pinterest, or the redesigns of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, we are going through a visual revolution. Start figuring out how to make more of your marketing visual in 2013.

3. Parallax Design

Parallax website design incorporates special scrolling techniques whereby background images on the screen move slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth on the screen. You can see examples at the following websites: Volkswagon Beetle and Activate (be sure to scroll down the page!). If you are planning a website redesign in 2013, consider incorporating elements of parallax design.

4. Mobile Mobile Mobile

Wordwide, there are over 5 billion mobile users and 1.1 billion smartphone subscribers specifically. The iPad was the fastest growing technology product EVER! Wow, if you need further convincing that you should start planning how to connect with your audience via mobile channels for your business, you’re nuts!

5. Video Video Video

More than 4 billion online videos are watched every day. Sixty-eight percent of video watchers share video links. So it’s clear your audience likes video. On top of this, consider that after 72 hours, a typical person can retain about 10% of text that they’ve read, 65% of an image they’ve seen, or 95% of a video they watched. Think that video might be helpful with communicating your message to your audience? Just a bit, huh?!?

6. Cloud-Based Tools

To be uber-efficient with your internet marketing efforts, you should be using cloud-based tools. For email marketing, you might be using MailChimp. For SEO, you might be using SEOmoz. For landing page testing, you might be using Unbounce. For heat map analysis, you might be using CrazyEgg. For website analysis, you might be using BoostSuite. Check out all the unbelievably useful options available to you.

7. The Multi-Screen World

With 86% of mobile internet users actually using their devices while watching TV, and with more than 10,901 Tweets PER SECOND being issued as TV viewers watched Adele win Record of the Year at The Grammy’s, it’s clear that we all live in a multi-screen world. Make sure that your internet marketing accounts for not just desktops, but ALL screens.

8. Social Media Gets Smarter

Facebook has more than 1 billion users, and Twitter has more than 500 million. Social media is an opportunity for your business, but it’s been difficult for many businesses to make sense of it all and to gain solid business value out of it. With a growing number of marketing platforms such as Wildfire by Google and ShortStack, and with more granular social media analytics as provided by tools such as SproutSocial, Followerwonk and PageLever, extracting clear meaning from your social marketing will get easier over time.

9. Retargeting Goes Mainstream

Retargeting is a means of placing your advertisements in front of your audience after they have left your website without converting. What many marketers fail to realize is that retargeting is one of the most effective internet marketing techniques available. If you are already investing in your site and your marketing campaigns for more site traffic, then it typically pays big dividends to remind the people who left your website without a conversion of your value in solving their needs. Your options for retargeting include Google Remarketing, AdRoll, Retargeter and also Bizo (for exceptional B2B retargeting).

10. Email Remarketing

In lead generation campaigns or retailer email marketing, there are always going to be occurrences of form or cart abandonment. However, it’s a waste to just let the prospect go without reaching out and finding out if you might indeed offer exactly what they want or need. After the abandonment of a registration form or online shopping cart, through email remarketing you can send out an automated email to give your brand another chance at winning the heart and mind of the prospect. According to SeeWhy, 26% of those who abandoned an online shopping cart will return to complete the purchase in the case they receive a remarketing email.

11. Search, Social & PR Collide

Organic search has been incorporating social signals for some time, and the integration of search and social has accelerated with the introduction of Google+ and the Google Knowledge Graph. With Google’s Panda and Penguin search algorithm updates, it’s become extremely clear that quality and value matter. That means high quality content, combined with sincere, transparent social marketing, combined with targeted PR is going to be a triad that’s hard to beat.

12. Attribution Measurement

If you run multiple forms of internet marketing, such as paid search, SEO, email marketing, display advertising, and retargeting, then it can be difficult to assess the value of each piece of your marketing puzzle. If someone encounters your brand five times in a given week through the different marketing vehicles, who’s to say how much credit to give to each of the different pieces. That’s where attribution measurement services come in, whether Google, ClearSaleing or VisualIQ.

13. The Hispanic Market

Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the US population. And as they represent approximately 25% of new births, expect them to have an impact on your future business. Research points to Hispanics spending more time online than non-Hispanics and being more active online than non-Hispanics. If you have been ignoring the Hispanic market, perhaps 2013 is the time to start providing the market with the attention and customization that it deserves.

http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/9850/1/internet-marketing-trends-2013.htm

Facebook Newbies Tip – Increase Interaction

How to get more comments, share and like on Facebook.

Even though you have good content it may not increase interaction. You need to know some facts about how Facebook and Users work. This infographic will help you a bit, how to use. It contains facts and figures about types of content that work best, how to get more comments, likes and shares, as well as how to use emoticons to get the most out of your wall posts.

Facebook Newbies Tip – Increase Interaction

http://freenewbie.com/facebook-newbies-tip-increase-interaction/

1 Way to Earn Truly Passive Income from Your Blog

I love blogging. I love writing. I love interacting with readers. I love researching topics I enjoy writing about. But, in order for me to continue the privilege of blogging for a living, I must earn money from my blogs … more than a few bucks a day from ads.

After being a full time blogger for more than 1 year, I’ve tested and tried many ways to monetize my blogs without harming the user-experience. In fact, my aim with monetizing my blog is to do so in a way that actually enhances my readers’ experience.

In addition to my love for writing and researching, I was attracted to becoming a full time blogger by the opportunity of earning passive income. This pursuit was more elusive than I expected when starting out. However, in time I’ve discovered a truly powerful and simple method of earning truly passive income from my blogs.

What is “truly passive” income?

Truly passive income is earning revenue without investing ongoing resources (time and/or money). You no doubt have heard about affiliate marketing, Adsense and selling products.

Recurring Commission Products = Truly Passive Income

One not-so-common, but incredibly effective method for generating truly passive income from your blog is promoting or selling products that generate recurring revenue. The product(s) you sell or promote as an affiliate are products that you must love, you use, and that you know your readers both need and want. That’s a tall order, but when you find the right recurring commission product, you can, in time, build up a truly passive income.

I only promote as an affiliate. I don’t sell a recurring sales product. Therefore, I had to find just the right products for my audience. It wasn’t easy and it took several months testing and trying products until I found the perfect options for my readers. However, am I ever glad I put in the effort, because in the end, the products I promote are loved by my readers, convert well and pay very generous recurring commissions.

3 Types of recurring commission products

1.  Subscription Products

More and more software is sold as a subscription model instead of a one-time fee for download. The latest software is hosted on the merchant’s website (called cloud or SAAS software) and customers log in to their account to use the software. Not only does this offer a hassle-free solution for customers, but it generates consistent recurring commissions for the merchants.

The good news is that some cloud software merchants offer affiliate programs where they’ll pay affiliates a percentage of ALL the revenue generated from a referral. This means the affiliate earns a percentage of each month’s subscription fees.

Another subscription product are membership websites. These are websites that charge customers each month in order for them to continue having access to the site. Arguably, cloud software is a form of this, but in this sense I’m referring to content-based and social-based membership sites. Generally, these types of membership sites have a higher churn rate than cloud software.

A key advantage about cloud software is that it generally has a lower churn rate than the other types of recurring commission products set out below. What this means is that customers remain customers for a longer time meaning you earn commissions for a longer time.

2.  Lifetime Commission Products

I promote several lifetime commission products. what this means is that if a referral buys products over and over from a merchant, you continue earning commissions. This model is a little different than cloud software because lifetime commissions MAY be earned. In other words, referrals may or may not buy again and again.

Examples of common lifetime commission products are supplements. Often people buy a bottle every month, which means as long as the affiliate program offers lifetime commissions, the affiliate earns commissions on all future sales.

3.  Tier 2 Commission Programs

Tier 2 commission programs is when you refer other affiliates to promote a product and the referring affiliate earns a percentage of all sales generated by the referred affiliate.

I don’t pursue this form of recurring commission model, but if you do this well, you can generate excellent passive income. The big downside to this model is you don’t have much control because it’s up to the affiliates you refer to actually sell the product. Most won’t ever make a sale, so much effort results in no revenue. Another downside is that you are creating competition for yourself. Tier 2 commissions are lower than tier 1, so any sale earned by a referred affiliate is a tier 1 sale you don’t earn.

That said, if you have an audience of affiliate marketers, especially email readers or loyal blog readers, you can quickly and with little effort, inspire many affiliates to promote a product from which you’ll earn commissions from their efforts.

My Focus

The lion’s share of my recurring revenue is from promoting cloud or SAAS software.

The key is promoting the right software to the right audience who truly need it and will benefit from it. When you do this, you’ll be able to easily generate sales, recurring income and please your readers. In time you’ll build up an excellent passive income.

Set It On Autopilot

In order for recurring commissions to be truly passive and grow each month, you must set up a sale process, also referred to as a sales funnel, that will generate more new sales each month than the number of referrals who stop using the product. I do this via my blog and my blog’s e-newsletter. Basically, I publish a well-regarded blog that serves a very narrow business industry. I offer a suite of great free products for anyone who signs up to my e-newsletter. I then mention the software in my email messages, using examples, content and tips as ways to explain how the software can work for them.

Now that my blog is very well established and attracts consistent and targeted traffic each month, I generate more and more sales which slowly, but surely increases my passive income. I still add posts to this blog, but sometimes I don’t do so for months, yet sales continue at roughly the same pace. I only publish new posts when I have something worth sharing with my readers.

Caution

The greatest caution to be aware of is the potential for merchants to end recurring commissions.  You could invest a lot of time and money in campaigns only to have the merchant you promote stop recurring commissions, go out of business or lower commissions.  However, this should not affect past efforts, which is good if you’ve built up a decent number of referrals generating you recurring commissions.

If this happens to you, chances are there’s a competing product that offers recurring commissions that you can promote.

Be Patient

Building up truly passive income via recurring commission products takes time. It took me more than 12 months to earn my first 4-figure check. However over the subsequent 12 months, my monthly earnings tripled again, resulting in a recurring income that is higher than the average income in the USA … and that’s from just one product.

You must also be patient in finding the right product. Be sure to use, love and know the product. Don’t promote garbage. Promote only the best that your audience will love and actually need. When you do this, you not only build a long-term business, but you build great relationships with your readers.

http://www.famousbloggers.net/earn-truly-passive-income.html 

How to Successfully Work From Home

Many people find the idea of working from home appealing. Almost everyone has heard at least one story concerning someone who gave up their traditional 9-to-5 job working for someone else to successfully launch and run a company from the comfort of his or her own dwelling. As attractive as this idea may seem to many individuals, it is generally not as easy as it sounds when one is reading another person's success story. Following are some tips regarding how to make a home based business work and enjoy a lucrative income, as well as personal freedom.

Home Life Versus Work Life

It is essential for those who choose to work from home to separate their work life from their personal life. In theory, this may seem like a very basic activity; however, it can be quite difficult when a person attempts to implement it on a regular basis. This is easy to understand when one considers his or her traditional job: most individuals do not think about completing household tasks, watching TV, or taking personal phone calls throughout their workday. This is obviously because the person is focused on the work at hand. However, those who work from home are faced with such distractions on a continuing basis, and this will likely never change throughout the duration of their career as the owner of a home based company. Those who have worked from home for a substantial length of time will attest to the fact that one must find ways to ignore such distractions in order to achieve success.

Self-Confidence

Confidence in oneself is also a vital key to running a lucrative business from home. Entrepreneurs must believe in their own ability to accomplish the tasks they have set forth for themselves, or the first time everything goes wrong they will lose heart and never reach their goals. Ups and downs are associated with all businesses, and these should be considered normal. For this reason, it is important for those working from home to be confident in themselves and their abilities.

Budgeting

Budgeting wisely is another essential key to running a successful home business. A portion of the money made during months or seasons that are particularly lucrative should be set aside for lean times. The latter will inevitably come, and it is best to be prepared.

Staying Motivated

Those who work from home must have the ability to motivate themselves. This is because there is no one there to ensure that they complete their work in a timely manner. Therefore, the entrepreneur must be able to exercise self-discipline on a daily basis. Certain individuals will also quickly discover that working from home can be a bit lonely. However, there are many benefits of running a home based business, and one should focus on these whenever he or she is tempted to give up. Many people find that being self-employed and working from home is the ideal lifestyle for which they have always been searching, and anyone who takes the right approach to such an endeavor will surely achieve success.

Published At: http://www.isnare.com

http://www.isnare.com/?aid=1813891&ca=Business

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Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

Fear of failure can keep us from achieving our dreams. The fear of failure is perhaps the strongest force holding us below their potential. It has a crippling effect, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. It can only have this effect if we let it.

To achieve, we must care enough to make the effort but not so much that we're afraid to fail. The most valuable results are reached by focusing intensely on what we're doing without attaching our sense of self worth to what we get from it.

Of course everyone would like to get the results he or she intended. But it's not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. In fact, it is a powerful step in the right direction. No matter what results you get, you are still capable, you are more experienced than ever, and you are eminently worthy.

In a world full of uncertainty, a delicate economy, and countless misfortunes that could happen to anyone, it’s easy to see why many people are reluctant to reach out aggressively and are inclined to play it safe. 

Playing it safe, however, has its own set of risks. If we never dare to fail, our successes will have a low ceiling, and low reward.  Most of us underestimate our ability to recover from failure, leading us to pass up valuable opportunities. The ability to fail big and fail often has been a mark of the spectacularly successful throughout history.

Imagine what you could do if you could do without worry. Think of how effective you could be if you didn't have to obsess over how effective you were being. Those who accomplish much do so by being unconcerned that they might accomplish little. Sometimes all it takes is an adjustment in your paradigm of thought.

When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, one of the first things they did after landing was to burn their ships, leaving them stranded in a foreign land. Without a way to return home, the resolve of the soldiers to achieve victory was greatly enhanced. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to move forward and follow through.

If you are afraid to commit, force yourself into action by burning your boat, thereby removing your safety net. For students in my advanced quality science courses, course and exam fees are paid up-front. This is a way to  "burn their boats." It serves as commitment or incentives on their parts, which ensures they are dedicated to achieve something significant. Fear of failure diminishes when you realize it can’t save you.

Even if you don’t fully accomplish what you set out to do, there is so much to be gained from the effort. After all, failures are but stepping stones on the road to success. You are uniquely worthy no matter what results you get. Keep that in your mind and in your attitude, and you'll surely get truly great results.

http://www.qualitymag.com/blogs/14-quality-blog/post/90945-jims-gems-dont-be-afraid-to-fail 

How To Make A Money-Spinner (Part 1)

Do you have a blog? It’s a great way to share your passions or simply have a good old rant, isn’t it? But when you hear that more and more people are making money out of their personal blogs, suddenly your little corner of the internet has the potential to be something really special.

Historically, the British have been renowned for the importance they place on protecting their privacy. Just look at the super injunction scandals that kept us glued to the papers last year as we tried to work out who the riddle-like evidence was describing. These were people who so closely guarded their privacy they were willing to shell out big bucks to protect it.

However, if you’re willing to let that guard down, there is a chance your decision could pay dividends – and you don’t even have to go into the Big Brother house!

In the past few years there has been an explosion of lifestyle blogs produced by people only too willing to share even the smallest details of their lives with the world. From fashion bloggers who are becoming more influential on how we dress than Vogue – and get sent all the latest designer goodies hot off the runway as a result – to film geeks who are handed their own TV spots, sharing really does pay. In fact, I too have a blog (shameless plug) – but as I will explain in a moment, mine is not the best example of one that is profitable.

The ones that are have borders so packed with adverts they resemble Times Square, and it is this that makes blogging today so lucrative. So, how can you transform your blog into a money-spinner? Here are my tips.

Plan

You want your readers to know exactly what your blog is about the moment they land on the page, so – as with every website – you need to ensure it is easy to navigate and that the ‘about’ page is succinct and tells them who you are. You should treat this like the back cover of a book that entices people to turn to the first page.

The technical stuff

As anyone in content marketing knows, SEO is hugely important. However, you do not have to worry unduly about this when creating a lifestyle blog – the key is ensuring it gains a following organically, albeit rapidly.

Part of the charm of lifestyle blogging is likeminded people discovering your little online world through word of mouth – or shares as they’re known in the blogosphere.

Promote

You’ve just spent two hours writing what you believe is the gold standard in blog posts and another 30 minutes picking pictures for it and planning the layout. You hit ‘publish’ and immediately click over to your stats page. You’re met with a big zero – which doesn’t change after a few hours.

Disappointing yes, but you can do something about this. The internet is a huge place, home to thousands – if not millions – of blogs, so you need to get yours noticed. When you set up your blog, take advantage of the publishing function by linking it to all your social networking pages like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. This means that whenever you publish, more people will know about it.

Share

It’s great to have followers. Let’s be honest; getting people you have never met to follow your blog can feel more fulfilling than simply knowing your mum reads it. Make this possible by including share buttons on your blog. The more forums readers have to share it on, the more people will see it – so make sure your blog can be liked on Facebook, tweeted and pinned in an instant.

Paint a picture

As I mentioned before, there is one area where my blog is unlikely to reach the dizzying heights of success achieved by, say, Bleubird Vintage or RocknRoll Bride. These are blogs that started out small and are now online empires in their own right, with advertisers rushing for an inclusion on their homepage.

In order to succeed in blogging you have to establish a presence and the best way to do this is with pictures.

Going back to my blog not being the ideal how-to example, one huge reason is because it lacks photographs and is so slim on identifiable details it might as well be written by an anonymous source at MI6. But if you have a lifestyle worth sharing, make sure you share it. Include photos of your new outfit/cake recipe/feature wall – and include pictures of yourself too, as it pays to add a face to the voice. Remember, photos and videos are all judged as quality content by Google, so will also help in your rankings.

http://www.contentplus.co.uk/marketing-resources/blog/content-marketing/lifestyle-blogs-how-to-make-a-money-spinner-part-1-2/

3 Ways A Small Business Can Dominate Facebook

Many small business owners have come to appreciate the benefits of Facebook for professional purposes in the last several years. But, for those who are just starting out, it can be frustrating trying to compete with some of the more established businesses. It’s a daunting task, but it’s not impossible.

Social networks, and Facebook in particular, allow companies to interact with current and potential customers, spread company news, and eventually convert virtual “friends” into paying customers.

There are many effective strategies for gaining likes, boosting user engagement, and growing a Facebook community. Read on for three simple ways to achieve success in the realm of social media and learn how to improve your company’s online image on a shoestring budget.

Use pictures

Images, more than any other type of media, tend to be liked, commented on, and shared across social media platforms. Photos are eye-catching, informative, evocative, and often humorous. The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” isn’t far off when it comes to the power of imagery across online forums.

When it comes to business, post photos of products, employees, or relevant industry news, and you are likely to increase the edgerank score of your page and appear in more newsfeeds. The more newsfeeds your picture post shows up in, the more exposure your business page receives.

Ask questions

This is a valuable tactic both from an engagement standpoint and a customer service perspective. Questions get people involved with the page – and any interaction is a plus. Edgerank is highly dependent on the conversation that surrounds each post. Comments rank higher than likes, so if you can get people talking about a post, you’ll boost page visibility. Even if the Facebook community doesn’t seem to translate to sales in the short-term, the mere exposure effect suggests that increased visibility of logos and company imagery can improve brand recognition and lead to potential consumers feeling positive about the business.

Take a look at the image below.  It is of Online Trading Academy, a company that teaches people how to day trade.  They have ~1,500 Likes currently, and this simple ‘fill in the blank’ question received 34 comments, which is about 2.5% of their total likes.  That is really good interaction.

Additionally, if you ask questions about the products and services the company offers, you can actually glean crucial insight about your customer-base. While it might be an informal method of surveying a crowd, it does provide valuable information from a sales and marketing perspective.

Update the cover photo regularly

Updating the cover photo is a great way to keep friends engaged and active on your Facebook page. When you update a cover photo or profile picture it is considered an important move by the EdgeRank algorithm, therefore it ranks highly and tends to garner more likes than a basic status update or link post. You can also get creative with the cover photo. If your business is “boring” or specific to one industry, take advantage of the cover photo to broaden your audience.

High Risk Pay, a high risk credit card processing company, struggled with gaining “likes” from people beyond the industry. They decided to think outside the box and created a cover image with a seasonal theme that included a credit card flying through a wintery skyline. They abandoned a more technical, “geeky” background and found that they actually attracted a larger audience with the new image because the page appeared less industry-specific. The updated cover photo was more relatable.

There are many more tricks and tips for growing a business’s online presence, but taking advantage of Facebook’s complex ranking system is the best way to build a community of followers. Try these three tactics and be patient. With time and effort you can increase consumer engagement and gain a loyal following.

http://www.stayonsearch.com/3-ways-a-small-business-can-dominate-facebook