Credit: Steve Woods

Maybe you’ve just launched a new online business. Perhaps you’ve released a new, heavily-updated version of your commercial software package. Or maybe you’re ready to release the results of an industry survey conducted by your company. When your business is faced with potentially-newsworthy information to share, you might decide to use a press release (or news release) and online press release distribution sites to get the word out.

Online press release distribution is a great tool for small businesses without big budgets for major newswire distribution. While the primary purpose of a news release is still to get exposure (which happens most effectively when members of the media, authority bloggers, and others in your industry put out a story on you), they can do more thanks to the Web.

Press releases can also help you build links from authority and relevant sites (through their coverage), direct traffic from some members of your target market, and ultimately better search engine rankings as a result. To get these benefits though, you have to use online press release distribution in the “right” ways.

Where Some People Go Wrong

Credit: Michal Zacharzewski

Because online press release distribution can lead to SEO benefits, those distribution sites are often abused by spammers. Press release spam can mean a few different things, but when it comes to newswire services and distribution sites it basically refers to non-newsworthy press releases distributed solely for links.

This is a problem. If you have a generic article with no timely aspect or news value, it shouldn’t be put out over press release distribution sites. It would be better suited for article marketing. If it reads more like an advertorial, you’ll be better off seeking paid placement on the end sites you want to reach.

Remember that press releases are first and foremost public relations tools–not marketing. They’re not about pushing hard sales or advertising. They’re not about getting a lot of quick (but irrelevant) links from free press release distribution sites. They’re about sharing news and creating an authority image for the company releasing them. The quality links, traffic, and rankings are simply an added reward of a job well done.

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Internet marketing is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? There are countless marketing tools available on the Web, and many carry little to no barriers to entry (in other words, they’re free or very inexpensive, so anyone can use them). That ease of use can cause some problems though. What do you do when you have an overwhelming number of options available, and only a limited budget or limited time to implement your Internet marketing campaign?

Turn to Market Research

Traditional business owners know that market research plays a vital role in the success of any marketing campaign. That doesn’t change on the Web. Still, it’s all too common to see online entrepreneurs, webmasters, or traditional businesses making the leap to the Web taking a very untargeted approach (we recently talked about the consequences of untargeted social media marketing specifically).

When you jump into using a tool because someone says you should try it, without doing any planning or market research first, you run the risk of wasting both time and money in a failed attempt to reach your target market. Market research lets you compare different marketing tools and tactics to figure out which will best reach and influence your intended audience before you commit to them.

What You Want to Know About Your Market

There are several general areas of marketing research you should be familiar with. The first part of your market is your customer base (or subscribers or readership as the case may be). Consumer market research helps you decide who to target and how to influence them.

Don’t stop there though. You also need to think about your competition (by researching what they’re doing and what’s worked well for them, you can make better market planning decisions).

Here are some of the things you’ll want to find out about your market before engaging in any particular marketing tactics:

Credit: Jesse Courtemanche

• Who is your marketing really reaching? – You probably have a vague idea of who your target audience is the moment you create a website, product, or service. But do you know them well enough to know exactly who your marketing message is going to reach? Think about the demographics and psychographics of the people who are your potential buyers or visitors

  Are they mostly male or female? What age group? What income level? Where do they live? What level of education do they have? What are their interests? How will whatever you’re offering relate to their values?

• What influences your audience? – It’s not enough to know who your audience is. Marketing is about influencing a group of people–convincing them to visit your website, sign up for your newsletter subscription, buy your product, etc.

  If you target an audience consisting of mostly mothers in their 20s and 30s, for example, their motivating factors to make a purchase are going to be very different than those of a single teenage male.

• How can you compete? – In any industry you have to know who your competition actually is if you want to successfully compete with them. More importantly, you should look at their past marketing campaigns to keep their successes in mind and to learn from their potential mistakes.

  Even more vital than that, you have to know how you measure up against them if you’re going to craft effective marketing messages that set you apart. You can do this through a basic SWOT analysis (where you detail your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in comparison to your biggest competitors).

How to Find the Market Information You Need

One of the reasons business owners sometimes neglect market research on the Web is the misconception that it has to be expensive, difficult, or very time consuming. That may be true of some types of market research. But just as the Web offers simplified marketing tactics, it offers more accessible global market research as well.

Here are several ways you can gather market research information online quickly, inexpensively, and very easily:

• Visit competitor websites – There you may be able to find out how long they’ve been in business, how qualified their staff and management team are, or even see some of their marketing in action.

  Remember that their website, email newsletter, and even logo or other branding material are all a part of their overall marketing effort.



Credit: Danard Vincente

• Google it (or Bing it, or whatever strikes your fancy) – Search engines are your friend when it comes to Web-based market research. Not only can they help you discover competitors and how your competitors are marketing their businesses on the Web, but they can give you insight into your target market.

  A news engine, for example, might turn up press releases detailing survey results and other market research reports. Even if the full reports cost hundreds of dollars, key statistics about the markets / audiences surveyed are often released for free in those press releases.

• Conduct keyword research – If your Internet marketing plan involves search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM) tactics such as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, keyword research is a given. But even if you’re not planning those things, do it anyway.

  Tools like the Adwords keyword tool will show you what phrases your target market is interested in (what they’re searching for). In the example below, you can see keyword phrases related to market research, and how they fare against each other in popularity.

  Why does this matter? Because it tells you what your audience is specifically interested in. If you know what they’re interested in, you can better appeal to them in your marketing copy and collateral, influencing them and increasing conversions.

Those examples are some of the most basic online market research tools available. There are an abundance of tools and tactics available to you in consumer market research online. Let these serve as a starting point rather than your comprehensive plan.

Depending on your audience and what you’re trying to promote, you might also turn to market research surveys, focus groups, conversion tracking (after implementing a tactic such as an ad campaign), or other marketing research methods available.

The next time you’re wondering how you should expand your Internet marketing plan, don’t simply ask others for tactical suggestions. Invest some time into online market research and find out how your market likes to be reached (or what they respond to best) instead. What works for others won’t necessarily work for you.

Social bookmarking. Social networking. Blogging. Microblogging. Are you using them all in your social media marketing efforts? What about online video, content aggregators, podcasts, social media news releases, forums, and photo sharing? Some people would have you believe that you should be engaged in all, or most, of these social media tools and tactics to promote your business. Those people are wrong.

Why it Doesn’t Pay to be an Early Adopter

It’s a common marketing misconception that businesses should take advantage of every tool available to them if using that tool could potentially attract new visitors, readers, or customers. While there’s nothing wrong with testing new tools, attempting to try everything may cost more than you’d think (in wasted time), especially if you insist on being one of the first. (more…)

Why are employees in some companies happy to stick with the company while others look for a change? The reason is that some companies know how to take good care of their employees and provide a working environment that helps them retain their identity, while proving themselves and growing along with the company.

Here are some of the best HR practices that help in the creation of a highly satisfied and motivated work force.

Work Environment

A safe and happy workplace makes the employees feel good about being there. Each one is given importance and provided the security that gives them the motivation and incentive to stay. This is usually achieved through internal surveys to find out whether they are satisfied and if not what they think needs to be changed.

Open Management

Employees don’t like the feeling of being kept in the dark about what is happening in the company. They feel motivated and develop enthusiasm only when the management opens up to them and discusses the company policies, sales, clients, contracts, goals and objectives. This encourages participative management. Asking them for ideas on how to improve will get their creative juices flowing. Being open about everything related to the company will help in building trust and motivating the employees. This open management policy can be practiced using several tools.

Performance Incentives

Every good performance is appreciated in the form of a pat on the back, bonuses or giving some other compensation for a job well done. Organizations that struggle to keep up with the attrition rate are mostly those that think employees are “just” doing their job. Even if it is the employee’s job, completion in an appreciable manner calls for an incentive, and this goes a long way in boosting the staff morale. These incentives can be implemented at the individual as well as the team level and it has been seen that this works wonders in getting the best out of the employees. But it is important to keep in mind that these bonuses should not be given without a reason, unless it is a commitment for annual bonuses or some such thing. Doing so will only reduce the perceived value of the bonuses. (more…)

In the current economic gloom, with companies going belly up, finding new jobs calls for that little extra that can give an edge over competition. This often means jazzing up one’s resume and making it interesting. Most of you will agree that a plain text CV can be quite boring. Imagine an HR department receiving hundreds of such CVs; they may end up not making the right choice eventually.

The social media resume format is a media format of a resume and contains media elements such as MP 3s or videos created by you do the talking, instead of you. This was first created by Christopher Penn, who gave it the name of SMR and provided an online sample.

This resume format is catching up with job seekers and it seems to be doing wonders. According to a user, the main advantage of using this format is that it can be customized to reflect you as a person. All the elements of a normal resume continue to be present with additions of multimedia elements, integrated social networking feeds and sharing options. Adding these certainly equips a person better for success. (more…)

The economy in the United States is causing great concern for everyday citizens around the world. While top level executives are walking away with millions from failed companies, investors and employees are facing hard facts about their investments, their careers and their future. When you find yourself under the axe, your career aspects are bleaker across the board and if you’re not prepared for the possibility of lay-offs, you can be a tight spot both in the short-term and long-term.

Jobs and Recessions

There is little doubt there is a huge correlation between jobs and the economy. When the economy dips, companies trim the fat on their budgets. Often, this means non profitable departments are cut along with nonessential personnel. Contractors, freelancers and others might find themselves out of work for one company where they were duplicates of actual employees who must now shoulder more work for the same salary. Freelance individuals might find also themselves with more work as companies opt to outsource work to contractors rather than pay employee benefits and salaries.

In a recession, many jobs will be lost and the jobs that remain will become more cumbersome. Some fields will remain the same or even grow, such as the medical industry, virtually undisturbed by the economic conditions. Your plan for a bad economy should reflect your career track, your skills and your initiative. (more…)

Years of spending much more than their earnings have left a large percentage of Americans standing at the financial precipice. Studies show that 75% of Americans failed to pay their utility bills on time; about 39% of people who have mounting debts or bills say that they had to deplete their savings in order to pay off bills; around 30 percent of them accumulated credit card debt.

This is the worst possible situation anyone can get into – self-created, albeit unintentional. Debt is certainly not something that just happens as you go about your daily routine. Lack of knowledge on financial management in most cases leads to out-of-control debt. The partners in this financial demise are the financial giants making money out of the huge interests and fees they charge.

With the task of eliminating the mountain of debt staring on the face, most people wonder which outstanding bills to clear first. Setting up a debt plan works but it will work only if you discipline yourself to pay back the money within a specified length of time.

When in debt, it has to be done RIGHT NOW. Paying a little back is better than worrying and doing nothing about it. You will have to stick to the plan until the debt is completely paid.

Follow these steps to set up a debt payment plan:

Stop Using Credit

I cannot stress on this enough. There are no two ways about it and it has to be done if you want to get yourself out of debt. (more…)

A business is all about marketing. Even the best products and services fail if they are not promoted in a proper manner by reaching the customers. Social media helps build businesses gain responsive and highly targeted customers, while building rock solid relationships with potential customers and other entrepreneurs. A company’s brand through social media reputation is beginning to have more weight in the current day.

For many businesses, social media still remains a big question mark. Many are not sure if social media constitutes a medium that is largely untested. They wonder how a good brand can survive in the unpredictable environment of the online communities.

This is the reason why many companies are still not capitalizing on the huge opportunities those social media offers, such as connecting with high-quality business consumers. The advantages of social media far outweigh any disadvantages companies may be worried about.

Social media marketing is considered to be the future of online businesses. There are several social media available today for business people, such as blogs, audio, video and social networking sites.

Companies can leverage the power of social media by becoming a part of the online communities. (more…)

Credit card debt management refers to the process of effectively managing your credit card debts in order to avoid difficult financial situations.

According to a recent survey most Americans have between five to ten credit cards even though this number has been reported to touch up to fifty. Consequently, most of them have to face a financial crisis (or worse a bankruptcy) at one point or another in their life. Although there is no denying the fact that credit cards make life easier and offer you the freedom to buy what you want even when you are in a liquidity crunch, they can tarnish your financial position if used unwisely. Thus, it is essential to have a credible credit card debt management process in place before you apply for credit cards and start making purchases left, right and center. Most of us are satisfied with making minimum monthly payments on our credit cards without giving a moment’s thought to the ever increasing interest and principal. (more…)

The Better Business Bureau in your area is just one of thousands throughout the country. The Council of Better Business Bureaus provides many excellent services to small businesses, and compliance with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is desirable and respected among consumers. The Bureaus operate in the United States and Canada and offer a voluntary standard of operating guidelines and behavior to companies in any field of service. To use the BBBs, consider the following aspects and services offered:

• BBB Reports on Companies
The Better Business Bureau has reports available on thousands of companies both in your area and nationwide. If you are considering working with another company or making a large purchase or service arrangement, the BBB can offer you information on the past dealing of the company in question. This is an excellent way to learn if a company has been ethical in their past dealings when making your decision.

By the same token, you can make reports to the BBB about other companies. While this is not the same as litigation, reporting unethical behavior to the BBB is enough to force some companies to behave more appropriately. Compliance with the BBB is not mandatory, however, so many of the most unethical companies are undisturbed by reports. If you were to research those companies, however, you will easily discover their misdeeds and proceed to take your business elsewhere. (more…)