Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

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Leading Research Firm Says 2010 Will Be a Big Year For Social Media

Forrester Research, one of the world’s leading technology and market research companies, says marketers are expected to spend over .5 billion on social media in 2010, an increase of 10.4% over 2009. Offline advertisers will increasingly move online and internet advertising will make up 21 percent of overall advertising budgets, up from 12 percent last year. There will be an accelerated migration of ad dollars from traditional to digital media and this will gather momentum over the year.

Forrester Research continues: “In 2009, the majority of interactive marketers tested Social Computing tactics, ranging from Facebook pages to blogs and communities. In 2010, marketers will move out of test phase and treat Social Computing as a mature channel, setting budgets and establishing formal listening and measurement plans. This maturation will push the value of Social Computing and its insights deep into company departments beyond marketing, setting up organizations to fully embrace Social Computing and becoming more transparent and interactive with consumers. As Social Computing matures, both marketers and vendors will feel pressure to not only prove its profitability but also ensure consumer privacy.”

There are major shifts in social media marketing as well. Facebook, with 350 million users worldwide, is the number one destination for marketers in the US and many worldwide markets. It will surpass its rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010.

Marketers will make social networks a priority for 2010, but a large part of their spending will go toward building and maintaining a social network presence. Paid social network advertising will be secondary.

Social marketing will also see the biggest growth with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34 percent for the next four years, double the average growth rate for overall online marketing spending. It will increase in the U.S. to more than .1 billion by 2014, a 34% compound annual growth rate, according to Forrester Research

Keyword Research, is it Worth It?

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Keyword Research, is it Worth It?

LONDON, JULY 12 2007

What is the key driver behind online sales? Visitors who find your products or services so appealing they commit to completing a purchase. This may sound like business 101 to most of you, but you’d be surprised to know how much uncorked inspiration there is in doing your homework on how to get there.

All of us web owners know that of course the traffic of visitors also need to be taken good care of in order to hold any value. You need to offer your potential customers elements such as secure payments, accessible customer service and clear information.

But back to the magic that makes your site more likely to be discovered by an audience who understand what you are offering – and who are in the market for your products? Of course the key is making your site pop in the search engines, whenever your average customer is on the lookout for your products. What does this mean? It’s simple. It means that your keywords need to be compatible with your target audience’s search terms.

How to know what the right keywords are? Research.

Rule number one is to stay away from keywords that are too specific to your industry. This means that your average reseller or technician or industry professional would know exactly how to find your web site and your products or services. But at the same time, your audience may not ever use those terms when thinking of what to buy – they are maybe too technical or too component specific. So, using too industry specific terms may do your traffic a lot of harm. Stay clear of it!

Rule number two is to always think of how you can vary your keywords. Divide the keyword up into several parts (three or more), so that all of those users who may not search for your very specific product can still find you based on the generic term if included in different circumstances.

Rule number three: Always include negative keywords. What is a negative keyword? A negative keyword is a keyword that helps prevent your ad from being displayed in a non-relevant environment. This means that your negative keywords will make sure nobody who includes your keyword in a non-relevant search will reach your site – it basically lowers your costs for useless traffic and it also helps keep your quality score high in the engines. Keeping your score high is a long term investment, since it will prevent you from unnecessarily high bid prices and bad ad positioning.

Rule number four: Make sure your reach goes beyond one search engine. Don’t automatically go with the big guys. Instead, research and go wider by looking at other multiple content networks. Make sure you don’t overlook the very targeted smaller engines out there – they could save you a lot of money. Not to mention make you some too!

Rule number 5: Measure your performance, at all times. If you don’t keep track of potential success or failure, using keywords is fairly useless. Use the results you get to develop new strategies.

Rule number 6 is to always review the tools you have at your disposal. If you are using a third-party bid management solution that doesn’t add value, you need to reconsider how you align your work with keywords with the rest of your operations. Invest in good tools with a solid track record. What are good tools? Those who help you track both your precise keywords and your separate advertisements, and they will tell you which lead to more traffic and which lead to actual conversions, i.e. sales.

Again, as we said above – keyword research is only one part of your business. Getting your visitors to come to your site is only the first step towards sales. Greeting them the best possible way is the next challenge you should tackle before you even start your keywords campaigns – check back here for more articles on such as landing pages, content and other elements to help support your e-commerce business performance.

- Submitted by a reconfigured.org writer

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Keyword Research – Building the Best List

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Keyword Research – Building the Best List

The concept of keywords sounds very simple.  When a person types in a word or series of words – such as ‘Power Widgets’ – into the search box on Google, the search engine will find every web page which has these two words on it, even if they are not next to each other on the website – even if they are on different pages of the website.

What is not so simple about keywords is figuring out which are the right words – the ones your customers will use to look for your product or service.  Those are the keywords that need to be on your website for Google to find.

There is a false belief that there are some ‘magic’ words which, when put onto any webpage, will cause that page to be number one on the search results page on Google.  It just isn’t true.

Some people recommend putting words such as “SEX” or “Jessica Simpson” on a web page to increase the number of visitors.  There is little debate that this isn’t a very good approach. For one thing, you’re not likely to rank very high on these types of keywords; and even if it did succeed in driving traffic to your site, is it truly increasing the number of real customers that are visiting your website?

The true art of keywords has two components:

Figuring out what words potential customers use as a search term when looking for your product or service.

Insuring that those words are not just scattered on your website, but placed correctly so that your site, and not your competitor’s, will be on the top of the search results page.

The first step is to capture as many possible keywords as you can. The goal is to create a huge list that you’ll narrow and refine later.

Start your keyword research by looking over your website and finding the words that are specific to your company, product or service. Create a list of words based on this.  You might think of this as your priority words list. If a person knows about your website they will normally type in this information first.   

Next, make a list of words which are about the product or service, but are not company specifically and think of these as your secondary word list.  Some of these words might overlap with the priority list but that is alright.  

Then make a third list of words which you might call your outside list.  This is a list made up of words (including possible typos) which people might type when looking for a product or service. I would also include competitor’s products and any other non-obvious words that your research reveals as likely search terms.

If this keyword list is for a website that has been up and running for a while, take a look at both the website server statistics and any available analytics package such as Google Analytics. Compare your lists of words with what is in these other reports.  Add any words you hadn’t already thought of.

Now it’s time to expand beyond your website and collect words from other sources. These sources include brainstorming sessions with your sales team and any other group that comes in contact with customers or prospects, keywords from your competitors’ websites, and, finally, 3rd party keyword applications.

There are plenty of choices for keyword-building software but one of the best applications also happens to be free. It’s the Keyword Tool inside Google Adwords. You don’t need an Adwords account to use it. Just go to the Adwords login page and click on Keyword Tool.

Follow these steps and you’ll end up with hundreds – if not thousands – of potential keywords. You’ll be able to eliminate many of these as inappropriate on sight. Others require a bit more research.

In addition to understanding what words your customers will likely use to find your type of product or service, to select the best keywords you’ll also want to pay attention to the following:

How many people actually search using these terms? You can get this information from the Google Keyword tool. It’s the number called Average Search Volume and it tells you how many times that search term is used on Google on average in a month.

How tough is the competition for these terms? You can determine this by searching on Google for that term and noting how many pages Google finds with those keywords. (The fewer the better). You’ll also want to pay attention to the pages that rank highest for the terms.

© 2009 Tatum Marketing

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Affiliate Marketing Basic Skill No 4: Affiliate Keyword Research

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Affiliate Marketing Basic Skill No 4: Affiliate Keyword Research

This article will touch on the basic skill no 4 which is the affiliate keyword research. The previous 3 articles which touch in the other 3 basic skills are important. If you have not read the other 3 article, I will encourage you to go and read the other 3 articles. This article will touch on the importance of keyword research. You will also learn where are the places that you will be able to go to do your keyword research for free.

Keyword research is crucial to your success as an affiliate marketer if you depend on the search engines to generate traffic. This will be a very important step because when the search engine want to go and spider your website or the articles that you have written, they will look out for the keywords. If you can find the exact keyword that is very relevant to your niche that you are touching on and you add it to the content on your own websites, the search engine will sees your site as the place where people can find that particular information from.

If you write articles and send it to the article directory, you will also want to make sure that your article’s keyword density is just nice and you put in the correct keyword. There are 3 tools which you can use to aid in your keyword research. The 3 tools are:

1. WordTracker Suggestion Tool. You will be able to find it at http://FreeKeywords.WorkTracker.com

2. Digital Point Keyword Suggestions. You will be able to find at http://www.DigitalPoint.com/tools/suggestions

3. Google Adwords Keywords Tool. You will be able to find at http://Adwords.Google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

In conclusion, you know the importance of keyword research. It will be very important to you if you are depending on search engine for traffic. You have also know where are the websites that you can go to do your own keyword research. I hope that you will find it useful and best of luck to your affiliate marketing business success.

Keyword Analysis Research – Best Keyword Research Tools

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Keyword Analysis Research – Best Keyword Research Tools

The Internet has become a money-making tool for many people nowadays. On the Internet, you can launch websites that offer certain products and services, or simply maintain web logs (more popularly known today as blogs) and earn income by generating traffic.

It sounds easy – this whole traffic business – but in reality, it requires more work, time and effort than you think.

There are many tips circulating the Internet on how you can attract more visitors to your site. One of the most effective methods of getting targeted visitors to your website is through keyword analysis research.

Keyword analysis research simply means determining the keywords internet users can use to get to your website via the search engines. For example, if your website is on dog training, then naturally you want your visitors to find your website through keywords such as dog training, obedience training, potty training etc.

Keyword research also allows you to determine the level of competition you face. More popular keywords such as dog training can require considerably more effort to be in the top 3 of the search engines. However, keywords such as how to house train a dog may only require a couple of one way back links in order well in the search engines.

There are many free and paid keyword research tools available. The free tools include the google keyword external tool which is pretty good since it shows the average search volume in numbers now. If you are using google adwords, it is also a good keyword tool to get more keywords as well know the level of adwords competition for a given keyword.

There are other paid keyword research tools such as nichebot 2, SEO elite, keyword discovery, wordtracker and more. Most offer a trial period and I recommend you try them out to see which is the best keyword research tool for you.

Boosting Your Online Sales with Powerful Keyword Research Tools

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Boosting Your Online Sales with Powerful Keyword Research Tools

The importance of online marketing is well known. Nowadays, when people are relying on the Internet for all their needs, the potential for online business has increased drastically. As an online marketer or an e-business owner, you cannot deny the importance of your website’s top placements in major search engines. Top SERP’s can guarantee better revenues flowing down to your websites.

However only getting top SERP’s should not be the final destination for you. As a smart e-business owner, you need to ensure that you are getting top placement in major search engines for right keyword. Yes, right keywords are the first thing that is necessary to drive organic traffic towards your website. Without selection of right keywords, you cannot expect your online sales to rise.

Proper keyword analysis is the key to success in search engine marketing. You need to analyze your business carefully and prepare keyword analysis report. You can also ask your friends or peers that, what would be their preferred search terms when they need to find out a product or service matching to your targeted business domain. The final selection of keywords should be a perfect blend of both your researched terms as well as suggested search terms by your friends.

However, importance of keyword research tools cannot be underestimated if you are serious about driving sales to your website. Effective use of keyword research or suggestion tools like Google Keywords Suggestion Tool, Overture.com, WorkTracker, and Keywordspy can make a significant change in your SERP’s as well as incoming sales to your website.

You are investing your hard-earned money and honest efforts to boost your business and sales. So, keep the set of most beneficial keywords relevant to your business ready before putting more money on stake in PPC, Adwords and other contextual advertising. You should also figure out the keyword selection strategy of your top competitors in advance, so that you can make your search engine marketing plans accordingly.

Keywords Research or suggestion tools do much of your homework quickly. They will not only show you the most relevant keywords to boost your sales, but also show you the volume of search for those keywords in all major search engines. Some advance keyword tools like Keywordspy can help you multi-dimensionally. Keywordspy can help you in researching your competitor’s keywords and search engine marketing strategies, as well as provide you real time tracking of your competitors in major search engines across a wide geographical area.

In brief, to get enough sales continuously through your search engine marketing campaign, you need to give a close attention to importance of right keywords research and suggestion tools. They can surely do the magic in boosting your online sales.

Website Research – Keyword Tools To Look At

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Website Research – Keyword Tools To Look At

Whenever you are considering starting your own blog, it is important to remember that you need to have good keywords included in your blog. Keywords are words that search engines are looking for when someone performs a search. It can sometimes be a bit complicated for the search engines to figure everything out when it comes to finding the keywords and phrases. Luckily there are a few different keyword tools available to assist you.

There are many different tools available to you but you just need to find what program meets your needs the most. The first place that you may want to start looking when you first start a blog are the free keyword sites. A few of these are Keyword Density and Yooter Keyword Suggestion Tool are two different sites that are free to use. They can help you sort out all sorts of different keywords and phrases to get the most traffic on your site. Another free site is SEO Book’s Keyword List Generator. These are just a few suggestions but there are many more free services available.

Are you looking for a service that is simple and easy to use? You could try Good Keywords or Keyword Research Tool from Webmaster Toolkit. Both of these tools are very easy to use and can help you not only produce a great keyword list but also offer misspelling suggestions and help you analyze some of the other top ranked pages so that you know specifically what the search engines are looking for.

These services do require a one time fee that is paid up front before you use the services. Some other programs that require fees include The Permutator and Keywords Analyzer. These programs are like a lot like their free competitors but will go more in depth when it comes to analyzing your competitors blogs. The Dowser and Keyword Elite are a few other options that are very similar to the others. Being able to analyze the competition can be a great benefit and can definitely help you in the long run.

If you feel like none of these options are right for your blog, don’t worry, there are still many more options. Some options do have on-going fees but may help you in different ways than the other ones we have already listed above. A few of these options include Adgooroo and Keyword Discovery. They will help you find the most precise keyword searches by analyzing all of your competitors and some of them may even include seasonal searches.

So what is the huge difference between the free programs and those that require one time fees or continuous fees? To be honest, there isn’t much of a difference but it just depends on how much you need a keyword search tool. If you are planning on using it for only a few things, you may be fine using the free programs. But you will always get the most for your money if you decide to pay for a program.

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Another one of those $0 to $13000 a day stories using Google Adwords and keywords research techniques

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Another one of those to 000 a day stories using Google Adwords and keywords research techniques

Another one of those to 000 a day stories using Google Adwords and keywords research techniques.

I almost fell off my chair when I saw these stats. Some guy claims he went from zero dollars to earning over thirteen thousands (,000) a day within nine months. I thought, no way!! How is that possible? According to him, it is all done through Google Adwords.

Yes it can be risky to buy your way to the top. It is also very risky as you could lose your shirt trying to market a product that does not sell. If you truly knew how to manipulate the keywords and key phrases to product’s advantages, you could dominate top spot which can truly earn you thousands a day. I could swear on any Bible or grave you want me to!!

The author of this claim seems to admit you could do:

Take a 5 STAR, first class vacation

Buy the car with ‘petty’ CASH

Buy the house outright

He also claims he is an average guy who:

Didn’t know what the Internet was

Didn’t know what a web browser was, let alone a website

Didn’t know what HTML was

Didn’t know what FTP was (method to upload files to the Internet)

Didn’t know how to get website traffic (visitors) to a site

Didn’t believe people could click a mouse button and make money

Didn’t believe people would buy ’stuff’ off the Internet

Sounds pretty well average like the next non technical person to me. He also claims he spent thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to figure out how to do this. Is it possible? Like I said, you better believe.

The one thing you need to understand is that you cannot just sit around, You actually have to do it by doing this!

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How to Get Targeted Web Site Traffic – 1 of 3 – Keyword Research

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How to Get Targeted Web Site Traffic – 1 of 3 – Keyword Research

On the web, the first and foremost goal of all businesses is to get targeted web site traffic. Search engine optimization is the best method that can deliver such results in a natural way. In general, pay per click advertising could also bring such results for you, but it will cost you a lot and as soon as you stop paying the advertising site, your ads will stop showing up.

On the contrary, the type of targeted traffic you get from search engines in a natural way remains there in search engine result pages for a long time, even after you stop paying your expert SEO service provider.

What’s Targeted Website Traffic?

Every marketing campaign is supposed to define its particular goals. When an online business seeks lots of visitors, it should plan for the exact type of visitors it desires to attract to its site. This is done when they plan to get targeted website traffic. They decide what type of people should come to their site and why.

At the earliest stage of search engine optimization process, a keyword research is performed to discover what phrases people search for to find the kind of products and services such business owners have. Then, after lots of keyword analysis, a group of phrases (usually more than 3 words each) are selected that indicate more inclination toward what such a website is offering. These keyphrases are grouped and prioritized to be used for various parts of the site.

Here’s an example of how to get targeted web site traffic: Suppose your site is selling properties in Canada and you have intended to increase your website traffic in a smart way. There are several categories in a real estate website for buying and selling like villas, condominiums and so on. The visitors you’d like to attract to an important page of your site are those who would want to buy condos. If you manage to get these people to that particular page of your site, you’ve managed to get targeted web site traffic to your site.

How to Achieve Such a Goal?

Everything depends on the keyphrase you choose for this page and then optimizing one of your pages for it. The phrase should be what a buyer may think of while searching. So, from among several similar phrases, you may be convinced that “buying condos” is the closest one. Well, obviously it is more narrowed than “condos” or even “buying properties”, but it should be more precise and to the point. Besides, the more words we have in a keyphrase, such a phrase will be more likely to attract the same visitors we want. So, we add the location to it too.

As the company is in Canada, “buying condos in Canada” is better than the previous phrase. Sometimes, there could even be more specific word to use within the same number of words. For instance, if you’re selling the condominiums in Toronto, and people use this word in their searches at various engines like Google, Bing, etc, why not replace Canada with it?

So, the phrase that helps you get targeted web site traffic to the specific page of your site will be: “buying condos in Toronto”. This is how keyword research can play an important role in getting targeted web site traffic for your site.

Historic Keyword Research

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Historic Keyword Research

Want to know what the latest trend is or if a historic trend will soon happen again? Then you might want to do what is called a historic keyword research. So what is this and how do you use it? Historic keyword search is searches that have been possible in the past and can be very probably now. This can also be based on current history and demand for keywords as well. So why don’t more people know about how to use this as far as advanced SEO is concerned. That may be because people don’t know about it or how to use it.
When it comes to a search of this kind, Google has a program that is called Google Trends Labs. This works just like any search engine would with one exception. You can find the daily trends on the front page. You can also look for these trends by entering terms into the Labs search engine. This is basically a time based search engine that will help you to identify traffic spikes that may be coming up again and again. This is a very useful feature to have if you have something that has the potential to be searched again and again.
This can help with analysis of the web. This is very similar to the predictive SEO but this mainly has to do with analyzing sites and providing the keywords that are the most used about certain subjects that are either currently popular or have the potential to be. When using this particular service, you will need to enter at least one phrase, if not two. The way that you use this with two phrases is by separating them by a comma. Take a look at this example for instance: NASCAR, Champion.
This can be deceptive however, if you are looking for a certain amount of times that a certain champion has won, then you would need to enter the drivers name along with the preceding two words. That is how simple it is. You can get confused however if you are not sure how to use this SEO tactic to help you with your content or your site. There is a lot of information on the Google trends labs page at www.google.com/trends. This will give you some examples of how to use the particular program and what the latest hot trends really are.
If you are involved in journalism sites, this can be a god send. However, if you are selling anything, you can also use this site for the hot topics and to find out what is hot each day and with the information on the page about this site, you can also get more information about how to use this site to your advantage. So that is basically the advanced SEO of using historic keyword trends to not only be on top of what everyone is talking about, but also to boost your business and sales. This is an advanced technique that will also help you to rank your site higher.

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