John Chow is one of the most famous bloggers and affiliate marketers. He’s hosted DotCom Pho in Richmond and now in Vancouver for years. He announces the time and place 24 hours ahead of time and anyone is welcome. August 21st 2010 is the second to last time it will be held in Vancouver because John is moving with his family to the United States.

The topic of conversation runs from uber geeky to the ridiculous and somewhere during the conversation at least three people pay homage to the great Apple god. Not me though. The only Apple equipment I own is an 18 month old iPod Touch that is falling apart. I’m waiting for Android tablets to be available near the end of the year. I’ll be standing in line somewhere and will be blogging and tweeting about the experience.

Two weeks ago Android sales surpassed iOS sales (that’s iPhone)  . Yes that’s right .. every time I say that, someone goes to the internet to prove me wrong. Sorry folks – it’s true.

Today at DotCom Pho I take on the Apple fan boys and it’s on video. The bad news is smart Android phones are in such demand they cost more than the flawed iPhone4.

Technorati Tags: Android, Bonnie Sainsbury, DotCom Pho, John Chow

The Best of the Web Articles. Email marketing remains an effective online marketing tool in your social marketing plan. Enjoy our weekly guest post.

So that you know the effectivity of any promotional campaign, it is crucial that its component parts are analyzed and be correctly understood.First step is to come up with a list of email addresses. There are infinite number of means of list building.  They can nevertheless, be classified into the fast and easy way and the more targeted manner.One fast and easy way is thru the use of electronic mail extraction softwares that collect electronic mail addresses from web sites visited such as forums interested in the product you have to offer.  One other way is through buying lists from email vendors.  Established companies are wary on going the painless way of list building.  A large percentage of those land in junk e-mail folders and filtered by email service providers. Building a listing is no easy task. It is not difficult to miss and not find what you want in the massive arena of the World Wide Web. It needs time in doing the steps required to broadcast your existence to your target market.  Generally, it is best to let prospective customers to your site join by keying in specific contact info which includes email addresses.  Opt email lists are generated when website visitors grant permission for webmasters or publishers to include them in their list. Depending on the site’s TOS, becoming part of the list also means being able to receive newsletters or other forms of applicable advertisements. Those who choose to opt-in in any list are targeted, therefore are to a greater extent receptive and more likely to read email transmitted to them thru the site they signed-in.This permission based way of receiving email makes opt email lists the best alternative for a direct email campaign.Once you have generated your list, create content that will compel your readers to action. According to some observations, it takes about 7 times for a person to read from the same source sent thru email before they are convinced to take action.Surprisingly, a direct email campaign is an email marketing solution that is said to provide a favorable response.Frequently used by affiliate marketers, this method proves to be effective because of the fact that a connection has been established. The element of trust is already there.Bulk email may seem to be impersonal but most recipients don’t feel this way. Most promotions indicate a person’s name making it appear that it is meant for just that individual. This approach never fails to generate sales.

Learn how Masterdigm CRM can help you do targeted email campaigns and provide your customers regular updates on your products and services. Visit http://www.masterdigm.com.
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The Best of the Web Articles. Email marketing remains an effective online marketing tool in your social marketing plan. Enjoy our weekly guest post.

Email marketing is the direct mail vehicle of the new millennium. It has proven to be an effective and low-cost advertising medium for online and offline businesses, both large and small. Email marketing allows easy tracking and measuring of results. More importantly, it allows businesses to stay in front of their customers for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. The bad news, however, is that everyone is using email marketing. The question becomes, then, how do you stand out from crowd?

An effective email campaign must be strategically planned out in advance for optimal success. What is the purpose of your campaign? To sell, to inform, or to support are possibilities. What are your goals for the campaign? Do you want more orders, new customers, or backend product sales? The bottom line is you want to keep the customers that have already purchased from you!

Consider your list. Is it targeted? Can you segment your list for greater success? Segmenting is creating subgroups within your list that you can then target with specific information and offers. If one customer orders one service and another customer buys your widget, you would want to offer the two different customers different follow-up support and complementary products. Also consider where your list evolved from: did you buy it, did it come from your website, blog, or is it an affiliate list? This information is important to know when you plan your campaign.

Before you begin designing, consider the following metrics you will use to measure the success of your campaign:

Read Rates: How many people open your emails is a good indication of the interest they have in your information. More importantly, is how many open your email more than once or keep opening it down the road.

Click Throughs: Are your emails successful in driving traffic to your site? Do you have compelling content and calls to action that directs your prospects to act? What calls to action worked or didn’t work?

Sent to a Friend: Are you getting the word-of-mouth viral marketing from your campaign? Are you utilizing this important method?

Unsubscribe Rate: What causes your prospect to want to unsubscribe? Is your information not compelling enough? Do you provide enough or too much content? Are you capturing what your prospects want to know?

Now when you are first starting out, these things will be a mystery. The only true way to know is to target your goals the best way you can to your list and of course, trial and error. The knowledge you have of each of these components will help you make adjustments along the way.

Again, consider the objective of your campaign. If you want your list to buy, a simple invitation to visit your site is okay. More effective, however, is to give them an incentive to buy now, not later and from you and not from your competitor, etc.

A call to action is giving specific instructions to be followed. You are pointing them to the infamous X marks the spot. But do not send your prospects on a treasure hunt. They will get fed up and go about their day. Every call to action should be accompanied by a direct link to your spot X.

Equally important as getting them to spot X quickly and easily is to not misinform them about where you want them to go. In short, do not tell them to go to spot X for more information and send them to spot Y which is the order page. Again, they will be miffed and go away.

Strategically place your call to actions throughout your email. Most people simply skim an email on average for only a few seconds. They will most likely not read word-for-word your entire message (unless you have killer content!) If you just put one link down at the end of the message, you will have a low click-through rate.

Email users have been studied extensively and results show they respond best to shorter, clearly designed messages. This means they will be looking for your call to action and the link to spot X. Make sure you provide clear instructions with a targeted message so that you take advantage of the few seconds you have. Attach specific call to actions in clearly visible spots in your email and you will see better results than if you didn’t.

As you send more and more emails, look at what your prospects are responding to. Adapting to the specific nature of your list will help improve your click-through rate, decrease your unsubscribe rate and you will realize more viral referrals.

Ruth Harris is a real entrepreneur who has helped many others start and promote their online business. Visit http://www.iprofit.viral-business.com to get over 170 best-selling eBooks and software titles with Master Resell Rights and ready made profit-pulling minisites all for one low price.
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As a small business owner (or small not-for-profit), networking is productive use of your time. An unconference doesn’t have a set agenda or speakers. The first order of business is for the attendees to choose the agenda. Either “experts” volunteer to lead a workshop on their area of expertise, or attendees  lead a session to solve a problem.

I attended the NetSquared Unconference this weekend. 150 people discussed everything from SEO (how to get on the first page of Google) to email marketing using MailChimp.

Reasons to attend an Unconference:

1. The Price

An unconference in your town is usually about $25 for the day. Excellent value for your dollar. Everyone’s budget can accomodate an unconference.

2. Connect with your Peers

Other attendees often have the same issues you do and they may have found a solution or work-around. Arrive early and network; share your expertise with others. Don’t forget to get their contact infromation, twitter, Facebook and Linkedin ids. When you return to your office – connect with the folks you met!

3. C0nnect with Experts

Attend the workshops of Experts. Because the topics are chosen by your peers, the information will quite possibly help your business. Ask questions – participate. If your budget will allow the services of an expert, this is your chance to connect to find the best fit.

Pay close attention to Twitter and Facebook for advance notice of unconferences; they often sell out fast.

Technorati Tags: blog hosting services, Facebook, online social networking, small business owner, social information processing, social media, Twitter, unconference, web 2.0, world wide web

Communicate your Personal Online Brand and it will work for you.

Allen P. Adamson in Brand Simple says “a brand is something that lives in your head. It’s a promise that links a product or service to a consumer.  Whether words, or images, or emotion…….brands are mental associations that get stirred up” and you want people to get stirred up about you.

Your Personal Online Brand may be marketing and promotion,.but that only works if it is authentically and truly “you”..  It is part of your story, which represents you with integrity and which you can share with pride……and share it you must.  People need to appreciate your worth and  expertise, or they will never consider you a Valuable Resource…..but they have to recognize you first.

Think about it this way. When you walk down the aisle in a grocery store, what do you notice?’ Do you reach for your favorite brand, or close you eyes and blindly take the first box off the shelf?  How about the private-label store brands, or the ‘no-name’ section?  We choose, based on what we know, and what we think we know is often based on what we have seen or used before.  Where are you communicating your Personal online Brand? EVERYWHERE!

Best Places to Spotlight your Personal Online Brand

• blog or website
• business cards
• email address
• email signature file
• social media sites
• telephone answering message
• membership sites
• professional directories
• name tag
• press releases, all marketing materials

Optimal Blogger Kelly Giles believes networking is the best way to communicate your brand. Now think about the last offline networking event you attended.  How many ways could you have shown off your Personal Online Brand at that event?  Then, if you connect with your new ‘friends’ online, more options open up.  This could be the start of something big. If you communicate it, they will find you…..Your personal Online Brand, that is!

Technorati Tags: Inbound Marketing, online marketing plan, social media, social networking

The Best of the Web Articles. Email marketing remains an effective online marketing tool in your social marketing plan. Enjoy our weekly guest post.

What comes in your mind first when you hear the term advertising? I can’t say anything about you but as far as I am concerned advertising means models, flashy campaigns, witty punchlines, huge budget and more than one ad channels. Right. But things have changed a lot. The medium and meaning of advertising has changed. Companies are turning towards various online ad medium and some of them are using Emails as advertising.

That is why various companies are running Email campaign management programs. These companies are sending promotional messages in myriads of templets to a number of prospects. These messages are in the form of emails and most surprising fact is that this kind of advertising is bringing results. In fact there is a valid reason behind this success of Email marketing. You might know that according to the Internet World Stats report of march 31, 2008, there are about 1.407 billion Internet users all over the world, more than 92% of whom use it just for checking Emails. Now you can well understand the opportunity if you are using the Email for advertising.

An Email marketing company works to tap these Internet users and it helps in Email campaign management. Your promotional messages are sent to these users and once few of them click on that message, you are get noticed. This is how brand awareness happen due to Email. Be it auto-industry, accounting firm, healthcare industry, software firm, wealth management company, technology vendor, consumer product firm, publisher or whatever business, an Email can work as an excellent promotional tool. In fact, due to its effectiveness only, a majority of small and large companies all over the world are using Email as their main channel of marketing and customer communication.

Moreover, an Email campaign management can be made more profitable with powerful email-marketing lists of the target audience. This is opt-in Email marketing. You can go for opt-in business-to business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) email marketing lists. Hence, choose one and see how transformation can be helpful for you.

Author:
Author is expert in email marketing, presently render her services to Rupiz Xpress that helps you in building email marketing campaign, email campaigns, email marketing,.
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Your personal online brand is like your DNA.  It’s what Differentiates you, gets you Name recognition, and brand Awareness.In Chris Brogan’s opinion,  “A personal brand gives you the ability to stand out in a sea of similar products. In essence, you’re marketing yourself as something different than the rest of the pack.”  Personal branding works for businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs.  It’s a science, like the atomic number for an element, which sets is automatically apart.

That’s a great reason to invest in yourself and this notion, but where does one start? The best place seems to be ‘at home’., with you, looking into the mirror and examining what you find there. In the Web2.0 (heading for Web3.0) world,  the Number 1 watchword is “authenticity”.  From the root word “authentic”, the cleanest definition is “genuine”

Make a list; ask your self ‘”what do I believe?”, “What are my most genuine traits and characteristics” and “How does that fit into who I am and what I do?”.  If your reputation in on the line, what do people remember about you?  Is it good or a bit ragged around the edges?

In Mark Montoya’s Eight Laws of personal Branding, Law #3 states “A great Personal Brand must be built on a foundation of the source’s true personality, flaws and all.”

Here are my Top 3 Tips for creating your Personal Online Brand:

3. Know who you are.  Your personal brand is a mix of

• reputation – what do people already think of you?
• trust – reliability is huge.  People do business with those they know, like and trust.
• exposure – have you got there attention/ can you hold on to it?, and
• performance – how well do you execute your promises/  Do you deliver?

2. Know how you are perceived.  What is your brand, today?

Look around you and take inventory; look at yourself offline (ask some clients and friends)and online(do some Google research ON YOU) and see what you find.  Seeing ourselves as others see us can be a sobering or eye-opening experience.  This is NOT news.  In 1997, Tom Peters started an article in Fast Company with these words “Today, in the Age of the Individual, you have to be your own brand. Here’s what it takes to be the CEO of Me Inc.”

Beyond that, there are lots of tools available to help you research and evaluate your personal online brand.  Do some research and find tools you like and will use – and put them to work for you..

1. Develop a strategy. You can’t create your Personal Online Brand without a plan.

If you need a bit of an Online Makeover, then do it!  Look at your competitors the same way you looked at yourself.  Pick out the good, the bad, and the ugly and make some notes about what you find that you like and what is different about you.

If you are tech-savvy and have the time, then get busy!  If that’s not your ‘genius’, then find a professional whose ‘genius’ it is.

This is real, this is NOW, and this is something you need to get done.  This is not an option, and it’s not going away.  (Please, please don’t think of this as a storm you can ‘ride out’!  That boat has no sails, no engine…..won’t stay afloat!).

To quote my Grandmother, “Time and tide wait for no one”.  Chart your course.  Bon voyage!  This will take you (and your message) around the world.

An online Marketing Plan is essential for advertising and promoting your business. A plan will define your marketing message, you perfect client, and the most effective way to reach them. The next question is What is the budget for your Online Marketing Budget?

6 things you need to include in your online marketing budget:

1. Tools and utilities to track your efforts
2. A marketing coach to help draft and implement your marketing plan
3. A workshop or webinar series to help you obtain the necessary skills
4. A series of short videos
5. Installation of a hosted WordPress blog including a premium theme
6. Design of a branded Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter background

Research each of the options, ask folks in your business groups what services and tools they are using to design, publish and track their online marketing efforts. Obtain three quotes and analyze their responses. The most expensive quote isn’t necessarily going to be the best fit for your business.

A focused plan that integrates all the marketing tools you’ve chosen will result in a better return on investment for your business. Social media tools such as Twitter and Linkedin may be “free” but ill-planned use may cost your business more than an well thought out and executed marketing plan.

Technorati Tags: budget, business, dialogue marketing, integrated marketing communications, Internet Marketing, Marketing, marketing coach, marketing plan, marketing tools, online marketing, online marketing plan, planning, promote your business

The Best of the Web Articles. Email marketing remains an effective online marketing tool in your social marketing plan. Enjoy our weekly guest post.

Many are saying that a picture says a thousand words. But quite a few people are still believing that HTML Email campaigns are just a waste of scarce disk space. Others beg to disagree and of the opinion that once you pass thru the initial obstacles, this technique is just as effective as any well thought off marketing campaign.The contention of detractors lies in the format and the medium being used. The medium is email while format is generally text-based. An image of, let’s say, a notebook computer will not be as attractive to a target consumer unless a description accompanies its important specifications or features. A picture placed on an email needs to be coded in HTML especially when linked to a specific site. Many email clients, generally, do not show pictures unless the user wants to view it by activating an option. If not properly coded, it will come out as garbage to those who have no idea of HTML. Precisely because it appears in a code, quite a few people have second thoughts when opening it. Email campaigns to be effective should overcome that initial obstacle. After all, 50% of the objective is achieved when the message is opened. And as in any marketing relationship, it is further enhanced when the recipient opts-in thru several ways such as subscription to their list. Another major problem for HTML Email campaigns is that a design made in one format may not necessarily appear the same when the campaign is blasted to subscribers. Lay out may come out misaligned, fonts are difficult to read or worst unreadable. This technical difficulty is really very frustrating to many marketers. The solution lies in continuous testing on what layout will be acceptable, can be easily viewed by all and one that will sway consumers to favorable action. Detractors of this type of email campaigns however agree, much to their disappointment, that HTML email campaigns are slowly gaining popularity and are really here to stay. These website replicas that find their way to inboxes are really eye catching once properly done. Click-thru rates are better when graphics or photos are placed rather than plain and dull text. However, for HTML email campaigns to be effective, content should be a priority. There must be a proper balance of images and text. Make the codes simple and accurate and the minute changes are made, thorough testing should be conducted to make sure that it reaches their target market and elicits the proper response.

Know the importance of targeted email campaigns and how it can identify and reach the people who matter to your business. Visit http://www.masterdigm.com.
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As with offline marketing, you need a plan to be effective online. To use your time most effectively and to take advantage of the unique qualities of social media tools, you need to start with an effective online marketing plan.

What Do You Hope to Accomplish?

The first question you need to ask yourslelf is: What is Your Goal? Write down a measurable goal and set a realistic deadline. Review the goal weekly – what progress have you made? Do you need to make slight changes to your message, or use another social media tool?

What kind of a goal do you have for your online marketing plan?

1. Branding -  building a reputation for your company. What do you stand for? How will your perfect client identify with you?
2. Reach – building a bigger funnel, how many people know about your business?
3. Involvement – Do you participate in community where your perfect clients congregate? Do you engage in conversations with them?
4. Social Proof – building relationships in online communities – establish yourself as an expert in your field
5. Customer Relations – build a strong relationship with your existing customers. Let them know what’s happening in your busines

Creating a spreadsheet will make it easier to track your progress. If you need to make some minor changes in your plan, make a note of the changes and the date and track those results separately.

If you have an effective online marketing plan, you’ll never have to wonder what to tweet or note on your Facebook or Linkedin newsfeed.

Technorati Tags: business, create, customer relationship management, effective, effective online marketing, effectively, Internet Marketing, Marketing, marketing plan, offline marketing, online community, online marketing plan, planning, social, social media, tools