Posted by: Che Cooper
in Promoting Your Site on Feb 19, 2010
Blogs are a great way to increase traffic to your site but only if they are given the same amount of attention as the rest of your marketing.
The power of a successful blog is well documented and the promise of more traffic and brand engagement draws in countless webmasters every year. At Heart Internet we first started our blog in 2007 instantly making the same mistake many other businesses have made when it comes to blogging; we didn’t know why we wanted one, we just knew they were the fashionable thing so we needed one! The posts were irregular and were often just product updates or press releases. At the turn of 2009 the blog’s existence was called in to question and it was agreed we needed to make wholesale changes or remove it altogether. Since then we have seen a 400% increase in traffic to the blog and a marked increase in reader engagement thanks to a fundamental shift towards providing our readers with useful content to help them make the most of their website, encouraging comments and a conscious effort to market our blog as resource.
Content is king
What you say, how much you say and how you say it should all be constructed with your target audience in mind. The two big questions to ask are “Why should anyone read the blog?” and “Why would they want to come back and read it again?” Corporate press releases or staff hires are fine in moderation, but not if that is all the blog is about, people simply won’t read it. To gain traction with a reader a blog post has to be informative, interesting, amusing, original or shocking. Committing yourself to this long term takes a lot of time and effort. If you approach the blog something to be done when you get a spare minute, it will fail.
Posted by: Jennifer
in Promoting Your Site on Feb 11, 2010
What is thought leadership?
What sets apart a thought leader from other experienced or skilled people, websites and companies in an industry is the perception that they have a deeper understanding of the market place and the needs of its customers. Whether they actually do is almost irrelevant, it is enough that people believe they do!
Why become a thought leader?
The great thing about being a thought leader is that it honestly doesn’t matter how big you are! You can be a one man band running your website out of your bedroom or a company with a multi-million pound turnover; websites will link to you, quote you, ask for your opinion and generally hold you up as an authority to be consulted. All this leads to more traffic which in turn means more sales or the ability to charge higher advertising rates depending on your revenue model.
Becoming a thought leader
As much as I wish you could (being an online marketer at heart), a strong reputation cannot be built on advertising. Advertising will help raise awareness but to develop trust and build up your reputation you need to create positive word of mouth.
Posted by:
in Promoting Your Site on Feb 11, 2010
But what if you sell a product and / or service and whilst you don’t want to advertise other people’s goods on your site, you do want to get involved in earning money from the affiliate marketing channel? In this post we will look at successfully launching your own affiliate program without having to spend thousands on setting it up. Affiliate programs are not the preserve of large websites and you could have your own affiliate program up and running for under £100! The affiliate networks require £000’s for set up and monthly fee’s however with your own in-house run program you can be up and running with minimal investment.
Why have an affiliate program?
An affiliate program is essentially the online equivalent of having a sales team out there driving traffic and sales to your website. Because affiliate marketing is pay per performance it is one of the most cost effective marketing channels available, especially when compared to other forms of online marketing such as display (e.g. banners) and pay per click advertising (e.g. Google AdWords). With a set cost per action (CPA) determined by you, you always know what your ROI is going to be and you can ensure each sale will be made at a profit.
An affiliate program…
