Would it be nice if we can promote our business and contribute to the society at the same time? Cause marketing logo design is a not a new concept but many entrepreneurs have a misconception that this is only applicable to big companies.

They say a good deed is often rewarded. In the case of cause marketing, it can boost your company image and make your customers feel better about themselves. According to a new research,

The perception that a company is doing good raised the premium consumers are willing to pay for a brand by an average of 6.1 percent.

Among survey respondents, 70 percent said purchasing products from companies that support causes makes them feel they are being socially responsible. Fifty-three percent said the connection makes them feel like a part of something beyond the scope of their own lives.

In case you are interested to integrate this approach in your small business, here are some things you should consider:

1. It needs passion and commitment. This step can be very risky if you simply want to increase your revenues. Choose a charity that is close to your heart and take time to know more about this group before you implement this strategy.
2. Deal with the right charitable group. You should also check the credibility of your chosen institution. Unfortunately, there are numerous swindlers who use charity as their front. Also, make sure the organizers are equally willing to promote your company as well.

The ongoing Campbell’s soup recall of more than 72,000 cans is a wake up call for many entrepreneurs to have stricter quality evaluation procedures. More importantly, it prompted us to prepare in case we experience this same problem. Speed is very here because a defective product can trigger serious damages to your customers. Here are some of the important steps you should do when recalling a product:

Step 1. Assign a responsible person in your company to oversee the entire recall activities.

Step 2. Gather info about the product you want to recall such as bar code, description, size, manufacturing date or import date.

Step 3. Track the customers who received your defective product, inform them immediately stop sellingor using it. Depending on the problem, a product can be repaired, disposed, or returned to your company.

Step 4. Inform the public about your recall, no matter how small your business is. Don’t just rely on your customer service and learn to use all your employees to spread the word as soon as possible. Get in touch with the media to help you out.

Step 5. If you have a website, create a “Recall Safety Information” in your homepage and make sure it is very conspicuous to your readers. Maintain this information even after the actual recall. There might be some customers who don’t know about this yet.

Step 6. Assist your customers for any refund, repair or replacement caused by the recall. Prepare your team to deal with angry customers and ask them to be more patient.

Step 7. Be prepared to spend additional money for the recall to be effective. This is the price for being lax on your quality inspection.

Tired of spending countless hours surfing the Internet and looking for marketing logo lessons suitable for your small business? Don’t worry! We’re compiling the most relevant articles and news that will help your business succeed without wasting your precious time. Today, there are 10 marketing tips you may want to apply in your business.

1. The Trump Blog exposes the core of entrepreneurial success and it’s about finding a fit between you and your business idea.
2. Roger Dooley of Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog gives us 5 keys to selling to tightwads or customers who resist spending money even when the expense is reasonable and perhaps justified.
3. Learn about the two gynormous mistakes when it comes to marketing to women at WonderBranding.com.
4. Neuromarketing highlights the smart marketing move by Endless.com from “Free Shipping” incentive to offer “Negative $5 Shipping.”You may want to try this approach.
5. Paul William of Daily Fix elaborates why it is important to calibrate the meaning of “service” in your small business.
6. Fan of Seinfeld? Do you know that there are 7 marketing lessons you can learn from this sitcom? Download your free pdf copy of Seinfeld in Marketing now.
7. Brand Curve recommends that you research your brand name before you launch it. It will definitely save you money in the long run.
8. Richard Watson of Fast Company believes there are five trends that will transform the society – globalization, localization, polarization, anxiety, and search for meaning.
9. Jeffrey Phillips of Innovate on Purpose reminds us to always check our business assumptions regularly and never take them for granted.
10. Do you want to distinguish yourself? Rajesh Setty of Life Beyond Code says we should increase our capacity to increase capacity of others.

Not all entrepreneurs can get that much-coveted media coverage. It takes a lot of promotional efforts like press releases and other ads to finally ignite the curiosity of the media to highlight your company. And if you did manage to get their attention, your popularity might only last for a few days. Luckily, there are some practical ways to sustain your popularity, such as:

1. If you are featured in leading magazines or newspapers, you can photocopy that article and attach it in your brochures and other printed marketing materials. This will help build your reputation to your new and existing customers.
2. If you are featured in leading online publications like Entrepreneur.com or Inc.com, you should create a link in your website pointing to these sites. You should also include a “Press” or “Media” section in your site to save all your press releases, interviews, and media kit for interested parties. This will create a long-term impact as every new visitor has a chance to read the articles about your company.
3. Frame it. If you have an offline store, it would be better if you can frame a copy of your article for your visitors to see. In case you had a TV interview, you can also play it from time to time. This is a very common practice among restaurants.
4. Talk about it. As they say, talk is cheap. You can mention it to your key customers, suppliers, business partners, and even personal friends. Don’t forget to bring it up in as many conversations as possible.

However, you should be careful in dealing with these media companies. Startup Spark has cited about a new scam from a company called Platinum Television Group. Read more about building media empires.

One of the many ways to grow your business is to cater to a new demographic. It can be from one age group to another or from male to female market and vice versa. While a number of entrepreneurs rely on gut instinct when expanding their businesses, consider careful planning. Below are the things you should consider:

1. Is there a Market? Validate if this new market really needs your products or if it’s just a faulty assumption. Do a simple survey and if you have the capital, consult with a research agency.
2. Consult Your Existing Customers. Even if there is a profitable market, consider seeking the opinion of your key customers. Adding a new market means there is a possibility that you will tweak or even revise your entire marketing plan. These changes might irk your loyal customers and force them to shift to your competitors, if for some reason you eliminate your core offerings.
3. Create a New Brand. If there is no strong connection between your existing market and your new target market, it is a lot safer to create a new brand. For instance, Lexus is the luxury vehicle line owned by Toyota. Still, you should always be aware of your branding limits.

The online world made it possible for me to become a full-time freelancer. All of my clients come from outside of my home state. Here are examples of where I met clients and people online:

Through blogs (especially in earlier days). We bloggers left comments or sent emails to each other. Over time, we learned about each other and became friends.

Through an interview. I found the client because I interviewed (by email, of course) a co-worker of his who connected us.

Through referrals. Two other clients come from referrals from someone I met on the Internet – one through his blog and the other from working on a Web site together. An online networking group, also brought in more clients and friends.

Through searches. One gig came from the editor’s using the search engine to find me. He did a great job because my experience fit well with what he needed.

Obviously, the Internet offers many routes for meeting people and finding gigs (emphasis on gigs as the chance of finding a full-time job is only about 8% as reported in a career-related column). The following lists ways to meet others online:

• Blogs: Leave a comment and link to another person’s entry from yours.
• Forums and email mailing groups: Join discussions.
• Email newsletters: As an editor, I respond to all reader emails and survey feedback.
• Online groups: Mailing list and forum discussions.
• Web site: One that’s content-rich and frequently updated (this is where a blog or blogging-tool can help).
• Emails: Contacting people. Compliment a writer on an article. Congratulate a business on a recent success.
• Articles: One of my first freelance gigs came from a guy who contacted me based on an article I wrote. There, I met another editor and we recently connected and helped each other.
• Chats: You might attend a chat where there’s a guest. Usually chats are secondary — meaning you meet the person some other way before you talk in instant messenger.

You never know who you’ll meet through the Internet. Interact with the virtual world — you never know who you meet.

About the author

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies build relationships with clients and prospects through content.

Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of Better Blogging (CoBB #2). This Carnival covers pretty much any aspect of blogging: writing, design, analytics, infographics, etc. As with the last edition, there are some great entries this week. So please go check out as many of the articles out as you have time for.

If your entry was accepted, support of this carnival of a link back to this page would be appreciated. If you did not get in, it’s likely you will be accepted in the next edition. [Please: no one-paragraph articles or trying to push your affiliate links. These will be deleted immediately.]

Enjoy.

Featured Posts

These are the featured posts for this edition.

1. Etienne Teo: The Comprehensive Secrets to Receiving Massive Traffic from Stumbling.
2. Peter Poffenberger: WorldWideWeb WarGames: 8 Ways a Competitor Can Sabotage Your Site.
3. Carole Fogarty: Prevent Leaking Energy in Your Work Space, Ouch! (Part 2 of Is Your Blogging Work Space With You or Against You?)

Weekly Picks

Here are the weekly entries for this edition.

1. Pinyo B: Top 10 Resources to Build a Better Blog.
2. Fred Peters: 10 Forums to Make You a Better Blogger.
3. Aahz: Top 10 Sites Every Blogger Should Join.
4. Taylor: Be Community Involved to Get More Traffic.
5. Thomas Slatin: Sneaky Cheap Website Promotion.
6. Marco Richter: Optimizing Your Permalink Structure.
7. Peter: Why You Should Blog.
8. Charles H. Green: Blogging vs. Podcasting.
9. Isabella Mori: The Z List: Are These My Worst Blog Posts?
10. Vanalli: How to Make Money Blogging.
11. Supermom in NY: Running a contest? Let these Contest Bloggers Know!
12. Madeleine Begun Kane: Ode To The Mobile Web (Cell Phone Browsing Humor).

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Sep 15th, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.

An interesting news came up yesterday and it’s about Wal-Mart’s decision to drop its tagline “Always Low Prices” and adopt a new one, “Save Money. Live Better”. The retailing giant wants to deliver a more emotional brand message instead of highlighting its price advantage.

You see, even big companies are shifting away from using price and focusing more on relationship or emotional marketing. Why? Because some studies conclude that emotions excites our minds 3000 times faster than any logical arguments! More importantly, relationships are built through emotions. You may want to try some of the tactics below to make your business more heart-warming:

Highlight the Benefits

Whether you’re talking to a customer, creating your brochure or designing your website, you should always hype up the benefits of your products and avoid focusing on the features. If you’re selling a car, for instance, don’t say it’s equipped with 220 horsepower V8 engine, front-side airbags, and anti-lock brakes. Instead, pitch about family safety and worry-free driving. If you have emotional testimonials from your customers, that will also do the trick. Include them in your brochure or websites to establish emotional connection and credibility.

Use Colors Properly

What comes to your mind when you see color green? Usually it’s money or eco-friendly logos and products. It may appear trivial but colors can trigger different emotions. Using the right color combination in your promotional materials might actually increase your sales and conversions. Visit Color Wheel Pro to know the different color meanings.

Learn how Better 4 Business applies emotional marketing and Small Business SEM’s analysis on what Apple’s marketing can teach small business.

Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of Better Blogging (CoBB #1). This Carnival covers pretty much any aspect of blogging: writing, design, analytics, infographics, etc. There are a lot of great entries in this issue. So please go check out as many of the articles out as you have time for.

If your entry was accepted, please support this carnival by giving a link back to this edition as soon as you can. If you submit regularly, and get in but don’t link back, then your own readers don’t benefit with the opportunity of being introduced to other blogs – which is part of the reason for a blog carnival: networking. If you did not get in, it’s likely you will be accepted in the next edition. [Please: no one-paragraph articles or trying to push your affiliate links.]

Enjoy.

Featured Posts

Here are the featured posts for this edition.

1. Pat B. Doyle: 23 Great Ideas For Blog Posts.
2. Carole Fogarty: Is Your Blogging Work Space With YOU or Against YOU?
3. Sutocu: Link Building Naturally with Link Baits.
4. isabella mori: flaming vs. appreciative communication.

Weekly Picks

Here are the remaining entries for this edition.

1. Edith Yeung: Want More Traffic? Find Out Here.
2. Ken Xu: Top 3 Idea Stimulators.
3. Silicon Valley Blogger: How I Boosted My Woeful Web Traffic.
4. K T Cat: The Pareto Principle and Corporate Blogging.
5. Rob: How to Improve your Google Ranking. [Video]
6. Bill Henderson: Writing a Good Blog Post.
7. Vanalli: How to Write Successful Blog Posts to Make More Money Blogging.
8. Etienne Teo: A Change in Blog Design and a Change in Fortune.
9. Charles H. Green: Trust Networks vs. Search Engines.
10. Doris Chua: Don’t Stop Blogging!

Bonus Entries

Here are some additional entries that I felt might be of interest, which are not specifically about blogging tips, design, or monetization.

1. If you’re interested in the finance/ economics niche or accounting, Laura Milligan presents the Top 100 Economics Blogs.
2. Don’t know what to do all the money you make from your blog? Read Millionaire Mommy‘s The Powerful (and Addictive) Nature of Giving. She’s using her bounty to finance women entrepreneurs.
3. This has nothing to do with blogging, unless of course you’re not making money from your blog and have the blues. Read Gustav S‘ 10 Ways to Keep Yourself Happy.
4. But if it’s simply productivity issues you’re dealing with, read Julie Anne Bonner‘s My Unbalanced Life – Top 7 Things I Do To Stay Sane and Productive.

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Sep 8th, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.

Once upon a time, an entrepreneur was very troubled because he didn’t know how to effectively communicate with his customers. He climbed the highest mountains and fought against 7 dragons in search for the secret formula. Little did he know, the answer is very simple. It’s…

storytelling

Yes, this simple childhood activity might be the missing element in your marketing campaign. Since it has been with us way back to our younger years, our minds are conditioned to be easily stimulated and interested whenever we hear a good story. More importantly, we all crave a sense of adventure, drama, and fairy tale happy ending.

Why use this to your business?

This is because reporters and customers go for great stories and marketing logos. This is a great publicity tool for your small business once you know the right elements. Here are some of the things you need to prepare to create a compelling story:

1. Anecdotes or success stories. These real life examples of how your company helped customers solve their problems.
2. Statistics. Make your stories credible by stating some facts and figures related to your business and industry.
3. Passion. If you are speaking with your customers, they should feel the passion you have for your business. Don’t focus on yourself. Do highlight the strengths of your company.

There are several element of storytelling you need to learn. Visit Story Theater to understand the Art of Storytelling in Business.

Not everyone agrees, but Technorati does have value to bloggers. If you agree, then you also probably feel that being on their  Technorati Top 100 at least gives your blog authority, and probably additional traffic as a side effect. It might also result in your blog accumulating more back links. So it behooves you to at least try aiming to get on their list – an activity which is essentially an exercise in link building.

Disclaimer

The fact that none of the blogs I write for are on the Technorati 100 (but a few of them are actually closing in) should tip you off to the fact that this article is speculation. However, it is speculation based on sound link building principles that I’ve learned after over a year of intense application of these principles. So, here are some tips for making your way towards the Technorati 100.

Premise

Being on the Technorati 100 list will bring you fame and fortune. Well, at least blog authority in your niche.

5 Rules

Here’s what you need to keep in mind, before you apply the 7 methods listed below.

1. Aim high.
   Build at least as many backlinks as the blog at position #100 in the Technorati 100. Then build more.
2. Plan ahead.
   Have a strategy to keep garnering backlinks from both new blogs and those already linking to you.
3. Factor in the momentum value.
   Technorati only counts blogs giving you a backlink for 180 days. That is, if Blog B links to Blog A today (as far as Technorati is concerned), blog B needs to link again before 180 days are up – counted from today. If that doesn’t happen, the backlink from B ceases to be considered in A’s Authority measure.
4. Could you repeat that?
   Repeat your link building strategy. If you gain, say, 10-20 new links every week of the next year, that’s about 500-1000 new links per year. Even with Technorati’s 180-day link value expiry, you’ll get noticed and gain links from elsewhere.
5. Set limits.
   Give yourself a time limit to reach #100. You can and should aim higher, though do it in stages. If you are aiming for #1, expect it take a while, even if you have a team of bloggers, link baiters, and SEOs.

7 Ways

These are only seven ways that might get you on the Technorati 100. They are neither the only ways nor are they guaranteed. It’s the sum of the parts, not any individual method, that will carry you up the list.

1. Target the Linkerati.
   The Linkerati are those people online that are most likely to link to you or get someone to do so. Suggestion: start by linking to all the blogs in your niche that are in the top 101-500 positions at Technorati.
2. Target the movers and shakers.
   Next, after success with Linkerati, target the blogs on the Technorati 100 list. These bloggers are much harder to get backlinks from, for several reasons:
   1. They get so many backlinks that they don’t “see” yours.
   2. They don’t know you.
   3. You are not in their niche.
   4. They know you and consider you a threat because you are following the suggestions in this article.

   At the least, linking to relevant authority blogs in a way that’s useful to your readers will build your authority, possibly amongst search engines. That will eventually pay off because other bloggers will take notice and link to you.

3. Be a profiler.
   Profile each and every blogger on the 100 list. Then email/ contact every one of them. Don’t expect 100% success in catching a backlink, but if you score even a handful of PR6-10 links, it’s worthwhile. You can also profile each blog on the 100 list. Indicate their method of monetization, posting frequency, age, etc.
4. Be an ass-kisser.
   This networking advice comes courtesy of Ryan Caldwell at Performancing. There are lots of top bloggers that will be happy to help you online. You have to find them, then give them something before expecting something back.
5. Be analytical.
   Analyze the Top 200 (authority, subscriptions, backlinks, or content-wise) and present it in an interesting fashion, with outbound links to select sites (at least 20).
6. Give credit.
   Come up with your own blog awards for various niches, and link to the Top 200. The Catch-22 is that your blog needs some authority (high subscriptions, medium PR) else the award may not be taken seriously. A quality, meaningful Awards scheme will still produce some backlinks, though it may require a year’s worth of work before that shows, so prepare in advance.

   If you can’t come up with blog awards try web award for resource sites or web applications. Be unique. Remember to contact each site about your Awards, and cross your fingers. If you’re really lucky, they’ll link back to you from their own official blog, which will count in Technorati.

7. Have a plan.
   Come up with other clever ways to get back links from blogs. Present info about a selection of sites. This could be some interesting way that you’ve clustered similar sites and made it easy for a reader to use. Or you could analyze trends [via ChrisG.com] in the Top 100 and publish that – making sure you link out to those sites. Keep in mind that you do not need to be on Digg to make the Technorati 100.

Return

The idea is that if you link to enough of these blogs regularly, and you have good content on your blog, at least some of them will link back eventually. At first, you’re more likely to succeed with bloggers in your niche in the 101-500 positions. That should increase your backlinks and thus your Technorati authority. Then, if you try again with blogs in #1-100 positions, you might just find that you get enough high authority backlinks that everything else falls into place.

Alternatives

There is another way to get on the Technorati 100 which I have not mentioned yet. That’s to be “favorited” by other Technorati members. Personally, I think that this is a lot harder to control or “calculate”, and it does not increase your Technorati authority. It also gets gamed due to “reciprocal favoriting”, which may get discounted in the future. I believe in organic link building, which means not targeting the favoriting method.

Caveats

On the other hand, now that I’ve revealed all this, it might be that much harder. Most bloggers will not want to lose their spot. Some will be climbing up the list themselves, and some might even not link to you out of spite. However, since the Top 100 bloggers are unlikely to be reading this article, you’re probably safe.

Conclusion

You’re probably asking why all this is any different than your current link building plan. In the worst-case scenario, attempting all this will garner you attention from other bloggers not in the Top 100.

The algorithm used to calculated the Top 100 is not necessarily perfect, it’s subject to change and being gamed. However, aiming to be on it gives you a mental focus. Simply by trying, you’ve put yourself in the mindset of producing a better quality blog, which in turn will result in an increase your blog’s authority and ranking. If you’re persistent with your goal, you might just get into the Top 100.

Expanding your business is a major step towards sustain the life of your business. However, there are many barriers towards expansion. You might find yourself lacking in terms of financial resources or the appropriate business skills. On these occasions, you may want to engage in a strategic alliance.

Yes, you heard it right. Don’t be afraid of this corporate jargon, for it can potentially save your business. In basic terms, strategic alliance is any agreement between 2 companies to share their resources for the purpose of generating more revenues.

Don’t think that because you have a small business doesn’t mean you can’t enter in strategic alliances. One possible type of alliance you can explore is called Cross-Marketing. This refers to a partnership with unrelated businesses serving the same target market to generate sales or increase awareness. For instance, a starting marketing consultant might want to partner with a local magazine targeting entrepreneurs. Under the cross-marketing agreement, the consultant must write marketing-related articles weekly for the magazine readers for free.

You might wonder about the benefits of this set up. For the magazine publisher, this means more high quality articles to entice readers to subscribe. The best part is it doesn’t need to pay the marketing consultant! On the side of the marketing consultant, the benefits to him are exposure to build his credibility and free advertisement. As the subscribers grow, the consultant can get more referrals. The latest live example of cross-marketing is the partnership between Apple and Starbucks to sell music through retail stores.

Aside from strategic alliances, Integrity Business Blog lists other ways to expand your business.

With so many things to do in a day, it is sometimes difficult for employees and some entrepreneurs to appreciate the big picture or the essence of the business. That’s why Bootstrap Me says knowing your core goals is one of the patterns of success.

The best way to remember all these goals is to write a mission statement and share it with your colleagues. It may appear trivial but it serves as your lighthouse in the long run.

A mission statement or mantra captures, in a concise sentence, what business you are in, your philosophies, and aspirations or goals. To come up with the right words and phrases, some of the key questions you need to answer include:

• Who are your customers and in what way are you helping you them?
• What sets you apart from the competition or what makes you better than others?
• What business values do you like to emphasize? Is it customer delight, innovation, social responsibility, continuous improvement?

Even if you know the answers to the key questions above, the big challenge is how to make your mantra sticky and powerful. Contrary to traditional mission vision statements with 2 or 3 sentences, Guy Kawasaki’s best advice is keep it short with 3 or 4 words only. This would help you and your employees understand easily the essence of your existence.

The ultimate test for a mantra (or mission statement) is if your telephone operators can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.

It boils down to this: there are so many weblogs out there that if you start a new one, it might take you a long time to build any traffic. Under normal circumstances, that’s your likely path. But if you start acquiring methods to build your blog’s profile, you can change your fate away from anonymity.

If you have the budget for full-blown SEO services, great. If you don’t, you have the option of doing nothing, or using Kaizen – a philosophy of constant improvement by slow degrees.

There are many things you can do, by degrees, to improve your website’s authority, popularity and ranking – much of which I hope to discuss on this blog over time. It’s not enough to just have an ambitious editorial calendar or to simply write great linkbait. You also have to promote your website.

One of the best ways to do this is through SMM – Social Media Marketing. There are several types of social media sites, but the ones we’re focusing on in this post allow you to setup a member profile, submit articles, and vote and possibly comment on submissions.

The drawback for wallflowers is that most social media sites frown on people submitting their own articles. You need to make “friends” who have similar article tastes and niche interests, add them to your “follow” list, and hope that they add you at some point. When they do, they’ll watch for what you submit or vote on, and may add their own vote. If you establish real friendships, you can ask them if they’ll submit your articles.

To help yourself towards that goal, it’s good to find articles elsewhere that you feel are high quality, then submit those, hoping people will vote. The better/ more useful/ more targeted the article, the more likely it’ll garner votes and show up on the home page, thus increase your success rate. So it does take a fair bit of effort to use social media, and if you don’t have the time to build a profile, you might have to hire an SMM. But if you choose the most appropriate sites for your niche, SMM is very effective.

Here are a list of the social media sites I use regularly, whether to promote articles of friends, vote on items of mine that others have submitted, or simply to check out what’s new:

1. DailyHub.
   Targets mostly the business and entrepreneuring niches. This site is still in beta, as far as I know. So it does not yet send a lot of traffic. I use it already to build my profile.
2. Del.icio.us.
   General bookmarking site with “save” feature, which amounts to voting.
3. Digg.
   Choose categories wisely when submitting articles, else face the wrath of Diggers. More tech-oriented, but with other categories.
4. Reddit.
   General. Use it regularly or your account will disappear. Heavy on politics and pictures.
5. Smoochr.
   Various categories, including business, entertainment, travel and more. The site is still in alpha, with bugs to be worked out. But build your profile “karma” now, for later promotional rewards. [Disclaimer: I'm part owner.]
6. Sphinn.
   Geared towards SEO/ SEM/ SMM. You can submit your own, but fresh approaches are what the more experienced members want to read about.
7. Stumbleupon.
   This differs from all of the above because you need to install a browser plugin. You “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” a site, “stumble” it by submitting a site, or “stumble” to browse the current entries. Stumbleupon was originally oriented towards promoting sites with visual content and appeal, but now has a considerable number of categories. Neil Patel provides a bit more depth about getting Stumbled.

As I noted above, these are the sites I use. Not all of them may be suitable for the niches you want to promote. If you’re looking for a more comphrensive list with niche sites, check out Andy Hagan’s list of social media sites that actually send traffic. He’s constantly updating the list.

Start a Business Contest to Promote Your Business - Since many entrepreneurs do not have enough money to finance a massive awareness campaign, using viral or word-of-mouth marketing tactics prove to be very valuable. In fact, a powerful word-of-mouth marketing can turn your customers into your own sales force.

We already covered how video marketing works; this time you might want to consider contests as your awareness tool. Holding a contest is a classic tactic used way back before the internet era. Given the wider reach of the internet, it has evolved as a deadly weapon for many online businesses.

The key here is to make the contest related to the nature of your business. A good example is the IKEA Small Business Big Dreams contest. Entrepreneurs can submit the three-minute video about their business and its impact to the community. The winner will receive $5,000 cash and $50,000 makeover for his or her business.

The first thing you need to do is find an exciting contest relevant to your business. In our case, a logo design contest is very appropriate. (See our free blog logo campaign.) To ensure that this will build awareness and garner referrals, ask every contestant to refer their friends and family members who might also be interested to join. In case you plan to have an online contest, make sure that every contestant will provide their e-mail address and give at least 3 referrals.

In the movie Jerry Maguire, you might remember what the business mentor, Dicky Fox, said, “Unless you love everybody, you can’t sell anybody.” It simply stresses the importance of finding your target customers instead of selling your product to all. If you have a clear cut definition of your target market, you will be more focused and very effective in allocating your financial resources.

In addition, make sure you include this in your business plan and refrain from launching any marketing campaign until this is finalized. To do this, simply follow the steps below:

Understand Your Customers

Small Biz Unplugged has a comprehensive list of questions you need to answer to define your target market.

Assess the Profitability of Your Chosen Target market

Once you have a target market in mind, it is time to assess if they are worth your effort. Ideally, a target audience research is needed to determine the potential of a particular segment.

For now, you can start by reading secondary data from newspapers and different organizations like local SBA branch, public and university libraries, and your local Department of Commerce. The Internet is a rich source of information to guide in your evaluation.

Know the number of your competitors and try to spy on them. Check if there is a space left for you to compete and grab sizeable share. If the competition is too intense, you can always go back to your drawing board and find a more lucrative niche.

The success of many online businesses starts with a powerful email marketing campaign. This is your first and last chance to establish a relationship with your customers and promote your products.

Use proven ways to convert online visitors such as using captivating headlines and several other techniques to generate sales leads. Another vital component is a “call to action” or ad copy encouraging visitors to take a well-defined action.

AllBusiness.com says a persuasive “call to action” is one of the components of a successful email marketing campaign.

You need to give your readers a clear call to action. What do you want to achieve from your campaign? Do you want people to sign up for a catalog? Buy something? Take advantage of a special deal? If so, make sure that’s clear in your message. And make sure that the links in your email take customers to a landing page specifically geared toward that particular call to action.

One of the best ways to do this is what I like to call the Godfather Strategy. Be like the great godfather Don Vito Corleone and make an offer to your online customers that they cannot refuse. Needless to say, you must know your customers by heart before you can make an irresistible offer.

Customers in general love products that are less costly, save time, are more user-friendly, and even environmentally friendly. Make sure you claim one of these benefits when crafting your “call to action” copy.

Does packaging really matter? Some entrepreneurs do not want to spend exta money on packaging, firmly believing that the product is very important above all. Besides, most packaging end up in trash cans anyway. On the other hand, others believe in its power to attract customers and encourage product trial.

The best way to settle the debate is to provide some proof on this subject. According to Psychology Blog, product packaging matters. The site has an interesting study about how good wine packaging increases food consumption.

You might think packaging is exclusive to the retail industry, but it is not. It is important even in commodities like sand or sugar. If you look closely, packaging is the first thing your customers feel, see, and buy.

More importantly, it is not an isolated design but very connected with your company and branding. Some business experts say it is a tangible proof of your business’ strong collaboration between marketing, advertising, and even supply chain or logistics.

Perhaps, the soap Dove is a good example of excellent packaging that conveys the brand image consistently – purity and simplicity.

There are many ways to build links and traffic. Some are organic methods, others are borderline or completely unacceptable as far as search engines (SEs) are concerned. Here’s a sampling of some common methods. Most were acceptable as earlier as last year, though some SEs may be penalizing them, if detectable.

1. Article directories.
   While article directories such as Ezinearticles and GoArticles can help build links and traffic, make sure that you do not submit the exact content as on your site. Rewrite articles you’ve already published at least a few weeks in the past, and rewrite them. Submit those to a select few good article directories. Do article syndication right, and it’ll benefit you.
2. Directories.
   Pick a few good authority directories such as Yahoo! Directory, Dmoz, EatonWeb, Aviva Directory and JoeAnt.
3. Guest blogging.
   Guest blogging can gain you links, traffic, and new subscribers. There are many sites and blogs looking for guest writers. Even Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Cilnton is looking for a guest post. If you don’t support her, maybe your favorite candidate is doing the same.
4. Good grammar.
   Some bloggers simply will not link to a site where the writer comes off as illiterate. It’s worth your time to spell check your articles before posting them, for numerous reasons.
5. Comments.
   Comments on other sites, if they allow you to include your site URL, will at least bring some traffic. Some sites even use “do follow”, so search engines will follow through and index your pages.
6. Forums.
   At most forums, you can add your URL to your member profile, which will appear whenever you participate in discussions. Some forums do expect you to post a certain number of times before your URL will show in your signature. Of course, the more helpful your forum postings, the more likely you are to draw traffic. If those visitors are bloggers, you might even pick up a few links to your site, eventually.
7. Linking out.
   Be a link leaker. In your articles, link out as often or more than you link in. If you are linking to relevant articles elsewhere, your readers will appreciate this, as will the other bloggers – either of whom may eventually link to you.
8. Set trackbacks.
   If you’re not tech-savvy, trackbacks may take some time to understand. They work like this. Blog A writes an article and links to Blog B. Blog B has trackbacks turned on. When Blog A publishes the article, it sends a “trackback” notice to Blog B. Now, a little snippet of text from Blog A’s article appears in Blog B’s article’s trackbacks/ comments section. Now, just by allowing trackbacks, you might actually induce more people to link to you. (Unfortunately, there’s also lots of trackback spam these days.)
9. Link exchanges.
   Link exchanges, like several of the techniques in this list, must be done carefully if you decide to use them. Some search engines such as Google are possibly discounting reciprocal link exchanges.
10. Purchased links.
    There are several types of purchased links:
    1. Sitewide in navigation bars.
    2. End-of-post.
    3. In-post.

    Google in particular is cracking down on paid links (both buyer and seller) by penalizing the authority of any page carrying paid links or pointed to by them. The problem for them is that some types are more subtle than others, and they are asking people to snitch to them. Some experts feel that Google is doing this because they don’t want to lose AdWords revenue. Others assume it’s simply because paid links skew PageRank.

    Regardless, if you are careful, paid links can work for you. Here are some considerations:

    1. In general, in-post (editorial) links are always better than sidebar/ blogroll links, most especially if they are relevant.
    2. You can buy links that are displayed at the end of a post, though these are more detectable.
    3. Sitewide nav bar links may have less value in the future, depending on the search engine.

    A couple of the more popular link brokers are Text Link Ads and Text Link Brokers.

11. Purchased ads.
    If you’re concerned about buying links, the next best think is a purchased ad – which is really a link anyway. Still, Google is trying to force their hand on everyone and recommends that anyone selling ads (or links) should use the NoFollow attribute in paid links. That’s so that Google does not follow and index a linked page. Obviously, not everyone agrees with Google on this and ignore this suggestion for their ads.
12. Purchased reviews.
    Purchased reviews are viewed by some as a way to get some blogger to say something nice about you if you pay them. Others feel there is nothing wrong with this. There’s enough of a market that there are at least seven well-known pay per review sites. A few are PayPerPost, ReviewMe, SponsoredReviews, and LoudLaunch.
13. Review exchanges.
    If you don’t feel like paying for a review, some bloggers offer review exchanges, which might be viewed the same way as reciprocal linking by some search engines.
14. Press releases.
    If you have something worthwhile to announce about your site/ business, using a web press release might be useful. Some sites even allow you to include a live link (as opposed to the just the text of your URL).
15. Video with watermarked URL.
    If you post any original content at a video sharing site such as YouTube, Revver, or dozens of others, make sure that your site’s URL appears at the beginning and end of the video. It may not be linkable, but if it’s easier to remember, it could pull a lot of traffic. Alternately, if you use SplashCast, you can actually link to your site from within their media player.
16. Linkable content.
    You’ve read it all over the place: content is king. It’s true because good content is inherently linkable. Create lots of it. Here are a few types to consider.
    1. Good and/or entertaining content.
    2. List-style linkbaits.
    3. Resource linkbaits.
    4. Tutorials.
    5. Free themes.
    6. Free plugins.
    7. Profiles of bloggers or other people important in their niche or industry.
17. Social media marketing.
    SMM, or Social Media Marketing, coupled with linkable content can be immensely valuable for traffic and link building. Keep in mind that there are several types of social media sites, each with different rules. Here are a few.
    1. Member-voted news sites [Digg, Sphinn].
    2. Social profile sites such as [Myspace].
    3. Social bookmarking sites [del.icio.us].
    4. Professional networking site profiles [LinkedIn].
    5. Wikis [Wikipedia].
    6. Hybrids [Stumbleupon].

    All of these sites either allow you to set up a profile with your link and/or allow articles to be posted. Some do not like if you submit your own article. Respect the culture at each, and ask a friend to submit articles if necessary. Using good titles and descriptions, as well as the right category, makes an enormous difference.

18. Blog Carnivals.
    Blog carnivals are an ideal way for new blogs to get some link love and traffic, and to network with other bloggers. And it’s usually from topically related sites so search engines love it. [Check out our Carnival of Small Business and Startups.]
19. Feed subscription buttons.
    Placing these prominently on your site “above the fold” tends to help increase subscribers. If they can’t find it, they won’t subscribe. Subscribers are sometimes bloggers, some of whom may someday link to you.
20. Blog and ping.
    Blog and ping amounts to having your blog platform signal various blog directories or blog search engines whenever you post a new article. Those sites in turn publish a list of “recently updated blogs”. Some come and index your page, making it freshly searchable. Targeting certain times of day can be more beneficial if you post several articles per day, rather than posting them within a few minutes of each other. Also, if you are targeting a specific geographic region, try to post before the beginning of the work day in their time zone (typically before 8 am in a zone).
21. Affiliate programs.
    If you have a product or service that you sell on your site, consider starting an affiliate program. Not only does this expose you to more potential customers and bring traffic, you shares your profits with others, which builds good will. It’s often but not always a win-win situation.

Customers visit your company website for one thing – to get information. More importantly, they want it ASAP, for they can switch to your competitors in just one click of a mouse. Make sure you have the following essential information easily accessible to your online visitors: