Would you buy a product from a website that has boring content which is badly crafted? It’s evidently a no. Therefore, content editing plays the most important role in any online marketing strategy, since the trustworthiness of any website depends on the quality of content.

So, how do you ensure the content on your website is perfectly edited? Here are 4 tips you should know:

1. Free from Errors - A well written piece is always free from any kind of errors. Microsoft word’s feature of checking spelling mistakes as well as grammatical errors proves to be extremely useful for editing. But completely relying on MS word is also not a good option, as a writer is the one expressing his views, therefore it may fail to notice some errors while typing.
2. Read out Aloud - Completely relying on computer editing skill does not always solve your purpose. Therefore, it is best to read out the text thoroughly. When you have technology in your hands, you can also download programs that read out the text aloud, helping you come across errors that you might have overlooked.
3. Don’t Neglect the Content for SEO - Quality content being the best online marketing strategy, writers are often keen on driving search engines to sales pages and therefore pay more attention to keywords, thereby neglecting the quality of the content. It’s better to develop a quality write-up and add SEO keywords later.
4. Never Rush to Publish - After you’ve finished writing your content, do not rush to publish it immediately. It is always a safe idea to proofread the matter you have written, as it does not give room for errors.

Everyone makes online blunders while writing and editing, but it is always best to read it and make the necessary edits, to make it enjoyable for your readers too. If you think content editing is a challenge for you, leave it to the experts to do the job.

Image courtesy www.contentforconversions.com

The rapid growth of the Advertising Industry has made the aspiring youth to channel their creativity and ideas into a lifestyle unconfined to the daily rut that a typical 9-to-5 job has to offer.

Its most remunerative jobs are:

1. Account Supervisor/Sales: The sales and account supervisor positions are best suited if you are a people’s person and have a sales background. The annual salary is based on your past experiences and the number of new accounts you bring in. The day-to-day responsibilities include client communication, keeping the company competitive, and creating client billings and reports.
2. Copywriter: People with the talent to write and are not willing to settle for meager wages like Journalists can pursue a career in copywriting. By writing print, web or radio ads, the copywriters can earn fast cash.
3. Creative Director: The position of a creative director is to create and manage ad concepts and their execution. A long experience in advertising and a sense of art and design are the right ingredients to make big in the position of a creative director.
4. Online Brand and Marketing Manager: Online Marketing Managers are hired to manage the clients’ presence on the web. Good knowledge in social networking and a marketing background can make this a top-paying position.
5. Chief Communications Officer and Chief Public Relations Officer: To pursue a career as a Communications Officer or Public Relations Officer, you need an excellent written and verbal skill. A good network and being a people person are the traits which are essential. The job encompasses reputation building therefore the job can be expected to pay very well.

The stiff competition and the knack to emerge from the growing completion have certainly made Advertising Industry a one stop solution for various career opportunities.

Image courtesy Fliptalks

Advertising has been the oldest method in history to further an idea into minds. From word-of-mouth strategies to catchy jingles selling detergent, the idea behind advertising has always been to grab eyeballs. And with the different forms of media at their disposal namely print, electronic and broadcast; reaching out to people with a persuasive idea has never been difficult. The challenge that the advertising industry must constantly answer is reinvention in the face of changing times. Gone are the days when people would collect in swarms to watch the successful young women in Santoor soap ads turning out to be older than expected, humming the jingle along. Time is a precious commodity and the Generation Y knows too well, to waste it. With changing times advertising industry must revamp their strategies to keep up.

In the recent times, keeping up with the advents of virtual marketing, the advertising industry has managed to tap the throbbing vein of the generation and has paved its way to maintain their stronghold over the minds. Now “likes”, “tweets” and viral videos sell products much faster than the other traditional methods.

Advertising entails understanding the audience thoroughly and by employing the what, why, when, how and where in their strategies they are reaching out to wider mass appeal. Selling a brand has transcended the usual “buy my product” theme, now ‘advertainment’ is the mantra of the game.  To this end new media has emerged as the savior of advertising methods, reaching out to people across various socio-economic layers at once.

The use of ultra targeted campaigns with relevant customized messages along with launching initiatives to build a natural viral scenario has been the contemporary strategy, in a nutshell.

On the economical level modern day advertising methods has been banking on money making strategies using the Internet as the modus operandi. Pay per click advertising and Ad Sense are making use of referral advertising to propel its outreach and earn revenue. With the advent of new media, traditional media however has had to take a step back. With interactive satellite television companies making their technology better, viewer can skip ads with just a touch of a button on their remote. The challenge, now for the electronic media would either be to make their ads crisp and even more eye catching, or abandon ship and target the same audience on a different platform. At the end of the day no two ads are the same. They target a different audience, a different mindset and a different appeal. The advertising industry has a bright future catering to mass consumerism and adapting to new socio-cultural and technological changes.

Remember the uninformed and surprising entry of the Facebook Timeline? A number of us did not like the very idea of it, and its usage was definitely not in question. Many of my online friends were completely against it and voiced their criticism against the time-line feature pretty openly. Discussions about the time-line that led to unfair opinions against Zuckerberg and his declining sense of design were so common that I doubt if an unintended viral may not have affected  the opinion of even those who would have liked to give a thumbs-up (read: like) to the time-line feature.

You may or may not be comfortable with the timeline settings for now but what matters is if you have switched to it then it is indeed good for you. I have a silly habit of searching for things that seem disconcerting. The timeline feature in particular was for example one of the many ‘not-so-important-yet-on-my-mind’ things that undoubtedly was something that I wanted to know more about. Why so much of a brouhaha over something that was only a part of the virtual world? Why is everyone discussing it? Actually, no one was really discussing it. EVERYBODY WAS CRITIQUING. So, I took to studying the timeline and to my surprise what seemed useless for a complete bundle of goodies. I now can’t think of another way of great online marketing.

Many businesses as of present have switched to the timeline feature but haven’t been able to figure out how to benefit from it. In a market that is inexorably focused on social media, the Facebook timeline has given businesses some extremely simple ways of getting ahead with online marketing.

Advantage Cover Photo

The cover photo becomes an evident part of your Facebook profile once you have agreed to use the timeline. Inarguably, this is the most important feature of the timeline also as it a strategically thought adding that helps businesses to improve the visual-designs of their companies. This is the place where you communicate with the world in pictures. This is where on-line marketing is at its active most level. Put a cover photo that draws attention and captures the essence of your business. Be creative, take it seriously and the timeline will come alive, acting as a salesman for your business.

A Tryst at the Template

 Many of us may not know that it’s not just the look that has changed but so has the purpose and intent. Facebook timeline allows a lot more interaction and rendezvous than the earlier version did. You can make use of the template/body at the advantage of online marketing. Highlight items on your page, feature stories, and pin to other websites for a full-fledged online marketing experience. And, then there is a bar to the right-side just below the cover photo which contains four boxes labelled pictures, maps, notes, etc. You can intelligently customize these boxes to display the products, brochures and content of the company.

Knowing the Admin Panel

 No one paid attention to this, right? Well, the admin panel which is a useful part of the timeline is a feature that monitors all the activity that is taking place on your business page. There is also an “Insight Box” that is helpful to convert the user data into a statistical and/or graphical form. This helps you analyze your popularity and reach towards the World Wide Web audience.

The Kolaveri Di about the Timeline took some time to settle but its now time you start benefiting from the well-planned strategy.

To build a brand, online marketing is one of the key tools in the advertising process. Here are a few useful online marketing tips that can you can use in your brand building process-

1. Go Viral - Viral marketing has proven to be beneficial as a launch pad for many new brands. All you need to do is to make a video on a topic relevant to the brand personality, its goals etc. The video goes viral on many social media websites and relies on its likeability power. A rather informal way of communicating, the main objective of this approach is to redirect the viewers to the brand’s website and inform them of the brand’s presence.
2. Chase the Social Media- If your brand is not present on Facebook and Twitter; you might be from the 20th century. An informal and interesting way of interacting with your customers directly, it makes it easier for many people to know about you. Make a brand page, get the timeline and get started. Talk to the people, hold contests, upload the photographs, get a celebrity to endorse your page and your brand and you will soon rise up in the success graph.
3. E-mail marketing- Sending out emails to your customers is a sure shot way of grabbing attention. Since this activity is known and already practiced, why not sell the new wine in old bottle. E-mailers are known to be boring and irritating and to actually make it work; you need to be unique and different. Use an attractive template with an informal language so that the readers connect with them.
4. Banners and Print ads- Remember that tiny ad you saw on the right side while you were reading your emails on yahoo? Well, those are the ads online. You can post ads of your website or brand on any website you feel already attracts the traffic. Make your ads creative and leave a sense of mystery in their content or a picture to redirect the reader to your website.
5. Blogging- Blogging about your brand is an excellent idea. Set up your blog and invite your existing customers to read and follow it. The content may not necessarily be about your product, but also the interesting facts relevant to the industry etc. E.g. giving fashion tips to the young lads if you are into fashion business.
6. Submit Articles- One of the effective ways of marketing online is submitting written content on the various article submission websites. The articles can be on subjects and topics related to your industry and about your products. They divert traffic to your website and help in better SEO (Search engine optimization) of your website.
7. Form groups and forums- A lesser known marketing habit, you can make use of forming groups and forums on yahoo and Google and add your customers. This will update your customers about the ongoing discussions and the latest from you. In return they will be engaged in your brand and will also do some word of mouth publicity for free.

With various platforms of interactive media being launched each day, one has ample options to explore. So, reach out and make a difference!

Words hold the power to convince and contradict, even in the case when they are being used as an instrument of sales. Selling products online is a task that cannot do at all without the support of crisp and concise copy that conveys a lot about the object of sale. A good product description should hold the power of convincing the prospective buyer to purchase the product after spending a few seconds on reading the information that is relevant, appealing and sufficient to sum up the “Why Buy” of the product in 50 -100 words. Seems tricky, right? Was the same for me until I figured out the strategy for getting my product descriptions right. So, here is what I did, and what professional writers usually do too:

Read about No Touch Sales: It may be surprising but it is true that people are more drawn to ecommerce because it minimizes human contact. People purchase online when they read about a product and are longing to see the words take a shape (in the form of the product that is for sale.) So the words have to be really powerful to draw maximum consumer attention.

Understood the Tone and Language: Point to be noted. It is as important to hold back certain information as much it is to give out the rest of it. This simply means to focus on the ‘good points’. You should also refrain from giving out too many details about the product to an extent that the customer loses interest. Make your content compelling, unique and intelligent.

Kept It Original: Of course I refered to some great sites that gave me ideas on writing ome really whacky product descriptions, but managed to keep my content absolutely original. Keping your product descriptions original is important because your site can be penalized in case any copied content is published on your website.

Besides the above points, a definite structure to the product descriptions proved to be of great help. So in 100 word descriptions content writers should spend some 40 words writing about product features, approximately 30 words on style recommendation, another 20 on its utility and the remaining 10 on catchy lines and adjectives. But, often 100 words are also too much for a product description and at that time focusing on the “core functionality” + USP of the product suffices.

A recent study conducted by Pew Research Centre’s Internet and American Life Project had some interesting results to show. It claimed that search and email were among the most popular activities online. The exact numbers shown by the study will be talked about later, but let’s focus on how this result affects the marketing maxims that people have long held holy. For one, it dispels the popular myth that social media optimization is your best bet as an online marketer. Meanwhile, those who are religiously engaged in tipping the search engine scales to their favour can breathe a sigh of relief: SEO still reigns supreme in online marketing.

The guys at Pew seem to have done their homework. Tracking online activities of adults since the past 10 years, they come up with some numbers that might rearrange the priorities of online marketers. Coming to the numbers themselves:

1. Using search engines and reading emails tops the list at a dominating 92 percent,
2. Reading online news gets the silver at 76 percent,
3. Online purchases occupy 71 percent,
4. Bringing up the rear is social networking, which is placed at a miserable 65 percent.

An interesting point arises here: Although the rise and rise of social networking sites has heralded a phenomenal growth of SMO activities to raise brand visibility and attract traffic, it looks like sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc. have not yet managed to consolidate their hold over all demographics. It seems to be more cluster-oriented, really. Au contraire, search engines and email have consistently attracted a sizeable chunk of followers from just about every strata possible.

Does that mean that a change is in order? Should we, for the matter of debate, start paying more attention to email marketing in our campaigns, something that’s widely regarded as the ignored cousin of SEO and SMO? Remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: this study is sure to get online marketers rethinking their strategies.

Geographical targeting, shortened to geotargeting, is a means to display website content based on the visitor’s geographical location enabling localized and personalized results. Even though the term might be new to you, you must have experienced geotargeting many times, for example when browsing for latest news, advertising, shopping and the like.

An ad you see on a website in India might be completely different from what your friend sees sitting in Australia, on the same website! Isn’t it intriguing how the Internet delivers content based on your location? Well not really; the technology behind it is quite simple. When you request a page on the server, the server queries your IP address against a database of worldwide IP addresses. This database identifies your country, at times even your city and then as per your location, displays relevant content.

Companies require a cross-functional technology that can enable them to create immediate and direct connection with their customers. To enhance your business performance, you can make use of this technology for efficient online marketing. If you are interested in providing country-specific offers, you may want to enable geographical targeting on your website. For example, if someone in Canada visits your website then you can show him offers that are relevant to his location.

Geotargeting is an effective form of online marketing as it enables you to create an instant connection with your website’s visitors. It allows your brand to reach customers in a particular city or region. When you focus on the specific parts of population for whom your products or services are most relevant, you can raise the tendency of visitors to click on your ad, thus in turn leading to better sales and revenue.

When it comes to online marketing, geographical targeting proves to be a powerful tool that empowers businesses towards a closer relationship with customers. It facilitates you to reach your target customers at the right time and at the right place.