Search Plus Your World

As reported on Blogspot, CNN, and elsewhere, Google announced on Tuesday that they were making a dramatic change in their search algorithm by adding contextual content from social media platforms (especially Google+ and Picasa) into the search results. I will leave it to others to explain the nuances, while I will point out the obstacles, and opportunities, cow confronting niche marketers.

Google feels that the inclusion on social media content will provide a richer experience for the user, and I agree with them. However, with the inclusion of such content, your previous SEO efforts will have to be re-examined. If your site was currently ranked in the top 5 of Google’s Page 1, you will likely be bumped down a few spaces. If you were ranked near the bottom of Page 1, you’ll likely now be residing somewhere on Page 2. The reason is that Google is now adding additional search results which will compete with your page ranking.

Fortunately, the solution should be  straight forward for those who are aware of this change.

First,  if you don’t already have one, set-up a Google+ account. While you’re at it, create a business page as well. With some analysts predicting a membership roster of 400 million by the end of this year, you’ll want to be actively posting quality content on Google+ anyway.

This is a good time to start thinking about increasing the size and scope of your circles as well. The more people you are following, and who are following you, on Google+, the better you’ll be positioned in the revamped search engine results.

Second, if you haven’t already done so, establish a Picasa account and start populating it with keyword optimized photos. Google has indicated that Picassa will be weighted in their new search rankings, so now is the time to get busy with a Picasa account.

Third, encourage your friends and followers from other social media platforms to join you on Google+, and comment on your photos over at Picasa.

Finally, review your on-page SEO efforts for title tags, keyword relevancy and density, and image alt tags. Despite the changes that Google is unveiling, these on-page factors are still important.

Being proactive with the above steps will help preserve your search engine rankings. Let me know what’s working for you and if you’ve noticed any changes in your search engine rankings as a result of Google’s latest changes. Feel free to leave me a comment below.

Related articles

• What Marketers Need to Know about Google Search Plus (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• Google Launch “Search plus Your World” (carocomarketing.com)
• Google’s Biggest Social Search Update Yet Features Google+ Content (hubspot.com)

Technorati Tags: Google, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, Picasa, Seach Plus Your World

Niche article writing

[Editor's note: We continue our series of web site traffic building strategies by looking at article writing. By writing high quality articles, containing targeted keywords, and then submitting those articles to article directories, you can dramatically increase the number of readers who will see your writing. If you are clever, you will write your articles in such a way that many of these readers will then visit your web site or blog to obtain more information.

Despite the "sky is falling" predictions surrounding Google's "Panda" update* offered by some traffic gurus, article writing is still a cost effective way to generate traffic - sometimes massive traffic - to your site. Today's guest article foscues on the "how-to" end of article writing.  Niche marketing writers continue to use this strategy to good effect. What do you think? Let me know if article writing has worked for you, or if you need more information on how to get started writing articles. Feel free to leave me a comment below.  ~Scott]

(*Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of Google’s “Panda” update Just get busy writing those articles!  ~Scott)

By Pat Turman

There are numerous ways to get website traffic and I am going to talk about one of the easiest ways to do it. What I’m talking about is writing articles to generate traffic to your website.

Writing articles with good content around a product or service you are offering and then submitting these articles to article directories is a great way to generate website traffic. However there are three key points you may want to remember.

1. Do good keyword research first. A key component is writing an article around a keyword or keyword phrase that you are using to target your web audience. Say for instance you are selling floormats for a Toyota FJ Cruiser SUV. You need to research via the internet various keywords or keyword phrases that one may use in the search engines to find floormats for this vehicle.

Once you find relevant words and phrases, determine how many searches are being done using those words and phrases, then check out your competition. If you determine those keywords are what you will target then you move on to number two.

2. Write quality informative content around the keywords and phrases in relationship to your product. Again using the example above. You can formulate articles around floormats for different year FJ Cruisers, cargo area mats, rubber mats, carpeted mats, and different color mats. There are many options. A rule of thumb is to write articles that are at least 400 words or more. This gives relevance to your content. As we say content is “King”.

Make sure you write the articles with information that you believe, from your research, your targeted audience is looking for. Make sure you add the keywords and phrases throughout your article so the search engines can find your information.

But don’t stuff you articles with keywords because they will be rejected by the article directories and deemed clunky or unreadable. Try to stay within 1 percent to no more than 2 percent keyword density within your article. Therefore with a 400 word count article you should have no more than 4 keywords.

3. Once you have your articles written then you can start submitting them to different article directories. You will need to set up an account with the directories first. Some article directories are free and some may cost a small fee. I recommend starting off with the free directories to drive website traffic to your site and see how it goes.

Make sure you read the terms and conditions of the directories to know where you can put your links to your affiliate products or your website. By placing links in your article you can direct the viewer back to your website where you provide additional information, offer the visitor a product, or explain your service to them.

Article marketing is a great way to start building links to your website which is a plus in the search engines. As more people find your information, find your information relevant to what they are searching for, and then click through to your website you begin to see an increase in website traffic.

Hopefully you have learned a little more about using articles to increase your website traffic. If you would like more information and find the top 25 article directories to submit your articles to check out my website at Niche Business 101.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Turman
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Get-Website-Traffic-Using-Articles&id=6695601

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• Article Marketing Benefits That You Need To Know About (tfollowers.com)
• Easy Steps to Generate Web Traffic for Free (ronmedlin.com)

Technorati Tags: Keyword density, keywords, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, web site traffic, website traffic

Content marketing

[Editor's note: This week's guest article continues our focus on content marketing and how you can use this strategy to help build traffic to your niche website or blog. Words to the wise: content marketing as a strategy is only as good as the content that you have published. So, choose your topics carefully and only publish high quality work.  Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below.  ~Scott]

By R. Henks

In this article I am going to teach you about another method of traffic building that I call content marketing. You will learn what it is, how it can build your business and how to do it.

There are several methods of driving traffic to you business. In past articles I taught you some of the low cost methods. Content marketing is another very good low cost method of driving traffic to you info marketing business. Some examples of content marketing are articles, blogs, articles, videos, eBooks, audio courses. There are still more but that is enough to get started.

So how do you get started with Content Marketing?

Basically you start creating content. You can write an article, then submit it to the article directories. You could post it as a blog or on a website. The idea is to get it published online. Then people will see it, if they like it they will recommend it or publish on their websites. That is called viral marketing. Getting other folks to advertise your article all over the web for you. This could continue on and on, from friend to friend or website to website until there are thousands of views of it.

This could be any type of content you choose. You could use a video, or audios and post them on video sites. The same thing can happen. Then at the end of your article or video just be sure to include a call to action. Whether it is a link to your squeeze page or to your website or affiliate offer. Just make sure you take advantage of all those people that are viewing your content.

The viral part of this is what helps you to build your business. The search engines might pick it up and index it. Then you have a whole lot more chances for people to see your content and your call to action.

How do you do content marketing to build your business?

Lets say you start writing an article every day and publish it on the internet. Let’s just do 5 a week to start. In a month you could have 20-25 articles written. Keep that up for 6 months and you could have over 100 articles published online.

Now, take those articles and record them as audios, a video, maybe a blog post and you have hundreds of hours of teachable material that many folks will be glad to pay for.

To promote this content you created you could subscribe to forums that are in your niche and talk about your products. Eventually folks will ask for your links and begin visiting your sites and buying your products.

At the same time, while creating these teachings, you could be promoting some good affiliate products that will help your readers even more. They will appreciate your recommendations. That would make your articles and videos get that much more traffic to build up your info marketing business.

By the way, if you liked this article, you will probably like my new Info Marketing Success Daily newsletter – I am planning to do a daily training for 90-100 days – if you like this article, you should like the daily training.

Sign up here: Info Marketing Success Daily

Or do you want to learn more about using articles like this to drive traffic to your website and increase online conversions?

If so, I suggest you visit here: info marketing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=R._Henks

http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Is-All-This-Content-Marketing-Stuff-Anyway?&id=6622430

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• The Secret to a Longer Life for Marketing Content (thecustomercollective.com)
• Managing Content Marketing. The real world guide for creating passionate subscribers to your brand. Robert Rose & Joe Pulizzi. (regnordman.com)
• Why is an online content marketing strategy important? (marketing.yell.com)

Technorati Tags: Content marketing, internet marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

Content Marketing helps with ranking

[Editor's note: The term "content marketing" is gaining traction in the niche marketing communities. While not a new concept, content marketing is still receiving a lot of press because it offers a potential solution to the recent algorithm changes served up by Google. The following guest article takes a look at four specific content marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. Are you using content marketing in your on-line strategy? Let me know how that is working out for you by leaving me a comment below.  ~Scott]

By Darren W Chow

Internet marketing campaigns revolve around 3 things – search engine optimization, social media and content marketing. These marketing efforts are referred to as pull strategies. These are the marketing efforts that are designed to “pull in” your target clients, instead of pushing them to make favorable buying decisions.

The oft-repeated adage in Internet marketing – content is king – remains as relevant as ever. After all these emerging developments and shifts, the content of your Webpage remains to be the lynchpin of Internet marketing. Search engines scour the pages of your Website to assess if such pages measure up to the search query. On the other hand, your target readers will follow the content of your blogs, whitepapers, articles, etc. in order to get a clear picture of the product or services that you are offering.

This means that you need to generate quality content to build your reputation online. You have to exert extra effort to show that you are a trusted and reliable source of information. Thus, if you want to hit the jackpot in your Internet marketing campaign, you have to work on your content.

There are 4 common pitfalls that you must avoid in your Internet marketing campaign. These are the following:

Inadequate Fresh Content

Fresh content is the lifeblood of content marketing. This may appear to be a perfect case of redundancy. How would you perceive a blog site where the latest post is already a few weeks old? Blogs that are generally stagnant are considered by readers as fairly useless and won’t waste their time reading through the content. You are losing out on the opportunity to rank well at Google since each of the posts in your blog can target various keywords and these can help improve your online presence.

Connecting With the Wrong Audience

Follow the basic rule in marketing – profile your potential clients. You must monitor who are reading your blog posts regularly. Carefully assess if you are missing out on some earning opportunities from other segments of the market. Determine what your priorities are. Do you want to build your reputation as an expert in a particular field or niche? Or do you want to share information with your target clients? You must also get a good grip of the online behavior of your target readers and find out what they are looking for when they browse the Web.

Coming Off As a Hard Sell

You will surely mess up your Internet marketing campaign if you treat your content marketing as your medium in selling your product or service. You have to remember that your primary objective is not to sell but to market your product or service. You are into content marketing to “help” your potential clients. Your readers will surely not appreciate it if you sound a bit too “promotional” when you provide content for your blog.

Producing Content Without Promotional Value

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you should find ways to promote your product or service without going overboard and appear to be a hard sell. Learn of the “stealth” techniques so that you can get the desired response from your readers. When you produce a great article or white paper, you can get positive response from your target audience. This puts you closer to your main objective of developing a potential business through higher CTRs. Make yourself visible on the Web. Get those posts on your social profiles, company newsletters and social bookmarking sites. Of course, don’t forget to put share buttons on your blogs so that your target audience can republish or link to them.

For more resources about internet marketing check out Choose Income program. There is also a great program called Niche Conqueror that can be very successful.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darren_W_Chow

http://EzineArticles.com/?Internet-Marketing-Guide—4-Content-Marketing-Miscues&id=6617682

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• SEO content marketing roundup, week ending November 2nd (seocopywriting.com)
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• Content Marketing: Publishing is the New Marketing – Free webcast at Search Marketing Now, May 18 (prweb.com)
• Content marketing overtaking print, TV, radio, and events (r3r.com)

Technorati Tags: Content marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, social media

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[Editor's note: As the global economy continues to remain soft, marketers and business owners alike are being forced into narrower and narrower niches in order to appeal to customer needs. Today's guest article reviews the concept niche marketing and explains how to get started as an on-line niche marketer in a short period of time. Are you finding niche marketing tougher these days? Tell me what you think by leaving a comment below. ~Scott]

If you are struggling to find a profitable niche that will generate income for you, then this article will save you lots of time to do the research and ultimately, this method will help you to find a profitable niche within 5 minutes or less from now. When selling a product, you need do the research to find a market first that spends money, then find out what they want and give it to them. After that, you will need to find main phrases for the niche and find out if your niche is making money. After finish reading this article, you will know how to find a profitable niche within 5 minutes without spending any money.

1.) Research

The Example I am about to give is the exact method I use to find hungry niches and is quite easy to do! You may not find your hobby or interest is a profitable one but at least it gives you a starting point. Just think of things that you enjoy doing like cooking, playing computer games, fishing, collecting stamps etc… The site that I use to do the research is at Google Keyword Tool. It lets you see the amount of Google results and the amount people are paying per click on Google AdWords. The next step we going to do is to find popular phrases in your niche

2.) Find main phrases in your niche market

Type in the main keyword for your niche and search for it. Bear mind though you need a good number of searches to make this a profitable income stream for you. Different marketers will tell you different numbers depending on their own point of view. I try to stick to above 2,000 a month searches for a niche term in UK or US. So you should now do the same and pick the top 5 phrases that are being most searched for in your niche. If your niche has less than 2000 searches per month then you will need to find another and try and think of another niche with more search results. So, the next thing you would need to find out is if the niche will make you any money!

3.) Find out if your niche will make you money

Bear in mind that there is no guarantees that you will make money with your product, however if you follow this step it should make 99% sure that there is a market for the taking! Go to Google and type in the top phrase. Once you have typed in your main phrase the first thing you should look at is the number of search results the query has. This is a lot of results and that normally means there is a market there.The next thing you should do is look at the number of AdWords (sponsored Links) the phrase has. These are adverts people place on Google for certain phrases. Basically the more profitable a market the more people will bid to place their ads.

Now that is the proven system to find a profitable niche market. You learned how to do the research in your niche market, you learned how to find the top 5 main phrases for your niche, and you learned how to find out if your niche will make you money. Now you have everything you need to know to find a profitable niche for free to generate income for you.

Christopher Sia, a 21 year old kid without any college education, started making money online everyday after learning his mentor’s proven system.

Discover the exact system how an ordinary guy is able to make money online with niche marketing without spending money on traffic at all. Sign up for a free case study video that reveals how to generate auto-pilot income in a niche market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Sia

http://EzineArticles.com/?Niche-Marketing—3-Simple-Steps-to-Finding-a-Profitable-Niche-Market-Online-Within-5-Minutes&id=4817476

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• 5 Powerful Reasons Why Niche Content Sites Are Being Considered The Way To Go In 2011 (ronmedlin.com)

Technorati Tags: niche market, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on location based marketing and the growing popularity of smart phones. Smart niche marketers are picking up on this trend and using it to develop micro-niche marketing strategies for targeting core audience segments. Mass retailers and local merchants alike can exploit the opportunities of location based marketing. Let me know how you are using these niche marketing strategies for your business. Leave me a comment below. ~Scott]

By Greg Smith

Location Based Marketing

It wasn’t so long ago that businesses advertised on TV, radio, billboards, direct mail and the like… the so-called ‘traditional’ media. These mediums promised lots of impressions but were limited in the amount of targeting they offered. So, while a lot of people would see or hear your ad, it was hit or miss as to whether or not they were actually in the market for what you were selling. On top of that, the pricing models for these types of media made them fairly prohibitive for anyone other than large companies and organizations with dedicated advertising budgets.

With the advent of the internet marketing, and of the Google Adwords model, businesses big and small found a new way to reach potential customers. Business owners could now reach out to people who they knew were not only interested in their particular product or service but were, in fact, searching for it at that very moment. This type of highly targeted advertising promised significantly higher ROI and made for a much lower cost to entry for those businesses that didn’t have money to spend on expensive advertising campaigns. The only real disadvantage was the fact that the user had to be in front of their computer to see your ad. Maybe not so bad for everyone, but it doesn’t necessarily do proximity-based businesses like the restaurant or coffee shop down the street too much good.

Enter the smartphone.

Almost 20% of all mobile phone users in the US are on smartphones today and that number is closer to 25% worldwide. Since March of this year, the US alone has seen a 36% increase in smartphone adoption (via Mashable) and that rate doesn’t show any signs of slowing. While the heavy-hitters dominating the smartphone landscape at the moment are Apple’s iPhone and Google’s wealth of Android based phones, there are a number of other handsets which offer users the standard smartphone functionality, including internet access and GPS. With so many mobile phones now equipped with these types of features, a new branch of applications, deemed ‘location-based services‘, have emerged which allow users to broadcast their physical location at any given time. In turn, services such as Foursquare now allow businesses the ability to offer incentives to nearby users who ‘check-in’ at their location, providing an unprecedented opportunity to reach potential customers when they are close by and most likely to engage with your brand. In addition, these services provide businesses access to analytics dashboards containing a wealth of information such as who is coming to your business, when they are coming, what they had to say about it and where they went afterwards. And the best part… it’s all free.

Until recently, these location-based services were used primarily by the early adopter crowd (think Twitter, before it was as popular as it is today) and had yet to make their way into what might be considered mainstream culture. Just last week however, the social networking giant Facebook announced its entry into the location realm with the release of its ‘Places’ service, thrusting the concept of location-based social networking into the limelight and increasing the number of people with the ability to start checking-in to more than 150 million overnight.

A number of big brands are already engaging their customers through these services in new and interesting ways and the benefits of using location-based networking is only now becoming truly evident. As mobile phone usage continues to skyrocket and location services become more prevalent and advanced, savvy businesses will have opportunities to reach potential customers in ways that have never before been possible. While a fully ‘integrated’ marketing approach used to entail both offline and online initiatives, there is now a third element that should be considered when formulating your marketing plan… location. There is no doubt that location-based marketing will soon be as mainstream as having a website, but the companies who get involved early will benefit the most as they gain the valuable experience that other organizations will have to make up for later. What’s your business doing to engage customers?

Related articles

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• Location Marketing – The Latest Small Business Tool (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• Pew: 58 Percent Use Geosocial And Location-Based Services (searchengineland.com)

Technorati Tags: location-based marketing, Location-based service, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

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[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on grabbing customers from your competitors through the strategic use of location based marketing campaigns. Brick-and-mortar businesses who compete in localized, niche markets will find these tactics especially thought provoking. Tell me what you think: would these strategies and tactics work for your business? Leave me a comment, below. Also, if you like this article, consider sharing it with your friends (but not your competitors!). ~Scott]

*****

Want to increase your number of customers and get an edge on your competitors in terms of customer acquisition? New social media tactics can help you do just that for pennies on your regular marketing dollars.

Location based marketing’s greatest strength is its ability as a customer acquisition tool. Location based marketing for businesses with tough competitors or rivals can make a big difference in your bottom line and help you steal away customers from the competition. The relative cheapness of mobile marketing strategies like this also makes them very favorable when compared with traditional restaurant and retail marketing strategies.

How can location based marketing help you acquire customers? The simplest way is by offering a compelling value proposition to new clients in the form of coupons, discounts, or other rewards for checking in. Forward thinking customers who actively use social media platforms like Foursquare can be a great new customer base to tap into.

The first step in stealing your competitors customers is to set up your location based marketing campaign and get it rolling. After that, there are three key strategies for stealing new customers with location based marketing.

First, make sure your specials and dealers are advertised within the platform you are using. For example if you use Foursquare for business promotion, customers who are in the area and using Foursquare will automatically see your specials and deals available. This is a great way to reach new customers who otherwise might not have visited, by offering them specials that they can browse on their mobile device when they are nearby.

Second, online deal databases offer a great way to list your specials and make them available for customers looking for bargains on the internet. If someone spots your special or deal and is in the area, they can stop by and visit.

Third, window or sign advertising outside of your store gives you the opportunity to attract walk-in customers. By offering unique specials and deals you can attract customers who may have been on the way to a near by competitor.

Whether it be a free ice cream cone or order of fries, you can entice new customers to stop by and check out your deal simply by setting it up on a location platform like Foursquare. Once that customer knows your restaurant or shop offers these specials location based deals, they will be tempted to return to get the great value you are offering.

Matt Bodnar is a restaurant entrepreneur with a passion for social media. Visit http://www.locationbasedmarketing.biz to learn more about location based marketing and download a free how-to guide giving you tips and strategies for using location based marketing.

(C) Copyright – Matt Bodnar. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bodnar

http://EzineArticles.com/?Steal-Your-Competitors-Customers-With-Location-Based-Marketing&id=6021134

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• Help Your Business To Grow Using Social Media (techattitude.com)
• 6 Successful Foursquare Marketing Campaigns to Learn From (mashable.com)
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Technorati Tags: Foursquare, location absed marketing, niche marketing strategy

Image by NOAA's National Ocean Service via Flickr

[Editor's note:  Today's guest article not only discusses the "how" of location based marketing, but also the "why"; that is, why should businesses embrace and use this technology. In today's economy, both niche marketers and mass retailers need every edge they can get. Location based marketing is quickly becoming a "must have" tool that every marketer should learn and use. What do you think about location based marketing? Leave me a comment below. ~Scott]

ByAjay Prasad

The basic concept of location based marketing has been around for years but the internet, social media websites as well as ‘smart phones’, together are set to change it forever.

Simple yet brilliant phone applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla which rely on Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) have made it possible for business to communicate with their customers online. More commonly known social networks such as Facebook, Google Maps and Yelp too are catching up and helping make social media become an integral part of real world commerce.

Social networks and the so called ‘lo-so’ networks are an all new medium for Advertising and Marketing and the quicker do business comprehend them and adapt to take their advantages the better it is for them.

How does it all work?

Everything’s digital. Gone are the days when everyone kept a phonebook and a hefty copy of the Yellowpages directories, most of us today look for services and businesses online. Say it’s your first ever evening in San Francisco and the only thing in on your mind is ‘Sushi’. What do you do? You pull out your smart phone or switch on your laptop, visit a search engine website like Google and type “Sea Food in San Francisco” or perhaps even “Sushi in San Francisco”. Trust me, Google will let you in on thousands and thousands of results and is quite capable of leaving you all confused. What do you do? You click on the new Local Search Result Only feature. This would enable the search engine to provide you with results relevant to your physical location. You can then choose from a handful of restaurants, where you may relish your Sushi.

How does Local Marketing help Businesses?

Anyone on the streets, round the corner or even a mile away can, only with a couple of clicks on their ‘smart phones’, instantly find out about the services and goods your business offers. This new possibility naturally increases the on-foot traffic to your store and also encourages impulsive buying. Being published on online business directories allow anyone in the city to find your goods and services.

Local social media marketing is a form of direct marketing; your promotional material reaches out to real potential customers who are already making an effort to find you. Your promotional material is delivered electronically and on demand. It is, in comparison, an eco-friendly form of advertising as there is no hard copy paper wastage involved.

How do Businesses use Local Marketing?

Business register themselves on local marketing feature of search engines like Yahoo, Google, Bing etc, and on Business directory websites such as yelp to gain online visibility. It’s important to fill the business profile on such websites carefully.

Some companies opt for professional search engine optimization (SEO) for their websites. The importance of (SEO) is only to rise in the near future for not only would the website require to be indexed properly so they may be found within the general internet top search engines but would soon also require to be found by physical, geographic, location as well.

Another way businesses are using social media and location based marketing is to engage with their customers. Applications like Twitter allow building an intimidate relationship with customers. They act as an online mouthpiece where a store may talk of a new product launch or an art gallery may speak of a special event.

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Technorati Tags: Foursquare, Gowalla, location-based marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

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There is a simple, yet effective, way to drive traffic to your niche blog or web site. This strategy is quick, easy, and best of all, won’t cost you a dime.

This powerful niche marketing strategy will use free applications to identify trends in both Google and Twitter, and then using the information gleaned from those trends, will drive traffic back to your home blog or web site.

If you don’t already have them set-up, go ahead and create both a Twitter and Google account.

Google

Once you have your Google account set-up, head on over to Google Alerts and start typing in some niche keywords that are related to your business. You can then tell Google where to send these alerts; e.g. an RSS reader or email address of your choosing, or Google Reader.

Google will search the web on a daily basis, and gather up web entries, blog posts, and news items that match the keywords which you entered.

This is a quick way to find out what’s hot, and what’s not, in your industry on a day-by day basis.

Google makes it easy to then analyze trending topics by entering keywords into Google Trends. By simply entering your selected keywords at Google Trends, you can analyze search volume by region, city, and more.

Twitter

Twitter also allows for powerful trend spotting. In her article, 5 Ways to Analyze Twitter Trends, Caroline Melberg offers five places to go for finding Twitter trends.

The idea here is to use Twitter’s trending feature to identify topics that are gaining in popularity.  Be on the lookout for questions, concerns, and frustrations expressed by people in your industry (prospects, customers, thought leaders, etc.)

Driving Traffic Back to Your Site

Now that you have identified a current topic that is trending upwards, simply write a blog post or web site copy that addresses the topic. Your final step is to tweet your content on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and any other social media site where you have created both a presence and following. Don’t forget to add a link back to the blog post or web site which relates to the topic.

Since you have picked a topic that is trending upwards, there will be a lot of people, looking for current information in the social media circles. As they search for content relating to the topic, they will come across your tweet, post, etc. Many will follow your link to get more information which, in turns, increases the traffic back at your site.

All that is left for you to do is create a “call to action” back at your site for converting that traffic into leads or sales.

This is a powerful traffic building strategy that has worked well with many of my clients. Try it out and let me know what you think.

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Technorati Tags: Google Alerts, Google Trends, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, traffic strategy, Twitter

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[Editor's note: If you are just starting out as an on-line niche marketer then you're first step is to identify the particular niche market where you want to enter and compete. The following four steps will help you identify that niche market and start you off on the right foot. ~Scott]

By Carol Aird

Deciding on the right marketing niche is essential to your online success.

A marketing niche is defined as a targeted segment of a market in which your products are focused specifically to satisfy the needs of that segment. An example of an online marketing niche is a pet store selling only dog products instead of selling product for various types pets, like cats, dogs, and rabbits etc.

The four steps to finding your online niche are: choose an area you have knowledge about; have a passion for the area; discover potential customer’s unmet needs; and think of ways to meet those needs.

1. Choose an area you have knowledge about

It is best to choose an area you are familiar with. This does not mean that you cannot enter an area that you are not acquainted with; in doing so you need to take the time apply yourself to both learning and gaining experience in your chosen field. If you have knowledge, experience and expertise in your target market, potential customers will recognize those qualities – that helps to establish trust.

2. Have a passion for your area

Passion supplies energy to complete the task at hand and makes it more enjoyable. As an online marketer it is vital that your job does not wear you down and leaves you wanting to quit. Yet, passion in an area that is not bringing in revenue does not make sense. You are in this business to earn money, not to enjoy yourself and loose your hard earned money at end of the day. So choose something that is both enjoyable and gives you an income you desire.

3. Discover potential customer’s unmet needs

Fellow marketers may not satisfy all the needs of their customers. It is your duty to find out what those unmet needs are. This is done in a number of ways including, research of the target area, observation of behaviour patterns, and direct questioning of potential buyers. Through thorough research you will establish what kind of product is needed to satisfy your potential customers.

4. Think of ways to meet those needs

This process begins with the generation of an idea through imagination. This idea conceptualizes a specific product or service to solve the problem using the information gained through research. You can source the product if it already exists or you can create your own product or service. The resulting product or service is than marketed with confidence to your potential customers.

Do you want to learn more about internet marketing basics? If so, download my brand new eBook, Newbies Must Know, Newbies Must Know.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Aird

http://EzineArticles.com/?Niche-Marketing—4-Steps-to-Deciding-Your-Online-Niche-Market&id=4794834

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Technorati Tags: internet marketing, niche market, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy