Monday, March 26, 2012

Strategies for Restaurant Search Engine Marketing

Restaurants are some of the most searched topics online. As eating out becomes a trend, people use the internet to narrow down their restaurant choices. This emphasizes the need for dining businesses to invest on restaurant search engine marketing. Search engine marketing promises exposure online and a great number of potential clients. If people can find your restaurant easier, you have greater chances of increasing return on investment. Learn the different strategies for greater market reach and revenue.

Social Bookmarking

People use social bookmarking for topics and things they find interesting over the web. Social bookmarking services include Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, and Delicious. These services make it easier for people to note the page's location and share the website with other people. Allowing and convincing people to bookmark your website works well with attracting traffic and building backlinks. To do this, find people with keen interest on restaurant marketing. Promote or recommend their websites. Most likely, these websites will return the favor.

Google Places

Google places has become important for many local businesses specifically restaurants. It is important to take advantage of Google places for restaurant SEO. Keep in mind the following pointers:

- Claim place page - restaurants, especially those in local areas, have to claim their Place Page. Place pages offer more chances to obtain reviews and attract traffic. Be careful about the information displayed. It should be accurate and complete. It will be more advantageous for your business if the place displays professional photos instead of mobile pictures gathered from random sources.

- Consider Google for your site navigation - website navigation should call for action. It should provide clear categories to help users reach their desired pages. Clear navigation options help your links appear as "link packs" on Google search page results. For instance, place your "Reservations" or "Book a Table" link on the main category including the landing page. Other easy navigation options include "Our Food," "Menus," and "Contact us."

- Use Google AdWords and create a campaign with your own name - this will drive review websites down the search results page. You have better chances of pushing your website at the top if you invest on your brand name.

Coordinate your Google accounts with Google places. The more coherent your accounts are, the more points you gain from Google.

Social Media

Use social media to encourage buzz talk. Twitter and Facebook have become common places for people to check out local restaurants and shops. Work on your Facebook and Twitter account. Put enough pictures to give potential customers an overview on what you offer. Presenting the ambiance and food specialty of your restaurant accurately will attract the right clients. These customers may even become your loyal followers in the future.

Working on your SEO and internet marketing campaign requires proficiency and knowledge of how the market works. Hire a professional SEO company to perform SEO strategies for your shop. Letting an expert handle SEO for restaurants gives you more chance to concentrate on your business.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Selling Wholesale Gifts Online - Importance of Research

If you are planning to invest in an online business or to start your own online business, you have several different choices. It is not easy to start a business online and invest heavy capital without proper research. So the rule number one is to do as much research as you can. In my point of view, wholesale gifts is a great business opportunity, and I will tell you why.

Wholesale gifts business

A wholesale gifts online store is much different from a retail gift store. In wholesale store, you will be selling to retailers and not to customers. However, you can sell your gift items to customers as well but that needs more investment.

As mentioned earlier, proper research is the key. So before starting your own wholesale gift store, you need to do research. A few research tips are:

    Your capital with which you will start your online business.
    Your primary and secondary target market.
    Your competitors in those markets.
    Strength and weaknesses of your competitors.
    Are customers happy with your competitors.
    What gift items you will be focusing upon.
    What your customers need.
    Is there any gift item(s) that your competitors are not delivering.

You must find answers to these and many other similar type of questions.

Then comes the second part of the research, that includes following areas:

    Your business location
    Number of employees
    Business name
    Number of offices
    Brick-and-mortar or click-and-mortar
    Warehouse location
    Storage area
    Payment processors
    Delivery terms

This is a lengthy task but there is no alternate. And I must say that it is very important to conduct proper research before investing your money in a new business. It is strongly recommended to invest in wholesale gifts business if your research shows any kind of output. If there are hundreds of competitors already serving your target market, there is no need to invest your money. So you must move with the primary research report.

If you cannot do research yourself, hire someone. Or I must say, hire a professional company. And don't hesitate to invest in the research process. And do not expect favorable results. Research reports are based on facts and figures, and if it shows that you cannot start a business in wholesale gifts niche, then leave it. There is no need to go against the report. Try another niche or try another target market or something. There is always a second chance, a second door.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Top 3 Musts for Having an Online Home Business

One thing that a lot of people wonder about is the benefits of keeping a business at home. We tend to check out many websites selling a huge number of products, and we keep on wondering, how do they do that? However, the tricks are simple, and here are a few neat little tips and tricks to improve your home-based business over time.

1. Marketing Is the Key

How you market your products is one of the key ingredients of building a great business. Make sure your customers are those people who really need your product. A lot of times we have seen that the products sold by a big company might turn out to be duds, while small companies actually offer less number of items, but they prove to be much better. Marketing your products to the right audience is a key source of getting better customers, and for that you need to know your clients thoroughly. From making a good idea about your target customer to the list of products you sell and how they can be used for multiple purposes, you need to be totally aware of all the pros and cons, and work accordingly. It has been noted that good marketing has actually got people more business within a very short period of time.

2. Maintaining Products and Services Quality

The second important thing you should keep a watchful eye on is the quality of the products and services you have. It has been noted succinctly that clients have turned away from companies because the quality of their products and services were not up to the mark, or failed to meet up the expectations of the clients. So, keep an eye on the quality of your products and services. If you have products that you are selling, make sure they are of top-notch quality. In a lot of businesses, clients receive products that have had its expiry date passed. In that case, they become dissatisfied and feel cheated. Do not let that happen to your business.

3. No Compromise on Customer Care

Remember, customer service is an integral part of any business, where you should be able to talk to your clients, and your clients should be able to get in touch with you when they want to. The phone numbers and other contact details should be clearly delineated on your site and you should make it a point to keep the lines working during the operating hours for client facilitation.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Three Quick Ways To Make Money With Your Blog Part Time or Full Time

Internet marketing is an exciting concept when you consider the fact that individuals who make their living from this form of marketing don't have to leave the comfort of their home to do it.

This has become the case for many people from a variety of backgrounds and the trend is going to continue for quite some time.

Perhaps you may have given some thought to starting your own business on the internet but were not quite sure what to do.

In the next couple of moments I'm going to discuss blogging with you as well as three ways that you can make money from your blog.

The popularity of blogging continues to grow by leaps and bounds and more and more people are starting blogs every day.

With a blog you don't have to be an accomplished author or possess a measure of technical genius to make it work.

All you have to do is have something useful and interesting to say and simply 'say it.'

Are you good at rearing children? Making arts and crafts? Motivating people? Start a blog and share your knowledge with your audience. It really is as simple as that.

Once you've decided what it is your blog is going to be about you might consider exploring income opportunities from the content that you create.

Here are three ways that you can make money from your blog on a part-time or full-time basis.

1. Review Products and Services

A valuable service that you can provide for internet shoppers is that of writing honest and objective product reviews.

To do this it is typically best to purchase the product or do as much research as you can on it, in order to help your readers to make an informed decision as to whether or not to purchase the item or not.

You can sign up as an affiliate with Amazon.com and find a vast amount of products that you can feature reviews on your blog around.

2. Sell Your Own Products and Services

With a blog you can market your own products and services, giving them all of the details about what your products have to offer.

You can make simple videos and post them on your blog showing individuals how to get the best use of your products.

You can help to educate your audience regarding the type of products you sell and why they would benefit from them as well as announce new and upcoming products and special offers.

3. Sell Advertising Spots On Your Blog

Another way you can generate income either full or part-time from your blog is to sell advertising.

This can be especially effective if you are growing a large and responsive audience.With a large and responsive audience you can literally dictate your asking price, provided the inquirer is looking to market a product that is relevant to your content.

If you take a look at most of the popular blogs on the internet you'll notice that they are sellling advertising that is shown above their content, in the sidebar or below their content.

Depending on your audience and the amount of traffic you're getting to your blog you can make a tidy little sum from your site every month.

At this point I'm sure you can see the profit potential that making money with your blog represents. All you have to do now is pick one and give it a try. It will take a bit of testing to unlock the full profit potential from your blog, but it's definitely worth it in the long run.

My name is Nando Morales and I've been marketing online for the past four years. If you're thinking about starting your own internet marketing home business get free instant access to the 1kaday Passive Income Profits formula free today.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Practical Tips You Should Know Before Becoming a Freelancer



Hiring freelance workers is becoming more and more globally accepted now. This is for the simple reason that freelancers can also provide the same services which regular office workers can give minus the office building and 9-5 schedule set up. Many employees, mothers, and even fathers, are also attracted to the flexibility that freelance work is offering. It just seems more reasonable, especially when one wants to have more time to pursue passions, to take care of their families, and simply to have a balanced life.

Yes, many consider it as the ideal type of employment. But before diving into this world offering freedom of time, take note of the following things you should have and know to fully say you can become a freelancer.

• Know Your Skills

What skills and knowledge do you currently have which you can offer to clients looking for freelance workers? Can you provide writing services? Do you know how to set-up or design a web site? Can you produce videos, audio recordings or do voice-overs? Do you know secretarial work like administrative tasks, data entry or typing? Freelance writers, web designers, video and audio producers, and virtual assistants are the most common type of in-demand freelance workers today. Some other freelance services you can offer if you know how are translation services, social media marketing and/or management, and transcription services.

• Sources for Freelance Work and Support

Where can you find freelance jobs? This is another thing you should first be looking for if you are going to be a freelance worker. The good news is that there are A LOT of resources now. The easiest way to find clients hiring freelancers is by doing a Google search. At the same time, there are also a lot of freelance support communities right now. It's advisable to subscribe to several sites which provide freelance advice. Often these sites are either blogs or forums where you can interact with the authors or site owners.

• An Emergency Fund

This is a crucial element in becoming a freelancer. Before going full-time and getting your bread and butter solely from freelance jobs, it's wise to have enough savings, at least 6 months worth of income, which you can depend on while looking for stable freelance gigs. This is going to be your safety net. While it's true that working freelance offers flexibility of time, it's also a must-know that many freelance jobs are only contractual, some even lasting for only days. There are, however, many clients who are also looking for long-term freelance employees, but it's not a guarantee that the first job you land will be this type of client. So it's best to have financial back-up all the time.

Many freelancers have also found it wise to take freelance jobs while still pursuing their regular 9-5 careers. This way they slowly build their freelance portfolio and when they have enough emergency fund and confidence, they are more prepared to work as full-time freelancers. Enough savings also lessen the nervousness they may feel while looking for stable freelance work.

• Patience and Determination

As I've mentioned earlier, the first freelance job you land may not always offer a long-term employment opportunity. So you have to be ready to fill your pockets with patience and determination. Patience in finding that stable job or jobs and determination to keep working on your current short-term jobs, if this is the first one you find, or the determination to keep accepting short-term contracts to have a continuous flow of jobs. This is a reality in freelancing which a freelancer must learn to embrace.

• Willingness to Learn

Your current skills set and knowledge may help you land that first freelance project but you should not limit yourself to what you currently know. The types of jobs you can apply for or accept depend a lot on your skills and talents. Hone your skills as you get more jobs. This can be via your current employers - there are clients who provide paid training to their contractors, or via your personal pursuits. Many freelancers became experts in Search Engine Optimization and Pay per Click Advertising through their own research and study. Eventually, they offered these services among others. Freelance writers also can improve on their writing skills because writing online is different from writing print materials. At the same time, there are different kinds of write ups online clients are looking for such as press releases and web copy. Investing in yourself is the best investment when it comes to freelancing.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Warning! 3 Dangerous Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Online Business (Do "THIS" Instead)

Are you excited about building your online business and think great things are around the corner? Do you have PASSION and a sense of purpose about what you truly want to do, and think it's going to be easy to parlay that pride into perpetual piles of profit?

The truth is, no matter how many amazing success stories are printed

Mistake #1: Selling Affiliate Products as a Primary Business Model

The truth is, in 2012... this is not only a terrible idea, but probably the hardest path to profit that there is. With so many new rules, regulations and restrictions on promoting products as an affiliate, in addition to the lack of quality programs to promote, the chances of success using the general affiliate model are UNDER 1%... and far worse in the IM and over saturated online marketing niches like diet, dating, divorce and others.

Mistake #2: Building a list "last"

It amazes me how many people will invest hundreds of dollars in ebooks, gadgets, gimmicks and gurus... but don't think they can spend 20 bucks a month on a commercial grade auto-responder. The truth is, list building, and cultivating a community of fans, friends and followers through consistent CONVERSATION (i.e. - an email sequence) is the absolute easiest way to make money online bar none. As a matter of fact, as someone who has written thousands and thousands of articles (over 6k as of today) and has used that content to promote close to a 100 unique products and promotions over the last few years, I can honestly say that the biggest regret I have is NOT using all of that content to build a list, rather than using it to try to make sales instead. (as my conversation percentage is literally 10 times HIGHER when folks sign up first for an email list, versus sending them straight to a sales page instead)

Mistake #3:

Over-thinking it

I know this isn't going to be a popular thing to say... but most online marketers are really professional (or part time) learners, readers and sideline stalkers. How much of YOUR time is dedicated to doing, rather than learning, watching or re-hashing things you already know? The truth is, my first few years of working online, I read, re-read, re-learned and re-tried a seemingly unending avalanche of information, ideas and momentary inspirations.

Those things never made me money... and more often than not, cost me time, energy, income and enthusiasm instead.

I have never read one forum post, or one blog post, or one guru video that has put a single dollar in my bank account.

Instead?

The key is to dive in and do it. Make mistakes. Learn on the job. Don't try to make your content, or your campaigns, so carefully choreographed that you wait forever to get them off of the ground.

The truth is, there is an old adage in the direct response marketing business that every newbie, or struggling beginner or overwhelmed information marketer MUST buy into to truly succeed.

"A C minus advertising campaign in the mail is better than an A+ idea in your head... 100% percent of the time"

Unfortunately, far too many marketers think that they have to learn everything, or discover every secret before they get that first piece of content, or copy or campaign into the hands of the people who WILL buy what you have to sell... as is, today.

The key takeaway?

Don't let perfection be an enemy of achievement in YOUR business... and don't let the 3 mistakes above keep you from the success you deserve, and that's pretty easy to achieve, this year... and forever more. (no gurus required!)