While there are already hundreds of thousands of mobile apps out there, this new medium is really still
in its infancy, which means the door is wide open for new ideas. What makes a successful app? Why is
Angry Birds the all-time highest seller on mobile platforms? There isn’t a perfect formula for creating the
next smash hit, but there are a few common attributes all the best apps share.

This is the golden age of the mobile app market. Most customers aren’t clamoring for more advanced
and futuristic apps (devices yeah, apps no), they just want something useful and/or fun they can use on
what they’ve got. If your great idea will only work on the iPhone 12, it’s probably not such a great idea.
So here are some things that make an app successful.

Make it useful

The greatest apps to date have been those that do something we think we need, although we may not
realize we need it until we see it. If your app makes people think to themselves, “Whoa! I can totally
use that! Why didn’t I think of that!” you’ve probably got a winner. Whether it’s Genius Scan for taking
better notes in class, or SwiftKey or Dropbox, if it makes life more efficient or allows me to do something
on the run I previously had to do at a computer (or even worse, by hand), it has a market.

Make it fun

Diversion and entertainment are really needs, and because our lives are busier than ever, we
increasingly turn to our mobile devices to get our fun fix in multiple bite-sized chunks throughout the
day. When I’m waiting in line at the DMV, I need Angry Birds, although lately I’ve been more prone to
use my eBook reader. It’s no mystery why the best-selling apps of all time are games. Mobile games
don’t have to be very complicated or involved, they just have to look good, run smoothly, and satisfy
that unquantifiable x-factor that makes people love something for some reason they can’t quite explain.
Yeah, good luck with that.

Make…money

Successful mobile apps make money. This may seem like a result more than a tip for being successful, but you
need to identify how your app will work for you. You can either sell it on the app markets, or offer it
free as a marketing tool in the hopes that it will attract new customers to your primary business model.
Think of the apps for new movies and TV shows; they don’t really do much by themselves, but they raise
awareness and promote brand. It’s like asking you to download a commercial, and it works! If you’re
looking to make money on the app market you should consider how your app compares to others and
what you think you can charge for it. Offering a free version with limited content or ads can be a great
way to break into the market and test the waters.

Don’t reinvent the wheel… or do…

Many of the great apps, like all great ideas, are simply improvements on existing offerings. A better
camera app, a more intuitive user interface, a keyboard that lets you drag your finger. Don’t feel like you need to start with a fresh concept. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “This is cool, but I really wish it did
this…,” you may be onto something. That said, some great apps have come out of left field. If you have
a unique idea, give it a try, but be sure it’s well developed before launch because the app market is an
imitator’s paradise.

Go for a niche

Think of a smaller audience with a very specific need and figure out how to fill it. A great example is the
Babyphone app, which lets parents turn their phones into baby monitors that call a specified number
when the baby wakes up. People with specific needs are often willing to pay for tools that help them in
those areas. You probably won’t hit the top of the charts, but you can still produce a really successful
app.

What mobile app ideas have you seen succeed?

Guest Author:  Chris Dayley 

Are you clueless on how to blog for SEO? This beginner’s guide will take you through simple steps on how to get your blog posts in tip top shape for when the search bots come crawling.

Why Blog for SEO?

There’s two very good reasons you should do this, which lead me to put together this beginner’s guide on how to blog for SEO.

1. Since you’re already taking the time to write the blog, so you might as well know how to blog for SEO.

2. It will help drive extra traffic to your blog in the long term – which is why you’re blogging right?

How to Blog for SEO

First you should plan out your blog post. It might seem like extra work, but believe me it will make the whole process a lot easier. You can download the plan I used to prepare this blog for SEO here.

Topic – First you’ll need to decide on the topic you’ll be blogging about. Ideally it should be a trending topic or something you know is popular with your target audience. There’s no point writing about something no one’s interested in.

Keywords – Probably the most important consideration when tailoring your blog for seo is the keywords you’ll use. Once you’ve decided on your topic, the best way to select keywords is to head on over to the google keyword tool, which will show you a bunch of suggestions for the topic you enter. Ideally try to choose 2 or 3 phrases which have high search traffic and low competition. If you downloaded the plan I used for this post, you’ll see that the phrases I’ve selected are ‘blog for seo’, ‘how to blog’ and ‘beginner’s guide’, which all have low competition and searches in the thousands.

Outline – Next you should come up with the outline for your article which should look something like the below. By creating a good outline all you’ll need to do when it comes to writing the article is fill in the blank. It will also help with keyword placement.

Main Idea

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

Main Idea 2

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

Main Idea 3

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

• supporting detail

Tailoring the Blog for SEO

Okay now you’ve got the plan and outline sorted, it’s time to think about how to blog.

Title – First up you need the title, this is probably the most important thing from the SERP point of view. Try to have your primary keyword as close as you can to the beginning; mine is ‘blog for seo’. If you can work a secondary keyword into the title, then have at it. I’ve managed to squeeze in two secondary keywords ‘how to blog’ and ‘beginners guide’. Don’t make your title all about keywords though, remember it still needs to be intriguing and memorable to your target audience.

Subtitles – it wouldn’t be a beginners guide if I didn’t mention subtitles. There are so many bloggers out there who show their clear lack of understanding on how to blog by churning out massive chunks of text and paragraphs with no subtitles. Subtitles make your blog posts heaps easier for the reader to absorb and it also helps prepare your blog for seo by helping the bots understand what your article is about.

Introduction – Your intro should be a stripped down, bare bones account of what the reader can expect from the rest of the article. Try to have your primary keyword as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible, and ideally keep it to 70 words or less.

Body – Here’s some simple tips to follow when writing the article body:

• Keep your paragraphs focussed, and concentrate on one topic at a time. Make sure each paragraph is under 100 words.

• Use your primary keyword once every 100 words or so

• Stick to your outline! Have you ever read a blog post that made you feel like you were being pulled in 8 different directions? Fair chance they didn’t use an outline. Articles that use an outline are always more organised and compelling than those that don’t.

Conclusion 

If you’re taking the time to learn how to blog for seo, then there’s a high chance you also want your post to convert, i.e. lead the reader to some form of action. For a blog post to convert successfully, the body should compel the reader toward a powerful conclusion which will drive home what the post has offered and convince them they must take action now.

Although this is just a beginners guide on how to blog for seo – following these steps diligently and persistently will no doubt have a big impact on your blog traffic. And unless your blog is a personal diary, traffic is the point of it right?

What other SEO tips have worked for your blogs?  Please comment below!

Guest Author:  Daniel Smith, the founder of Propaganda House, has over a decade of marketing experience, and as a Social Media Consultant, runs courses and individually consults business’ on how they can grow through the effective use of Social Media Marketing techniques. You can tweet Daniel @propagandahouse or email him here.

White papers are more commonly used by B2B companies than B2C companies. This is because B2B companies are ready to dedicate their time to find out more about the solution and the product. Every B2B company needs a white paper to help market itself better.

Some of the points you need to keep in mind while creating white papers are:

1. Avoid direct selling – When you write a B2B white paper you need to forget about directly selling your services. B2B white papers only work when you sell your services in a subtle manner. You can write it persuasively, but you need to forget about using testimonials, call to actions that pressure readers, etc.

You might think that this indirect way of selling will not work, but when it comes to white papers subtle selling works really well.

2. Address it to a single person – Many writers think that when you write it for a business you’re writing for a whole bunch of people together and they need to address them as a group of people. It’s true that many people are going to read it, but they’re going to read it alone. You won’t have a group of people reading it together. This is the reason why you need to address your reader as a single person with a “you”.

3. Keep it simple – It’s is common for businesses to use hard to read language in their white papers as they think that it reflects on the company. They think that making the white paper hard to read will make their company look sophisticated. But using complicated words could actually work against you.

Your white paper is normally 6 to 14 pages long. It could take a lot of time for someone to read it and people who normally read white papers are busy decision makers. They are looking for white papers which are simple and quick to read. If they read a white paper that is hard to understand and keeps them visiting the search engines for answers and making it longer to read the white paper, they will just abandon reading it.

This is the reason why you need to simplify the writing and look up meanings for every word and write it in a detailed manner. This will make it easy to read and more busy decision makers will read it completely, which will give it the opportunity to do its job of generating leads.

4. Add references – You cannot write testimonials in your white paper, but you can prove that the content (problems and solutions) that is written in your white paper is true by using references. References assure the reader that your product really does work and everything in your white paper hasn’t just been made up.

5. Get it designed – Good writing is the key to white paper success. But you also need good design along with your white paper to give it that extra edge. It’s the job of the writing to market the product and the service. The design makes the writing and the cover of the white paper look attractive. The job of the design and the headline is to attract attraction and the job of the rest of the writing is to generate the leads. Design can also make the writing pleasant to read.

6. Market it – After you write your white paper you need to market it using marketing materials like sales pages, press releases, emails etc. Your white paper can do its job of being a powerful marketing tool only when it’s read. This is the reason why you need to market it regularly using marketing material that will get people to read it. You need short marketing materials that will let your readers know what’s so important about your white paper and why it’s necessary for them to invest their time reading it.

Following the above steps will help you create compelling white papers that will help you attract a lot of readers and clients.

Guest Author:  Mitt Ray is a copywriter. He specializes in writing and marketing white papers. He runs imittcopy which provides copywriting and white paper writing & marketing services. Mitt regularly posts tips on writing and marketing white papers on his White Paper Blog.

He is also the author of “Understand and Write White Papers“, a white paper on how to write white papers.

As a customer, you’ve probably experienced the benefits of mobile marketing to give you discounts, specials, and freebies from your favorite brand. Right? Well, as a business owner, you can use this same type of hands-on mobile marketing to reach customers more effectively than ever before.

Even the most popular fast food chains like Subway, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Wendy’s started marketing to customers with text marketing, iPhone apps, and mobile coupons just a few years ago. Many of these mobile apps will allow a customer to place an order online and pick up their food moments later. Simply brilliant.

Even large retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy stay connected with customers via text for holiday specials and discounts and have introduced iPhone apps to give customers more options. Instead of visiting the official website, customers can read reviews, order products, and create a gift list directly through their mobile phone.

As a business owner, you can take your mobile marketing campaign beyond just the standard text message. You can get creative with the following ideas:

• Mobile Payments: Starbucks recently introduced Starbucks Card Mobile payments available at more than 1000 Safeway locations via the Android App. Customers can load up their Starbucks card on their mobile phone and use their phone to pay for their coffee at their convenience. This means that Starbucks mobile payment is now available on 90% of all smartphones to make it virtually impossible for a customer not to connect with Starbucks through their mobile device.

• Mobile Coupons: Stores like 7-Eleven have tested out scannable mobile coupons from smartphones to give customers bonuses like a free drink on a daily basis. Target introduced the same concept in 2010 by offering scannable mobile coupons sent to customers via text each month. A customer will then scan their mobile device during checkout to receive the discount.

• Smartphone Apps: Sears and J.C. Penney are at the top of the retail category when it comes to iPhone apps, along with other contenders like Amazon and Best Buy. All of these retail apps have convenient store locators, special deals for customers, and a way to create a customizable shopping list to order online or use at a later date.

For business owners, the choice is clear. If you want to connect with your customers even more effectively, it’s time to get creative and move beyond the standard text message. You can reach out to customers using a variety of interactive mobile methods to make it easier than ever before for interested customers to buy from you.

Guest Author:  Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

If you’re a small business owner who already uses text message marketing, then you’re on the right track. But it’s still important to stay up-to-date with the latest mobile marketing trends to ensure that you too can stay ahead of the pack.

Currently, there are four times as many mobile phones in the world as opposed to PC users. Roughly 20% of houses in the US are mobile only without a landline.

When you consider that we send 130 billion text messages each month, mobile marketing can be incredibly lucrative for small and large businesses if it is approached correctly. This is precisely why so many businesses have embraced text message marketing wholeheartedly as the most popular form of mobile marketing. Which is why text messaging is now becoming more mainstream than ever before.

To best grasp the concept, text messaging should be compared to e-mail marketing and can be used in the same way that you would create an e-mail campaign. Of course, instead of encouraging your customers to give you their e-mail address for a newsletter or a coupon, you’ll be asking for a mobile phone number to send the same type of condensed updates to a mobile phone.

Yet mobile marketing provides an even greater benefit. You don’t have to go to the trouble of creating a fancy e-mail campaign with images and video because you’ll only be using 160 characters of a text message. Even if a customer doesn’t make a sale the first time, 97% of your customers will still read your text message because it’s so short. You can’t beat those odds!

Businesses have been using text messages to reach out to customers for several years. A Comscore study has confirmed that 25% of all mobile phone users have signed up for anywhere from 1 to 10 text messaging programs on a monthly basis. This means that customers are ready and willing, and you can reach them with your marketing message at any time away from home.

And the text marketing trend continues. People of all ages are using texts for communication, meaning that businesses can use text message marketing for all generations. More and more customers are searching for mobile coupons as our economy recovers from the recession and programs like Groupon rise in popularity. As a result, a number of retail stores, grocers, and restaurants have launched mobile coupon marketing programs to reach out to more customers.

Last but not least, the result that can’t be beat in text marketing is the impressive ROI. A text message will normally get seven times the response rate as an e-mail, meaning that the same message sent out to the same group of customers via text versus e-mail will be much more successful to generate even more sales and revenue.

Guest Author:  Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

Since the first point-of-sale terminals hit retail and restaurant locations around the country in 1979, credit card processing technology has continued to make large leaps forward with both advantages and disadvantages to business owners. The latest jump has been gaining traction in the last 24 months and promises to revolutionize the merchant services industry in the near future.

Credit card processing firms, fortune 500 companies, the nation’s largest banks, and a number of enterprising entrepreneurs have been pouring billions of dollars into a new technology called mobile processing. The idea of mobile processing is simple: allow a merchant or individual to process, pay or manage their payments on the go and from their mobile devices.

Mobile Processing for Businesses

One of the simplest applications for mobile processing comes from the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, who in 2009 started a new company called Square (www.squareup.com). Square allows an individual or business to accept a swiped credit card using nothing but their iPhone/Android phone and a little card reader that attaches directly to the device’s headphone jack. The unit is no bigger than a silver dollar and allows credit card transactions to be processed at the cheaper swiped rate versus a keyed in card.

Square mobile processing is unique because it carries with it fixed rates regardless of the card type. Small business owners who have had bad experiences with processing firms and are tired of dealing with difficult to understand processing statements may find the simplicity refreshing. However, Square’s limitation comes from the total processing amount allowed per merchant. The initial limit is only $1000 per month, which is a very small amount for any organization operating full time.

For business owners that are looking for a little more flexibility and processing volume, a new device called ROAMpay is a great alternative to Square. ROAMpay is not a processor and will not manage a business merchant account. Instead, their equipment will work together with a merchant’s current processing company and allow for mobile processing directly from an employee’s smartphone.

The major advantage a small business will see from mobile processing is the reduced cost when accepting a credit or debit card away from a standard terminal. Processing companies charge extra fees for cards that are keyed in rather than swiped because the likelihood of fraud is greater. Service-based businesses, especially those done off-site, will potentially see the greatest benefit.

Consumer Behavior is Changing

Mobile payment processing is not only changing the way business is done, it is also changing the way that consumers pay for goods and services. In the last decade, MasterCard introduced Near-Field Communication technology into some of their credit cards that allowed a consumer to simply waive their card in front of a NFC equipped point-of-sale terminal rather than handing their card over for processing. This technology was reserved for gas stations and supermarkets at first, but has gained popularity with other retail businesses in the last few years.

Google Wallet has taken the same Near-Field Communication technology and started putting them into their smartphones. These phones allow a consumer to attach a credit card to their smart phone’s NFC chip and simply wave their phone in front of the same properly equipped POS terminals.

This is important for small businesses, especially in the retail sector, because it shows a shift in consumer behavior and expectations. There were many small business owners that refused to accept credit cards due largely in part to the excess fees. However, as more and more consumers began expecting a merchant to accept them, it forced business owners to adapt in order to compete.

Guest Author: Eric Stauffer is a writer for CardPaymentOptions.com. Their focus is to help small business owners navigate the murky waters of the credit card processing and merchant services industry.

Under the broad umbrella of mobile marketing is location based marketing. Savvy smartphone users everywhere can pull up local search results on their phones at any time. These same smartphone users rely upon location based apps and social networks to share, interact, meet, and even recommend certain places to their online friends.

Some top location based networks for mobile users include:

• Foursquare
• Gowalla
• Loopt
• Yelp

As a business owner, the first step in the process to maximize this mobile marketing platform is to understand how each location based social network works. Most users will rely on the above apps on their smartphones to check in to certain locations to alert their friends of their whereabouts. The same feature can also be used with Facebook Places.

In order to get acclimated, download all of the above apps to your smartphone so that you can understand how each is best used.

The next step in the process is to set clear goals for what you hope to accomplish with the use of location mobile marketing for your business. Perhaps you want to increase local traffic to your retail store, raise awareness about a new shop that has opened up, or even bring back repeat customers to support your business.

After these goals have been set in place, it’s time to make a splash into the many location based social networks. It’s important that your business is listed clearly on the each of the above networks with the right address, hours, phone number, and description. If another user has added your business, they could have gotten quite a bit of the information incorrect, causing interested customers unnecessary frustration.

Last but not least, it’s time to synchronize all of your mobile marketing efforts and tell your customers where they can easily find you online. The truth is that local customers are looking to connect with local businesses online as well as offline.

So, by adding a sign to your storefront telling customers to check you out on Yelp and encouraging your Facebook fans to check in to your business on Foursquare to spread the word, you’re making an impact in the location based social networks. This ripple effect will make it easy for new customers to find you, and it will also keep your brand name out there to encourage customer loyalty. Win-win!

Guest Author: Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

One of my favorite authors, Bob Burg let me borrow this great post.  Remember, the same applies to social networking and anything else we do online as well.  God did give us two ears and one mouth for this reason!

Yes, I heard it again; while a young kid talked endlessly, a person nearby, with a wink in his voice, commented that “he’ll be a good salesperson one day.”

As I grow older and wiser (first one a definite; second one debatable) I find there are fewer and fewer phrases that elicit within me a visceral negative reaction. That statement always does though.

I mean, think of it…it is based on the premise that a person who just incessantly talks and talks and talks…is a good salesperson.

I’ve asked countless people, “do you tend to buy from salespeople who simply yap non-stop about their product?” They always – yes, always (and often emphatically) – tell me “no.”

Yet, I still hear it.

Recently, on my Facebook page, I posted the following:

Those with the “gift of gab” can be good salespeople…providing they are willing to lose, or at least misplace, their gift of gab and listen. Really listen.

One friend wrote, “Yes, so true! I had a sales manager once who said the challenge many potentially great salespeople had was knowing when to shut up.”

While that is indeed true, that wisdom is often given within the context of “after” the presentation…in other words, to shut up and not “talk past the sale.” And, that is certainly very valid advice. I believe the real point of the quote, however, goes far beyond that. It’s an attitude from the outset and throughout the sales process.

My good friend, presentation and communication expert, Felicia Slattery commented, “Listening is the other side of the speaking coin. To be an effective communicator you must do BOTH well.” She then suggested listening twice as much as talking. Good idea.

As any professional salesperson knows, listening more than talking during the presentation typically results in a much better outcome, both for the salesperson and the prospect who will then get to enjoy the benefits of that which they purchased.

Listening; focused, active, caring listening allows you to direct your attention on the prospect and understand their needs. Only then can you build value because, after all, it’s the prospect who determines what the actual value is.

So sure, can that young kid with the “gift of gab” grow up and become a top-notch, professional, value-creating, high-income earning salesperson? Sure he can. But only if he loses that “gift” along the way.

Guest Author: Bob Burg is coauthor of the International bestseller, “The Go-Giver.” To download Chapter One visit www.Burg.com.

Sure, you can try your hand at mobile marketing as a small business owner, but what’s going to guarantee that you’ll be a success? How do you know that you’re not going to waste thousands of dollars of your advertising budget trying to reach your customers through text or smartphone apps?

Fortunately, the answer is simple. As a small business owner, you can develop a clear mobile marketing strategy that will ensure that you avoid many common mistakes that competitors in your industry have likely made by now. When mobile marketing is approached correctly, you can reach your customers even more effectively, quickly update them about product news and specials, and boost your sales as a result.

1. What phones are your customers using? This may be a no-brainer, but you need to find out what type of phones that your customer base uses on a regular basis. If your customers don’t have smartphones, then there’s no use in creating a smartphone app. On the flipside, if your customer base uses smartphones exclusively, then your best bet would be to create a smartphone app to market to your customers or to have a presence on a smartphone social media location-based app, like Yelp or Foursquare.

Think about the fact that 33% of people in the US are using smartphones, and that number is only expected to increase. It’s likely that your customers are already using a smartphone, but it’s important to find out before planning your marketing strategy.

2. Ask for customers’ mobile phone numbers. It never hurts to ask! In all of your marketing materials or on your blog or website, give your customers the option to opt-in via text for more information about your business or products.

Make sure that you are crystal clear in your intention. By telling your customers that if they give you their phone number, you will send them text messages with exclusive product specials, you’re likely to quickly build up your mobile marketing list of customers.

3. Track your results carefully. Instead of just sending out mobile marketing text messages blindly and hoping for the best results, carefully track when customers opt in or opt out based on your marketing message.

If you sent out a particularly great product deal that got a lot of attention and increased your sales, then focus on that strategy when marketing via text to your customers. By using this analytic approach, you can detect any weak areas in your marketing campaign and ensure that you focus on your strengths to increase your profit even further.

Have you tried mobile marketing?  What other tips can you share?

Guest Author: Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

Text message marketing campaigns can be fantastically effective for several reasons:

• Quick and easy to prepare and send
• One of the lowest cost forms of direct marketing
• Response rates can be measured
• They have unbeatable delivery and open (i.e., read by recipients) rates

However, the very benefits offered by text message marketing also mean they have to be used with care.  Below are some highly effective tips to consider before you send your first text message marketing campaign.

Get a clear opt-in

Most people consider their mobile phone to be an extension of their personal space. This makes a text message very intrusive. Make sure your sign-up process is clear and unambiguous. Tell people that they will receive marketing texts from your business, what they’ll be about and roughly how frequently.

Avoid subscriber fatigue

Because they’re so potentially intrusive, most customers have a lower patience threshold when it comes to receiving marketing text messages. Use them sparingly, and only when you have something genuinely valuable for the customer. Treat each campaign as if it’s your last, and your business survival depends on it.

Track response rates

This means you can adjust campaigns to suit what your customers actually want. It involves having customers treat a text message as a coupon, e.g., to benefit from a 2 for 1 deal they have to display the text in-store. You can either just record the total number of vouchers redeemed, or you can identify every individual coupon redeemed using a merge field. The merge field would be a unique ID that you assign to each individual mobile phone number. This would be automatically displayed in the body of every single text message. A bit more work, but a great way to add segmentation to your marketing list.

Record unsubscribes

Every text message must give customers the option to opt out, quickly and easily. If you don’t have your text message and customer database systems automatically joined up, you’ll have to record unsubscribes manually. One low cost option is to set up a mobile phone number to receive just unsubscribe messages. Or, your text delivery service may be able to help set you up with an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to a web page or email address of your choice. Either way, you must remember to manually update your customer records.

Have you launched your first text message campaign?  What other text messaging tips can you share with readers?

Guest Author: After many years of business experience, George Drever has learned the hard way what does and doesn’t work when building a profitable marketing list and creating compelling email and text message campaigns.  He strongly believes an opted-in customer database is the most under-used asset in business.  His consultancy website helps small businesses avoid the same steep learning curve he encountered in getting the most out of direct marketing.

Mobile marketing is perhaps one of the best ways to grab the attention of your customers when they’re out and about. If your customers aren’t plugged into their computers, you can still update them with promotions and news in mere seconds. It can’t be beat.

But now that the benefits of mobile marketing are clear, how can you make this style of marketing work for your business? The good news is that mobile marketing campaigns often have excellent open rates at up to 98%, according to Frost & Sullivan statistics. This is impressive when compared to the average open rates of an e-mail marketing campaign, which often range from 15-30%.

This doesn’t mean that you have to throw email marketing by the wayside, but you can enhance your results by taking your marketing campaign to the mobile arena to reach out to your customers even more effectively.

Of course, you only get 160 characters or less to send your message, so you need to make them count.

1. Send Simple Messages

Keeping it simple is the way to go by sending out only one message per text. If you have been sending out a regular e-mail marketing campaign, then you may be used to covering several topics in your marketing message. The same does not hold true for mobile marketing! Make sure that each text message sent out has a simple, uniform message advertising an event, product special, or store discount.

2. Introduce Yourself

Even though a customer may have willingly opted-in to your mobile marketing list, their mobile phone may not show the sender of the message. To make your customer more comfortable and to reduce the risk of them deleting your message, introduce your brand and throw in the type of products that you offer if there is still space. Also, if you happen to be advertising an event or sale at a store location, make sure that you include the exact location to avoid any confusion.

3. Don’t Forget Your Call to Action

Last but not least, your mobile marketing messages won’t be effective if you don’t include your call to action. You need to ask your customer to act by interacting with your business, whether it is visiting your store, attending an event, or purchasing a product online. Think about what you want to achieve from the message that you’re sending. Make sure to ask each customer to take action within the text, or you’re not likely to see the marketing return that you were hoping for.

Guest Author: Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.

One of the reasons I like ecommerce SEO is that there is a tremendous amount of opportunities to increase the optimization quality of an online store. Unlike service businesses or online brochure websites which typically only have a few pages, a catalog of products creates a great opportunity to increase the amount of content and provide relevance for the search engines.

Here at Best Rank, we spend a lot of time educating clients about optimization and how they can use it to gain a competitive advantage in their marketplace.  Having a specialty in ecommerce, my conversations are often about tips and advice on what online store owners can do to improve their rankings and increase traffic. There are plenty of resources for learning SEO online, but not a lot specific to ecommerce.

For those interested in getting their hands dirty, I have created a list of 62 Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization Tips & Ideas. Of course there are tips here that apply to non-ecommerce sites as well, but ecommerce SEO does deserve its own list.

The list is in no particular order. If you have some tips or feedback you want to add, please feel free to comment .

1. Do a search in Google using site:www.yourdomain.com. This allows you to see what pages of your website are being indexed and how they look. The results should be keyword rich and have call to action for users to click.

2. Do a site: search in Google for your competitors. While you are looking at your own indexing, look at your competition. Are their search engine results better optimized or better written? Don’t let them win.

3. Use Google’s Keyword Tool to find keywords. If you have an Adwords account you are probably familiar with Google’s Keyword Tool. If not, you can use Google’s External Keyword Tool Be sure set the match type on [exact] so you are looking at the number of searches for that specific keyword.

4. Don’t forget text on your homepage. Graphics are attractive and are great for users. Be sure that there is some html text on the homepage as well. If you have to put it near the footer, fine. Just make sure it is somewhere.

5. Be sure your homepage title uses your 3 most important keywords. I prefer to limit any given page to focus on 3 keywords. Some people like 4 and some people 2. Your homepage optimization is really important to tell the engines what your site is going to focus on.

6. Choose 3 keyword phrases to focus on per category page. I use the similar 3 keyword rule for category pages as well.  I will sometimes use only 2 if it is focused. Of course you are then going to make sure these keywords are used in the title, content, etc. but we will get to that later.

7. Be sure the top keyword for the page is first in your Title tag for all category pages. The first word in your title tag is the most important.

8. Be sure to customize the product pages Title.
If your ecommerce software allows dynamic insertion, use it. For example, if you can tell the system to use specific elements of the product in the title, use it. You can use product names, manufacturer, and SKU. They are all valuable.  If you don’t have a lot of products and your software allows for custom title writing, be sure to write custom titles.

9. Format the Title For Relevance & Clicks.
This can apply to categories and products. The formatting of a Title I like to use is “Keyword Phrase 1 | Call To Action or Benefit Using Keyword Phrase 2 and 3 if possible”. For example: “Hospital Towels | Wholesale Medical Towels On Sale”

10. Use .html or .htm for page naming. If you are using a CMS system and prefer no extensions such as /keyword/ that is fine too. While using .html may be considered old school, it still works. We all know that everyone claims that search engines treat most pages extensions equally, but my experience has seen differently. It’s still a good practice.

Download Best Rank’s Free White Paper for the Remaining 52 Tips!

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Guest Author: Jason Kreidman is the Vice President of Business Development for Best Rank, Inc.  Jason has been building, managing, and marketing ecommerce businesses for over 14 years and now assists other merchants in getting results online.

When it comes to social media, psychology has a lot to do with the success or failure of a business. This greatly affects how business owners market their services. Social media communities are increasing in popularity, and there is no end in sight to this trend. Because social media is prevalent in marketing, there are ways to take advantage of the psychology connection.

The Success of Social Media

Social media channels flourish because society needs them. They allow individuals to connect with others on personal levels. This provides a person with a sense of belonging. The concept of group membership is what social media is born from. Contributing to an important group discussion can make a person feel important and valued as a part of a community.

Creating interesting and enchanting content is the key to success in social media. The most effective content reaches people on emotional levels. An individual should feel a sense of connection to the product or service being presented. Marketing information should be engaging, relevant, and uncomplicated. It should also be displayed in a clear, simple, and logical manner.

Why People Need to Connect

It’s human nature for people to thrive on socially engaging with others. Interactions between individuals is the core of modern society. Most people want to establish relationships with others whether the contact is physical or virtual. A social forum is the best way for people to share passions and beliefs as well as share personal pieces of themselves.

People connect through social media because:

- it provides acknowledgement from a group or individual
- it gives a person a sense of belonging in an exclusive group
- a group member feels important in an open venue
- most people can be in the spotlight at some point
- it makes a person feel special, valued, and indispensable

Taking Advantage of Psychology in Social Media

Most marketing campaigns focus on large target audiences. An effective way to gain customers in social media marketing is to acknowledge the individual. Many people enjoy interactive social media communication because it gets them noticed. Internet or mobile-based businesses that employ social dialogue are effective because they recognize each contributor.

One way to benefit from the psychological effects of social media is to include each member in all communications. Allowing people to express opinions is a critical step in building a business. It creates the opportunity for discovering new ideas and strategies. If a person feels included in the marketing process, he or she will want to have share information with potential customers.

Elevate Emotion to Increase Marketing

Because psychology plays such an important part in social media marketing, the best way to succeed is to heighten emotions. This can be done in a number of ways. An effective method includes putting the customer in the spotlight. Many people delight in getting noticed in a group. A business owner who focuses on the opinions of each customer can find long-lasting success.

Spotlighting the customer includes:

- approving or acknowledging each person’s ideas
- sharing a person’s contributions with other community members
- expressing gratitude for a contributor’s opinions
- placing extra focus on new customers
- responding to individual concerns in a group discussion

The psychological components involved in social media marketing can make or break a campaign. A business owner who wants to promote a product or service can find great success by implementing a few emotion-based tactics. When a customer’s emotional needs are met, he or she is more likely to speak highly of a business. This is what creates future relationships and long-term success.

WOW! I am so excited and tremendously honored to be selected as a nominee for The Annual Women in Business Awards for the 2nd year in a row!

This premier awards program was designed by the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ) to recognize the accomplishments of the community’s outstanding business and professional women.

The 17th Annual Women in Business Awards will be held on Wednesday, May 25, at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, featuring keynote speaker Terry Sjodin, Principal & Founder of Sjodin Communications.

A warm congratulation to all the beautiful ladies of Orange County who are nominated this year. It is a true privilege to be amongst all of you, and I salute your success. You inspire me!

Also, thank you so much to all my supporters! I would not be able to move forward with my business without you!

Social Espionage?

The very term “Social Espionage” gives rise to images of an Orwellian future, or a really cool new John Le Carre novel. It could be imagined the book received funding solely on the creation of the term, which would be not too far from the truth. The term comes from Umberto Milletti, the CEO of InsideView.

InsideView, in business since 2005, just announced a $12 million round of funding. However, most are quick to point out that they are using the term to describe high-level sales executives gathering information on potential sales contacts, who don’t have the time to waste in letting a salesperson get to know them, being busy CEOs and all. Get all the inside scoop-hence the product name, InsideView-on your target before you strike; learn from twitter posts that he’s against continued fossil fuel production, or the current administration’s policy on such-n-such.

It’s Not That Kind Of Spying

While CRM’s stated purpose is to codify business intelligence with regard to sales prospects using social networking, it is hard to imagine a sales person that wouldn’t be tempted to keep tabs on the key people at his or her’s nearest rival for signs of what they may do.

Hey, if it is out there why not use it? This could lead to a blackout of information and the use of social networking for many business professionals in an effort to avoid giving their competition too much information. Which many do already. There has been a controversy boiling over default business policies regarding social networking and its proper use. Employers have fired employees, and even sued them over the use of social networking in the work place. This is not going to help.

The kind of high-level tool that this new start up represents has been in the hands of enterprise level executives for a while. Business is war and in war, intelligence rules. The difference here is that salespersons and small companies all over the place will be spying on each other and making that first contact with the prospect count by already knowing the answers and the questions. Maybe, as most people in business use social networking for business and sales prospecting is already an online experience. What this package does is use semantic search and online information aggregation to make it a lot easier.

What about real Espionage?

Could this be a tool in the hands of governments to conduct real spying? No, as it would be a step backwards for the government, since our government is orders of magnitude beyond this. “Social Espionage” is the beginnings of the trend for real business intelligence to be packaged and sold as a product for those who cannot afford the bigger one. The explosion of social networking and its use has made the market ripe for these kinds of start-ups.

Social networking is already the new background check for prospective new employees and most professional employment consultants know that your online profile is your resume. Tracking the buzz on twitter for this or that keyword is the insider secret to what’s really trending, and Facebook information is the most sought after of all. This trend is here to stay. Of course, “Social Espionage” has yet to become an industry buzzword and it may never, but it is even more exciting to the John Le Carre novel fans that real business insiders use it.

Guest Author: Jon T. Norwood is a managing partner at High Speed Internet, a site dedicated to providing information on Internet providers and technology.  Jon can be reached at jon@webexordium.com.