URL Return Address
Include your domain address on the bottom line of your return address on all company mailings.

URL on Packaging
Retails should include their URL on packaging. Existing customers who purchase through retail may not realize that your business has an online presence. If you ship products, invest in labeling that will include the company URL.

Business Cards
Insert a business card that details the web address in all product shipments. A coupon or discount code toward web-based purchases further increases the likelihood customers will visit the site. Nothing drives customers online better than discount!

Presentations/Handouts
Include the web address on each page of a presentation or conference handout. As the presentation is passed on, the company brand and web address will be reinforced.

Promotional Materials
Promotional materials and giveaways are still an effective method of advertising. Promotional items have a long shelf life and may bring in traffic over time. In addition to your logo and company name, and be sure to brand your promotional item with your web address.

Vehicles
Display the address of your web site prominently on all company vehicles. The text should be readable from a distance, so be sure to use a font that is easy to read and well-proportioned.

Help Wanted
Include your URL in any employment ads.

Uniforms
Include the company’s web address on any branded clothing or uniforms worn by staff or employees. This reinforces your online presence.

Internet marketing is becoming more competitive. It is not enough anymore to simply advertise online, you must be creative to attract traffic to your website.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

Carefully consider what traits you want for your corporate image to convey and select a logo that represents these those traits in a meaningful way.

In addition, it is important that the logo be able to:

Be Reproduced
When selecting a color scheme it is best to stick with pantone or web friendly colors for web based businesses. The cost of reproducing a logo with standard colors will be less than a logo that does not.

Be Sized
The logo should be easy to resize and therefore will appear attractive regardless of size. It is often best to use vector graphics so the design will not be compromised when resized. Logos are used in a variety of mediums and it is important that the logo will port to a variety of sizes to encompass all of your branding needs.

Timeless
A logo should have a long shelf-life. A logo is something that should not be changed too frequently. In fact many of the most recognizable logos are well aged.

Simplistic in Nature
Logo designs should not be overly elaborate. Keep the number of colors in the design to a minimum. This will be beneficial when the image is resized. Varied Request a variety of formats to make it simpler for reproducing the logo in a variety of different mediums. If displaying a logo on the web, it is important the logo be in a compressed format to make the webpages load faster. Also, be sure to have a high resolution image for print media in order that it does not appear pixelated when printed.

Respect Trademarks
When designing the logo be sensitive to trademarked logos. Do not spend the time and energy building a brand that will ultimately cause consumer confusion. Avoid a design that may be similar to another company. The logo design should be different enough that market place confusion will not occur.

Logos will often be used to identify a corporate brand. Make sure the logo you choose represents your company in an appropriate manner.

Examples of Logos that fit the bill can be found at Logo Search http://www.logo-search.com

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

For SEO try BlogZeal.com

When evaluating the competition pay attention to the following:

1. Pricing

Evaluate your competitor’s pricing scheme and price structure. What is the price point of your competitor’s products or services? Are your products better or inferior? Do the product differences justify any cost difference?

2. Meta Tags / Search Engine Optimization

Evaluate your competitor’s website. View the meta data of competing websites. Look at their Alexa ranking, and review who links to their website. Are there links you are missing that might be beneficial to your website?

3. Search Rankings

Perform generic searches in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) for critical phrases. Determine how the competition stacks up in the search listings. Do any of your competitors “own” important rankings. Consider your search engine strategy and how you can better compete in the search engines.

4. Specials / Marketing Campaigns

Access your competitor’s special offers and any marketing campaigns. Determine how they are defining themselves. Evaluate any niche marketing — perhaps they have located an untapped market that might be ripe for you as well.

5. Advertising

Where do your competitors spend their advertising dollars? Watch for trends — an increase in spending may mean that a competitor has seen a significant return on investment, and it may represent a channel that you should also consider advertising in.

6. Evaluate Links

Determine who is linking to your competitor’s websites. By using the special Google search feature “links: domainname.com” you can see the indexed web pages that link to a specific domain. Are you missing any important link opportunities?

7. Evaluate USP

Evaluate your competitors USP (Unique Selling Propositions). This will give you an idea of how a company sees themselves, and what they feel their strengths are. How does their unique selling proposition differ from yours. Are there areas within your company that need work so you can compete more effectively?

8. Industry Authority Assessments

How do industry authorities view the competition? Are they considered industry leaders, or is the space wide open with an undefined leader? Understanding how you stack up compared to your competitors will help you assess your strengths weaknesses, and define your business.

Knowing your competition is an important aspect to your business, but it should not be the sole factor that dictates your decisions. Educate yourself about your competitors so you can make informed decisions and compete effectively.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

1. Promising The World

Entrepreneurs will commonly make bold promises that are often impossible to actually deliver.  It is important that you stay grounded in reality, and only agree to things that you know you can actually deliver.

2. Lack Of Discipline

Owning a business takes commitment and self-discipline.  Since you are “the boss” you probably won’t be disciplined for things like not showing up for work on time… but such things will have a negative impact on your business.  It is important that entrepreneurs treat their business just like a real business, and not like a personal hobby.  Act professional, charge for your services, and be accountable for the product or service provided.  Self-discipline is critical to being self-employed.

3. Lack Of Focus

Remain focused on your core business philosophy, and don’t attempt to be everything to everyone.  Decide what your strengths and business focus are, and use that strength and focus to build the foundation for your core business.

4. Doing It All

While most small business owners are jacks-of-all-trades, it is important to know your limits.  Do not try to do it all.  In many situations, it is much better to hire someone or outsource a project than attempt to reinvent the wheel or do something yourself that you are simply not qualified to do.

5. Undervaluing Product Or Service

Small businesses often make the mistake of undervaluing their product or service.  If an item or service is priced too inexpensively, it may be viewed to be of inferior quality. Conduct a cost analysis, and consider split-testing to find the appropriate price point for your product or service.

6. Hiring Family

It is natural for a small business owner to want to hire family members, but this is often a very costly mistake.  If you do hire family members, be sure to make it clear from the beginning that business is business.  Employment should not effect your personal relationships — that is very easy to say, but unfortunately it often does effect your personal and family relationships.  Additionally, other employees may resent favoritism paid to a family member who is given priority.  And sadly, favoritism of a family member can often be perceived by other employees, even when it doesn’t actually exist.  Think long and hard before venturing down this path.

7. Copying The Competition

Copying the competition is certainly far easier to do than creating something new.  However, that does not mean that it is a good thing to do.

8. Tracking Advertising

It is important to track and measure the success or failure of any advertising campaigns.  If you do not track your advertising, you will not really know what works and what does not, and you could be throwing good money after bad.

9. Not Having A Plan

It is important that you have goals, and a plan for your business.  Use the plan to guide the direction of your business.

10. Failure To Invest

You have to spend money in order to make money.  Many entrepreneurs fail to invest in their business, yet expect instant success.  Building a business takes time, effort, and both a personal and a financial investment.

11. Inability To Adapt

Many small businesses change over the years.  You must be willing to adapt to the changing needs of a business, and to the changing needs of your customers, in order to survive in the the business world.

Launching a business is an exciting and rewarding experience.  Just be careful to avoid the above pitfalls on your way to success.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

When product selections were limited and items were marked with a logo which a consumer was familiar they would naturally assume a certain level of quality or value, even if they had not previously used that specific product from that vendor. Now many companies not only have a corporate logo, but they have a logo to represent each of their products or product lines.

The company or product logo typically appears on all printed media or websites that are associated with the company or product. The logo appears in all marketing material and media.

A logo is really more than just a graphic, a logo design is part of a larger marketing concept. Marketers take specific care when selecting a logo, and they give a lot of thought about what they want their customers to identify with the company or product logo.

Some logos are designed around color. Studies have been conducted about the psychology of color and how different colors evoke different emotions. Green is used to imply wealth or expense, a marketer might use a green logo to imply an increase in perceived value. Blue on the other hand has a calming and soothing effect. Multiple colors can be used to accent and highlight specific parts of the logo. Accented and highlighted colors should be contrasting and complimentary.

Regardless of what colors you select, be sure that you use standard pantone colors and websafe colors. Also make sure these colors can be easily reproduced in print mediums.

Logos should be simple, and not overly elaborate or complex. Newer businesses and technology companies should have modern logos, while long standing businesses may want to use a logo that emphasizes their business experience. That does not mean that an older business cannot freshen or enhance an older logo, they may just want to retain certain qualities so their logo is still recognizable. Rarely do business depart drastically from an established logo. For this reason businesses should select a logo that has longevity. Once you establish and build a strong corporate image, you will want to retain it.

Logos should be designed so that they scale easily and can be used in a variety of mediums: letterhead, t-shirts, and more. Always keep in mind that logos are part of a larger marketing concept. Promotional materials will require consistency to reinforce the company or product image.

Taglines incorporated into the logo help reinforce the underlying message in a logo and can be an easy addition. Countless memorable marketing campaigns over the years have associated slogans with a logo to hit a message home.

While logos sound complex, in truth it has never been easier to locate a logo. Professional graphic artists are abundant on the web, and can be contracted to create a custom logo, or business owners can scroll through thousands of logos in logo directories.

Logo Directories:
Logo Search – http://www.logo-search.com/
Logo Maid – http://www.logomaid.com/
LogoWorks – http://www.logoworks.com/

Logos are the building blocks of a company or product identity. Be sure to take the time to find a logo that reflects the values that you, as a business owner, want associated with your business. Find a logo that is more than just a graphic.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

BlogZeal

In order to properly construct a marketing or business plan, small business owners should ask themselves some simple questions: How is your business different? What value do you provide? In what areas does your company excel? What is your expertise, or the expertise of your staff? What are your strengths? And equally important, what are your businesses weaknesses? What image does your company portray? Is the image truly reflective of your strengths?

Honestly answering such critical questions will help a business owner understand their business strengths and allow them to develop a business and marketing plan. Invariably, attempting to be everything to everyone is bound to fail. A component of a solid marketing plan is building brand and corporate identity. When creating a brand and company identity, consider how the business is different from others. A business should not try to portray itself as something that it is not — highlight the business strengths, and emphasize those strengths while building your business brand. A company identity will help consumers define your brand, which is how the company is perceived by consumers. In order to help influence the company image, it is a business owners job to convey how their business is different. This can be referred to as a unique selling proposition.

It is a business owners job to make their customers aware of the benefits to working with their company. In effect, it is their job to help customers make an educated purchasing decision. Provide information on all aspects of your expertise, from company background to return policies. Small businesses can build consumer confidence by providing information related to all aspects of the small business. This information will help potential customers recognize your company as a serious business.

It is also a small business owners job to reassure customers and to make them aware of any advantages to working with the company. For example, if a small business excels at customer service, add an email tagline that conveys the business’ commitment to customer satisfaction. Likewise, if all the businesses products are handmade, add a slogan to the logo that indicates that.

Just as each individual person is unique, so is each and every small business. Some businesses are defined by their unique differences. When developing a business and marketing plan, it is important to have a clear understanding of the businesses focus and how the business differs from its competitors. Once a small business owner has assessed the strengths and weaknesses of their business, they can then begin to construct a plan of action that will establish and build on their corporate identity.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

BlogZeal

The staggering distribution numbers, through channels like iTunes, YouTube, or podcasting websites, indicate that technology could play a critical role in the upcoming elections. Technology could be the deciding factor in the 2008 US Presidential race, and while distribution has never before been as accessible as it is to today’s politicians and political candidates, politicians have far less control over the news and media than their counterparts in previous years.

The curious need not look any further than YouTube to find the latest political constituents being haunted by their own words and dogged by their past missteps. Today’s politicians have far less control of the news media and messages associated with their candidacy.

The Internet and technology is positioned to play a huge role in elections. Whether that truly occurs remains to be seen.

What Will Technology Affect?

Fundraising
Raising revenue for a political campaign is one of the biggest hurdles the candidates have to overcome in order to make a successful political run. We saw this when Howard Dean initially soared to fame as the result of grass roots Internet donations filling his coffers. Yet technology was also Dean’s downfall, as the result of the “Dean Scream” video getting excessive play time on the Internet and other broadcast media outlets. The recorded spectacle is said to be what led voters to abandon this overzealous candidate.

The Power Of Political Pundits
With podcasting, everyone is a journalist, regardless of their credentials or credibility. Technology has given self-proclaimed political pundits a pulpit from which they can spread their message. How much these political pundits will be able to influence political campaigns and election results is still unclear.

Never Say Never
Political videos of nearly every 2008 presidential candidate can be found on YouTube. In many of the posted videos, candidates are engaged in old speeches, contradicting their current political positions. Politicians have yet to learn that their words may come back to haunt them, and it appears that many politicians have ghosts from years past that can be found in the YouTube video library. Older political videos are causing problems for candidates whose positions have changed over the course of their careers. The accessibility of the audio and video clips, and wide media distribution, is breeding distrust amongst voters who support candidates who have had a change of heart.

Pushing A Cause To The Forefront
Evident in the hit movies “Fahrenheit 9/11″ by liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, and “An Inconvenient Truth” by environmental evangelist Al Gore, these films not only brought in millions of dollars in revenues, but both movies also received Hollywood accolades and raised attention for the issues featured.

Technology appeals to a specific demographic: the affluent, the educated, and the young. And while a YouTube video may not sway the Grandparents in the crowd, the youngest voters are listening. Does technology have the power to change the face of politics? The youth in America are not currently an active voting block, but that younger generation will age, and it’s only a matter of time before technology plays a critical role in elections.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

BlogZeal

I will put aside some time this weekend to work on some SEO issues and posts for here.

Thank you for your patience.

Admin

I guess that assumption was another rookie mistake. Skipping forwards I was down to almost $0 in both accounts by the end of the first month.

Back to the beginning of this entry and I have just signed with Google and had my account credited with $125. This cost me the princely sum of $5 and seemed like a bargain. I went through the process of writing my first simple advert which was something like :

Domain Names for Sale – Looking for low cost high quality domain names? Then try Resident Hosting.

I picked my keywords :

domain name,domain names,cheap domains,domains

and waited for the flood of customers. I had set my initial maximum bid to 40cents per click and of course this turned out to be far too low. My average position was about 30th which meant I received absolutely no visits. reluctant to raise the bid just yet I made my next mistake.

Yes I turned on content advertising. This is where my advert would appear in sites with relevant content. Again I set my maximum bid to 40cents and waited. This time it worked in that I spent $30 in less than a week and made $0 in sales from the traffic. It led me to the conclusion that either my website just sucks or there is a lot of click fraud out there.

I raised my minimum bids to $1 per click and watched another large slice of money disappear from my account. At least this time I was achieving a better position on the search page. One more increase to $1.50 and I was convinced, time for plan g, find a book.

The local libraries were void of all the possible titles that I needed so I headed to a bookstore and opened my wallet again. Two books, hours of speed reading and very sore eyes later I was now an expert and realised a lot of my fundamental mistakes. I rushed back to the Google website and paused my campaign and did likewise at AdCenter( yes I had spent even more money there.)

The best thing that had come out of my foray into ppc was an increase in links being listed by Google so this would at some point help with my ranking. My very simple advice would be to read as much as possible before starting any campaigns, do not become carried away with the excitement of your new venture and learn from my mistakes.

Conventional SEO wisdom states that you should look for as many links to your site as possible and they should be from good quality domains which are relevant to the page you want the link to. This is easier said than done. When you start off with no pagerank at all it is hard to find sites that are willing to link with you without them requiring a reciprocal link in exchange. I decided that my first course of action would be to see if I actually had any friends or colleagues with a web presence. I was fortunate to find one with a website ranked as pr3 by Google and he would even provide a link. It was a small victory and a very small step on the very very long search rank ladder.

My next choice involved looking for smaller search engines who had submit or add buttons. I found about twenty in my first sitting. After what was a long ordeal of entering all the relevant data and receiving the confirmation emails, then validating the submissions and finally receiving the welcome emails I realised my first rookie if not stupid mistake. Make a copy of your description and keywords etc so you can just cut and paste the information. Also, although it can be more work, use different email addresses for every entry that way when the flood of junk (informative useful marketing) emails arrive you can see exactly where they originated and act accordingly. It amazes me how many identical emails I receive from so many different sources.

My third choice would be any directories that allowed free submissions. This changed the meaning of the term ‘free’ into ‘reciprocal’ but I decided they were still a reasonable idea based on how many other good quality sites were already listed. Again it was the same procedure of accepting the terms, validating via emails and waiting for the flood of replies but by now I was a submission professional and it took a lot less time.

Obviously this would be am ongoing process but I was encouraged when the first links had appeared in Google within a few days.