Coop Advertising Enables Advertisers To Get More Promotion With Fewer Dollars

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Trey Pennewell


Co-op advertising has been around for as long as there has been print advertising, and it continues strong even in today's digital world of television and online advertising. Read this article to learn more about cooperative advertising and how you can use it to accelerate the growth of your offline or online business.

Examples Of Modern Coop Advertising

Co-op advertising is a standard advertising practice utilized by manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers or distributors to get their products highlighted in regional and local advertising.

Probably the most common form of Coop Advertising that you will be personally familiar is with amusement park advertising. Nearly every amusement park across the country does a lot of coop advertising campaigns with the soft drink companies or snack food companies.

If you think about the local amusement park in your part of the country, you will realize that the amusement park in your area frequently suggests that you can save $5 on the ticket price of the park - IF you bring in a Coca-Cola or Pepsi can.

The soft drink companies enjoy the endorsement of their products by the amusement park companies and the amusement companies get extra special pricing on product purchases. But more importantly, since the advertising specifically mentions both the amusement park and the soft drink product, the soft drink company will help offset the cost of the advertising campaign by jointly paying for the advertising with the amusement park company.

Grocery Store ads are another great example of co-op advertising at work. Whenever you open the grocery store ad in your local newspaper and see specific name-brand products featured in the ad, chances are very good that the manufacturer paid part of the cost of the newspaper advertisement or insert to have its product featured in the ad by name.

Extend Your Advertising Reach

As a small business owner, one of the most important keys to success will be the advertising put forward to promote your business. But when looking at the real cost of some advertising, it might seem that your business does not have enough money available to bring the advertisements to life.

But, if you take the time and make the effort to discover the scope of available coop advertising, you will soon realize that you can frequently get up to half of your advertising bill paid by third-party companies.

Honestly - manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and distributors set aside billions of dollars every year to help promote their products through coop advertising programs. In fact, depending on the coop advertiser, funds are available for television, radio, print, and online advertising, up to and including display listings in phone directories.

Think about your local tire store. Often times, the tire store will highlight a specific "brand" of tires in its advertising, such as Firestone, Michelin or another brand. The tire company benefits handsomely in brand recognition and overall sales of their product line, when the local tire shops highlight its brand over another in its local advertising.

If you want to explore the multitude of available opportunities in coop advertising, we recommend "The Co-op Advertising Programs Sourcebook (tm)", which is the definitive source of (4,000+) companies that have co-op advertising programs available. At $619, the cost is a bit on the high side, but a single advertising co-op deal could easily compensate you for the cost of this book, which can be found at: http://www.co-opsourcebook.com

How Co-op Advertising Works

As with any type of advertising, there are always advantages and disadvantages in using it.

The advantages of coop advertising include:

You can use the coop money to either reduce the cost of your advertising or to extend the amount of advertising you can employ for the promotion of your business.

You can use the coop money to improve the quality or design of your advertising - for example, full-color ads or inserts in your local newspaper.

You can extend your reach and advertise in mediums that you may never have considered previously, such as telephone directories or television ads.

The disadvantages of coop advertising include:

Often, the co-op advertiser will have certain restrictions that must be met in order for you to qualify for the co-op money. For example, you might have to restrict your advertisement to their product only, or you might have to use their creative copy in your display advertising.

You may find time restrictions in relation to the advertising window in which the co-op advertiser might be willing to pay. For example, the coop advertiser may only support ads in the Sunday newspaper, but not mid-week advertising.

Often, you will need to pay for the advertising in advance and be reimbursed by the co-op advertiser for their portion of the advertising cost at a later date. Many advertising co-op programs require that you send them a copy of the print advertising for verification, before they will issue a check for their portion of your advertising bill.

Even with the disadvantages associated with co-op advertising, the disadvantages are usually so small as to make them non-consequential in your decision to use co-op advertising. After all, if the other guy is paying up to half of your advertising bill, then the other guy's restrictions seem a small price to pay to have him help you advertise your business.

Online Co-op Advertising

Offline businesses have been slow to adopt many online advertising methods, simply because it is more difficult for them to measure the direct impact of their advertising dollars.

One could speculate that perhaps I should be able to get some co-op advertising dollars for having written this article, since I mentioned Firestone and Michelin tires, and Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola by name. But the truth is that co-op advertising has not been available on scale in the article marketing industry until just recently.

With the recent launch of http://www.SponsorArticles.com a system that provides a method to join advertisers in co-op article marketing has been made possible.

The system put forward by Sponsor Articles is unique in that it permits article writers to submit articles for free, and then it permits Sponsors to bid for the right to sponsor the cost of article distribution through several article distribution companies, in exchange for shared advertising within the articles' resource box.

To put this in perspective, a small business owner who writes articles for the promotion of his or her website will submit articles to the system, knowing full well that a sponsor can add a link to the resource box, in exchange for paying the costs associated with the mass distribution of the article.

As with any co-op advertising system, costs are shared between two advertisers. In the case of the Sponsor Articles system, the small business owner will cover the time or cost investment of creating an article to promote his or her small business. And then the Article Sponsor will cover the costs of distributing the article through a number of article distribution services.

Both parties will benefit from the expanded reach of the article, with links in the resource box that point to their respective websites.

In Conclusion

Co-op advertising is alive and well for Main Street businesses, and there are programs available online that brings the power of co-op advertising to the online marketing environment as well.

For those who participate in co-op advertising, the process offers a powerful win for both parties. Both parties are able to double their advertising exposure with the same amount of advertising budget.

If you have never participated in a co-op advertising campaign before, you at least owe it to your business to explore the possibility. Some of the most successful businesses on the planet have a co-op advertising budget in place, and that available money could help accelerate the growth of your business as well.



Author's Note: This article originally published here: http://article-blog.thephantomwriters.com/coop-advertising/2009/03/31/




About the Author:
Trey Pennewell has been involved in the SEO and article marketing industries since 2005. You can learn more about pay for performance SEO at http://www.linksandtraffic.com/ or article marketing at http://www.thephantomwriters.com/


Read more Articles written by Trey Pennewell.

Will Global Financial Crisis Result in Benefits to Expired Domain Market?

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 John Khu


The year 2009 seems to be a year of uncertainties and imponderables. Now that this year is in front of us, most people are under tremendous tension and stress with looming job losses and depreciation of cash assets. With so much doubts lingering about their abilities to make a decent living, people may start looking for alternative sources of income that is just enough to sustain their living. When the money deposits are no safer in a bank, how does an investor plan to keep his or her money? It might be quite difficult for anyone to protect their investments from emerging inflation as well as big companies facing bankruptcy.

There is one possible answer to all these emerging problems. Expired domain names could be the real answer for today's investment problems. You can quote a number of reasons for this possibility:

Expired domains are a big global community. Most general impression is that internet can never fall because of its true universal appeal and makeup. In spite of global recession, internet is growing at a satisfactory pace that is likely to remain so for the next decade or so.

Expired domains are stable and this unique factor makes it a very good candidate for a lucrative business.

Domain names expiring are immune from economic recession and pending debts.

Expired domain is fit enough to face any unstable economic situations.

Expired domains are those profitable virtual assets that are intangible and inexpensive to own and manage

The cost to hold your expired domain is very less when compared to other businesses

The growth potential for expired domains is still very good though the big hype around it is coming down over the years.

Internet is still the cheapest and cost effective medium that anyone can access very easily. Domains provide an easy way for people to acquire knowledge and perform business activities.

Expired domains provide a perfect opportunity to maintain them as hedge; this unique factor makes them as viable instruments of profitability.

In spite of visible threats like cyber terror, cyber attacks, virus threats and spam, expired domain business remains the most desirable business in the world of internet commerce. The average price for domain registration is coming down very drastically while the cost of owning a very good expired domain seems to be somewhat constant. Internet is a very stable medium and people still believe that it will weather and encounter any type of problems including global recession.

In an unstable period like today, the likelihood of expired domain buyers holding on to the old domains and buying news ones at the same time, may increase at an astonishing pace. People who saw the age-old days of dot com collapse are too wise to part with their precious expired domains. As a result, domains expiring are still the preferred mode of investment for thousands of domain traders; most of them are still doing their business as if nothing serious is happening around them!


About the Author:
John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is also the owner of the path breaking web sites called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com and http://www.expireddomaingains.com which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.


Read more of John Khu's articles.

Schmooze To Sell

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Paul Barton


Schmooze.

Why schmooze? Because schmoozing is how to sell.

To schmooze, according to one dictionary definition, is to: Talk casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or to make a social connection.

In the world of selling or business, you could translate that definition this way.

SCHMOOZE: CRITICAL 1ST STEP IN MAKING SALES

To schmooze is a critical first step in making a sale or getting a referral.

Why is schmoozing critical?

Because it's a proven fact people prefer to buy from and do business with people they know, like and trust.

And schmoozing (conversation and small talk) is the main way to accomplish this.

CONVERSATION PAVES THE WAY

That's because conversation and small talk pave the way to creating rapport and building a relationship.

Rapport and relationships are often built by establishing "common ground" with the customer -- about something that has absolutely nothing to do with the product or service you're trying to sell.

A good case in point was the experience of a coaching client of mine, a home improvements salesman.

SCHMOOZING SALESMAN SUCCEEDS

He made a sales call on a homeowner to sell roofing and siding.

It turned out the homeowner had previous sales calls from other companies seeking to sell him roofing and siding.

Since the salesman did not know the homeowner, he decided to break the ice with a compliment to the homeowner about his landscaping . . . a subject the salesman, himself, was interested in.

The customer was delighted . . . both by the compliment and the fact the salesman was into landscaping, too.

They proceeded to talk about landscaping for the next 30 minutes, never mentioning the roofing and siding -- the purpose of the sales call.

DEALING WITH A FRIEND, NOT A SALESMAN

When the salesman introduced that subject, the homeowner was no longer dealing with just a salesman.

No, the customer was now dealing with a human being he had something in common with.

He was dealing with someone he knew, someone he liked, someone with whom he had rapport.

The result:

The homeowner gladly signed the order on the spot -- an order costing $7,000 more than he had originally planned to spend.

Schmoozing worked for this salesman.

PRACTICING WHAT I PREACH

It has also worked for me -- many times.

One of the most memorable came when I was attempting to sell my marketing consulting services to a manager from a major corporation.

I had not known him, so I asked him to lunch . . . just a get-acquainted lunch because I had no particular project or service in mind since I knew nothing about his needs.

At lunch, we chatted for about an hour and quickly established a common ground -- because he was a marketer, too, and, I found, he was a golfer, like I am.

The result: He did not have a current need for my services, so no sale resulted . . . at least not then. However, a month later I got a call from him and he told me a colleague of his out of state might be able to use my services.

The result: Over the next year, I did $50,000 worth of business with his colleague, and later, did several thousand dollars worth of business with him, too.

All because I took the trouble to schmooze.

Sometimes in the business world, you're not necessarily trying to make a sale, but, rather, gain the cooperation of someone.

One of the best examples of the power of schmoozing in this area comes from a story in a national business publication about an attempt to locate and close down illegal moonshine stills in Kentucky.

The Federal government had sent in a series of agents, but could get no information from the locals to help them locate the stills.

THE PERSUASIVE PEDDLER

At length, they decided to send in an agent in disguise as a fish peddler, asking him to make friends with the locals by schmoozing with them at every opportunity.

In short order, the agent had gathered information from the locals leading to the closing of more than 100 stills.

The moral of this story?

Your ability to make conversation -- to schmooze -- to build rapport and relationships with people -- is one of your most powerful selling tools.

So, when you're selling, think of it this way:

Schmooze or lose.


About the Author:
Copyright (c) 2009 Paul Barton

Paul Barton is a marketing consultant and conversation coach, and author of several books, including: How To Be GREAT!!! In Conversation, How To Build Rapport And Relationships and How To Make People WANT!!! To Buy From You.

http://www.howtomakeconversation.com/


Read more Articles written by Paul Barton.

Hotels Cost 300% More Per Person Per Day Than Vacation Rentals: I'll Prove It!

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Jon Ludwig


The verdict on the true cost of spending your vacation in a hotel versus staying in a vacation rental is in, and I have the proof. For a family on a vacation, a vacation rental provides great accommodations for far less money. I just had a very unique personal experience that allowed me to test this: my own marriage two weeks ago in Maui, Hawaii, with friends and family in attendance.

We had a whole bunch of folks that came in from different parts of the globe to celebrate the event with us. Being the owner of a vacation rentals by owner website, I asked most of them where they were staying so I could compare notes. Our extended family stayed in a nice vacation rental right on the beach, a few stayed at resorts, and a few stayed at local hotels.

Here's the hard data on the major expense items for the trip, excluding rental car and airfare:

Hotel / Resort (Standard Hotel Room, Queen Bed, 1 Bathroom):

Maximum Occupants: 2

Per Person, Per Night Rate: $175.00

Per Day, Per Person Average Food: $125.00

Per Day "Resort Fee": $25.00

Per Day Parking: $20.00

Total Cost Per Person, Per Day: $322.50

Vacation Rental (2 BR / 2 BA Condominium on the Beach with Queen Sleeper Pull Out):

Maximum Occupants: 6

Per Person, Per Night Rate: $28.00

Per Day, Per Person Average Food: $65.00

Per Day "Resort Fee": $0.00

Per Day Parking: $0.00

Total Cost Per Person, Per Day: $93.00

The vacation rental was extremely economical for three reasons:

1) It could accommodate a lot more people. A family of 5 could all fit into one place that cost on average $140.00 per night. That averages out to only $28.00 per person, per night. The Hotel and Resorts that others stayed in cost around $350.00 per night, and it could only fit two people in it, so it ran $175.00 per person, per night. That is a huge difference.

2) Most resort hotels charged huge daily fees for parking and resort fees, which were non-negotiable. That added another $50/night in most cases. Most of my wedding guests found out about that as they were checking in (they neglect to tell you stuff like this when you make the reservation). It was too late then to re-book. No such issues with the vacation rental.

3) Having meals in with the family was a very nice break from eating every meal out. It was a heck of a lot more economical as well.

And, last, the other major expense item was the amount spent on food per day. My extended family took a short trip to the grocery store and had breakfast, lunch and a couple of dinners in over the course of the week that we were there. They went out for nice dinners a couple of times, but in a place like Maui where a basic entree can often cost $50.00 or more, eating some meals in for a family of five really starts to make some sense.

As my fellow vacation rental owners are speaking with prospective renters that are having trouble deciding between your rental or a hotel, make sure you remind them about ALL of the costs associated with your typical resort hotel. Advising your renters as to the true cost of staying in a hotel may keep them with you at your vacation rental. Not to mention the many other benefits that we all know about!


This article was originally published on Jon's blog.


About the Author:
Jon Ludwig owns and operates the Find Vacation Rentals website, located at: http://www.findvacationrentals.com/ You can also find vacation rental specials on his website.


Read more of Jon Ludwig's articles.

How Information Products Help Customers Say Yes Faster

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch


An unfortunate side effect of an economic slowdown like the one we're in currently, is spending slows down.

If you're a small business owner the slowdown in spending shows up in two ways:

1. Some prospects and customers who might have said "yes" in the past are now saying no because they simply don't have the resources to pay you

2. Those who DO have the resources are take longer to say yes

This means less revenue coming in and if you own a small business, that's a big "ouch" for your bottom line.

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Oh the Irony of It All!
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What's funny about this situation in a not-so-funny way is that during economic downturns, your clients and customers need what you offer MORE THAN EVER!

Why? Because we're all in business to solve problems people have, right? Recessions typically multiply problems and amplify the pain we feel from those problems.

But we also become hyper-aware of the downside of our actions and we feel there's no wiggle room for error. We become extremely Risk Averse.

Whether or not their fear is founded in reality, customers step back and become less willing to do anything that is new or risky because they don't feel safe.

If you're having doubts whether you are offering something customers really need because your sales have slowed down, I'm suggesting it isn't that they don't need what you're selling--it's because these scary times are making them unusually risk averse and less willing to take chances.

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Reducing Perceived Risk Using Information Products
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To help your prospects and customers feel safer to spend, you need to reduce their perceived risk of working with you. There are many ways to do this including lowering your prices, doing one-day sales, etc. But I'm partial to creating information products because the benefits extend far beyond the immediate revenue streams they provide.

Information products reduce perceived risk for prospects and customers in two important ways:

1. It's easier to say "yes" to buying a $19 how-to guide than a six-month $4,000 consulting engagement.

2. When customers get results using your information products they develop confidence in your ability to deliver what you promise.

This makes it easy for your customers to feel good about buying your more expensive products and services.

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Two Easy Information Products Small Business Owners Can Create and Sell
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How-to guides and tip sheets are my favorite low cost information products to offer because it's easy for your prospects to see the value they'll get.

How-to guides teach them how to do something they've always wanted to do; step by step

Tips sheets tell them how to do something better and get better results

The other thing I love about how to guides and tip sheets is they're easy to create because all you're really doing is answering a common question you get from customers.

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Example: Using a How-to Guide as a Low Cost Information Product
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Amy is a coach who works with what she called the corporate "walking wounded"; typically high level managers who have successful corporate careers but are tired of the cost to their personal lives.

Amy's core service is one on one coaching; typically clients work with her for six month intervals at $600 per month.

Amy has noticed that even though stress levels are higher than ever, people who once would have said "yes" to becoming one-on-one clients are now saying things like,

"I'm just happy to have a job."

"What if I get laid off, I'll need that $600"

"What if I work with you and you don't help me?"

And they're putting off the possibility of working with her.

Amy asked herself "If there were just one thing I could do to help these folks what would that thing be?"

She realized that for busy, stressed out professionals, taking on something new would require very small, simple steps. Small to the point of being ridiculous.

So she did some brainstorming around small but significant changes her clients made and came up with over 100 small actions. She edited the steps down to 101 and created a booklet: 101 Ways to Have More Fun and Less Stress at Work.

She sells it on her website and brings a dozen hard copies to sell at networking events.

Amy is very clear that this booklet is not a substitute for her coaching services. However people who buy the booklet get some substantive help and a percentage of those who buy the booklet like what Amy has to say enough to eventually become one-on-one clients.

The results:

Amy reduced the perceived risk of her services and has helped 50 prospective customers who otherwise would have put off working with her

In addition, two prospects who otherwise may not have hired her, felt confident enough about what she had to offer that they signed up and became one-on-one coaching clients.

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Bottom Line
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During challenging times such as our current economic uncertainty, your customers become very sensitive to perceived risk and less willing to commit their time and money -- especially when it comes to buying new products and services.

If you aren't currently selling information products that enable prospects to get a small but significant taste of what you can do for them, you are missing an opportunity to bring more revenue to your business AND to help more customers sooner than later. My best to you and your business.


About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com


Read more Articles written by Judy Murdoch.

Can a Press Release Be Controversial? Publicity Dilemma 7

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Marcia Yudkin


Recently a client asked me whether she might be able to get media coverage for a procedure she'd invented and tested that circumvented established practices in her industry. "Companies are spending money on steps that they no longer have to take, because they aren't aware there's an alternative," she told me. "But consultants who think they have a lock on the market are going to cry foul and accuse me of all kinds of things when I go public with what I'm doing."

Go for it, I told her. Controversy gets attention.

From the standpoint of publicity, the best kind of controversy is a position or practice that goes against a habit or belief shared by the public, a profession or a niche population, yet has a solid rationale in its favor. For example, an organization like Victim Families Against the Death Penalty comes across as controversial and publicity worthy because most people believe those who lost family members to criminal violence should be in favor of executing those responsible. Yet they are able to explain why putting murderers to death merely perpetuates the cycle of violence.

Why does controversy get attention? First, it contains the power of surprise. The media want to stir up conversation and get people talking. This has always been true, but takes on added significance where radio shows hope to get people calling in, magazines try to sell more issues and subscriptions, and newspapers want to inspire readers to comment on their blogs. If something goes against what most people believe, many will be expressing disbelief or disagreement, despite what they read or heard in the media story.

Second, journalists are trained to find two sides to every story, even going to great lengths to create a pro and a con position where they are not obvious. For instance, a hardware store owner in Massachusetts once got publicity because he would feed the parking meters up and down Main Street to encourage shoppers to keep coming downtown. While this seemed like an altruistic act, the newspaper that reported it injected controversy into the story by finding someone who criticized the store owner for depriving the city of revenue from parking tickets.

When you put out a controversial press release, this spares reporters the effort of creating another side to the story. The accepted position is super-easy for them to document and the counterpoint comes from you.

Controversy for the sake of controversy works less well because it lacks the twist that explains why, contrary to first impressions, the crazy idea makes sense. So make sure you have documentation, experience, evidence or some solid reasoning on your side along with your surprising statement.

Three wrinkles in a controversial publicity angle can doom it, however. First, beware of trying to get publicity for an accusation that might be considered libelous - that is, that damages the reputation of a person or an organization. Mainstream media often set a high standard of proof for such charges, and press release distribution services usually refuse to transmit publicity materials that they consider libelous. For instance, when a client of mine wrote a press release headline predicting the death of a popular social media network, the distribution service I submitted the release to said that was defamatory and refused to circulate it.

Second, if it looks like your controversial claim is a result of a grudge, the media usually take a pass on reporting it. An obvious example would be where you got fired and then you tried to rally the community to shut down the company that fired you, unless you could credibly claim you were fired for blowing the whistle on the company's misbehavior or polluting activities.

And last, watch out for the possibility that publicity seeking exposes you to prosecution for illegal activities. Although this sounds stupid and self-sabotaging beyond belief, we often hear in the news about someone celebrating a huge lottery win one day and then being arrested for delinquent child support the next, or winning a reality show or pageant and then being exposed for bigamy or tax evasion. In such instances, what gets doomed during your publicity seeking is not the publicity but you!


About the Author:
Publicity expert Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper, Web Site Marketing Makeover and eight other books. She has engineered coverage for herself or her company in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Success, Women in Business and dozens of newspapers around the world. Get free access to a one-hour audio recording in which she answers the most common questions about getting media coverage at http://www.yudkin.com/publicityideas.htm


Read more Articles written by Marcia Yudkin.

List Building - 10 Super Fast Ways To Build Your Opt-in List

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins


Keywords are ground zero. They are essential to your online success. You must get your keywords right or it's game over before you even get started. Mainly because keywords are the most important element of your online marketing.

It can't be emphasized enough, especially to beginning online webmasters or marketers, choosing the right profitable keywords will largely determine whether or not you succeed with your online endeavors. You simply must get this element right or your marketing will be in big trouble.

What Are Keywords?

Lets start at the very beginning, keywords are the exact words someone types into a search engine to find what they're looking for on the web. Some keywords are valuable/profitable, while others are virtually worthless.

Profitable keywords are the ones that convert into a sale, a lead or potential client/customer for your company or product. These are the words someone is searching in order to buy a product or hire a service. Someone searching for "honeymoon vacation packages" is probably in the market to book a honeymoon vacation and could turn out to be very profitable for the right website or business.

Profitable keywords are the ones where the searcher is in the right "mind-set" or frame of mind to buy what they're searching for on the web. Tailor your online marketing to target these profitable keywords and it can spell success.

So what's the whole process for finding or choosing profitable keywords to use in your marketing? Lets look at some ways to proceed...

Number of Keyword Searches Made?

You need to find out how many searches are made for your chosen keywords each month. Simply use WordTracker or a site like SEOBook. These will give you a preliminary number of searches made each month for your keyword. Highly popular, well-searched keywords with hundreds of thousands of searches each month will be extremely hard to rank for because you will have stiff competition from major companies with limitless resources.

I like to pick less popular keywords that get only a couple of hundred of searches each day because my chances of getting on the first page greatly increases. But don't get fixated on the number of searches, some keyword phrases that only get four or five searches daily, can still be very profitable.

For serious keyword research in a particular niche market I like to use Brad Callen's Keyword Elite which is professionally designed software that makes all your keyword research so much easier. But there are plenty of free keyword tools you can use. One handy keyword tool is Google Adwords external suggestion tool which will help you find valuable keywords.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Commercial Intent of Keywords?

But how do you know if a keyword is profitable? Well, one convenient tool is from MSN which helps you with "Detecting Online Commercial Intention" of keywords. Just type in a keyword and it will give you a percentage or probability your keyword query has commercial benefit or intent.

http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx

Conversion Rate of Keywords?

Once you have your chosen keywords in place, next you want to have a landing page that converts those keywords or traffic from those keywords into buyers or leads for your online business. This is another crucial element of your online marketing - you must have a landing page or content/site that converts into a sale or you obviously won't make any revenue.

Keep in mind, if you're into affiliate marketing, you main goal is not to sell but to "pre-sell" your products or services. One effective way I have found to do this is to give potential customers/clients valuable information they can use in making their final purchasing choice. Comparison sites do well, as do review sites, top ten sites... potential customers use the Internet and keywords to not only find products but more so, to find information on those products. Your goal should be to provide this valuable information to make their task a little bit easier for them and they will reward you with a sale.

What are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-Tail keywords are simply that: long three or four word phrases that searchers use to find what they're looking for on the web. Because they are highly specific, long-tail keywords have proven to have better conversion rates than general keywords. This is also just common sense, someone searching for a "2005 ford mustang convertible" may just be in the right mind-set to buy such a vehicle; as compared to someone searching for a more general keyword phrase such as "sports cars."

Study your website traffic logs religiously to find long-tail keywords that turn into a sale. Target these long-tail keywords in your marketing. Even buy PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising in the three major search engines - Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing and MicroSoft AdCenter - for these valuable/profitable keywords.

And build higher rankings in organic search for these long-tail keyword phrases. It's really not that difficult for long phrases, especially if they're related to your site; many times you can reach the top spot in a matter of days, especially in Google.

How To Rank High For Your Chosen Profitable Keywords?

Of course, the million dollar question is: HOW do you rank in the top spot for your chosen keywords? I believe the key to ranking high in the search engines (especially Google) is to be persistent in building your rankings for your keywords. Take a long-term view or approach, sometimes it may take months, even years, to rank in the top Five for your highly competitive keywords.

The best strategy is to "stick to it" and keep building relevant links to your keyword landing page. Create related blogs with valuable content linking back to your keywords. Write keyword related articles and distribute them all over the web. Create Google Alerts for your keywords and them place comments/links in the newly formed pages on the web that Google is indexing.

Be pro-active, download the SEOQuake toolbar and find your main keyword competitors. Check out their links and then go out and get the same links. Write better higher quality content than your main competitors because Google always rewards great content. Plus, use the free http://www.Addthis.com button and let your visitors bookmark your great content in all the social bookmark sites and build your keyword links for you.

Do keyworded Press Releases with your embedded links and spread them all over the web. Get these Press Releases into Google news and other important places on the web. http://www.PRWeb.com is really a great place for your press releases since you can embed your keywords in your links.

If you can try to get your most important keywords in your domain name. Many SEO experts argue the merits of this but from my own experience and marketing - it is much easier to rank high for your keywords if you have them in the domain name. Again, it is just common sense, if you have your main keyword in the domain, this keyword is obviously telling the search engines this is what your site is all about. I have even bought domains and created sites specifically around certain keywords just to rank high.

Always remember, you have to be persistent, I have been fighting some keyword battles for over four or five years! For really profitable keywords, it can be a constant struggle to remain on the first page, but the trick is not to give up, just keep fighting away at your competitors. Persistence usually pays off in the end and those profitable keywords will have your links in the top spot. Make ranking high for those profitable keywords your number one marketing strategy. Concentrate all your marketing efforts towards getting plenty of quality traffic for those keywords and you will succeed online.


About the Author:
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Marketing Tools. If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7-Day Marketing Course here: Internet Marketing Tools

Copyright (c) 2009 Titus Hoskins. http://www.bizwaremagic.com This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.


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