Facebook Page Versus Facebook Group - Instant Guide For Beginners

o Find out how groups let you be more private and exclusive on Facebook

o Check out which Facebook tool allows free and easy SEO

o Discover how pages enable you to track visitors easily and monitor your brand name on Facebook

"Which is better: Facebook page or group?" That is the question that constantly plagues companies who are just starting to dabble in the new era of social media marketing. It is natural to be slightly confused over the functions of both tools since they have overlapping features. But before we discuss their differences, let's look at what exactly a Facebook page is and what constitutes a Facebook group.

Facebook page

Having a Facebook page allows you to specifically represent your business online. It will be visible to unregistered users and it is indexed, thus resulting in quick and easy search engine optimisation. A Facebook page also looks extremely familiar to a Facebook profile. You can add friends, pictures, and even have walls that fans can post on.

Facebook group

You can choose to have more privacy and exclusivity with a Facebook group. You can decide if it is open to a particular network or to everyone on Facebook, set permissions whether the group is open (anyone may join), closed (need administrator's approval to join) or secret (invite only).

Now that you know the basic descriptions of these two tools, let's look at their differences in terms of:

1) Personal interactivity

Based on size limitations and security features, Facebook groups are set up to allow more personal interaction. What is posted on a group page could appear on its fans' walls, thus making it a more personal reflection of the fans. For example, when someone joins a group called "Vegans in Singapore", it will reflect his or her belief in being a vegan and this will then be reflected in his or her profile wall.

A Facebook page, however, is simply seen as another person on Facebook, and it usually isn't linked to the fans personally.

2) Google search engine optimisation

Unlike Facebook groups, pages are indexed to allow for search engine optimisation. This means that having a page may increase your ranking in external search engines. Engaging in the services of a SEO expert, however, is still the most effective way to go tops on external search engines.

3) Announcements

If your group has less than 5,000 members, administrators will be able to send inbox messages to the group members. On the other hand, page administrators are only able to update fans through the page, which will then be distributed under the "Updates" section of the fans' inboxes. There are no limits to the number of updates you can send or the number of fans you can have when it comes to pages.

4) User control

You have a much greater control over who gets to participate on your Facebook group. For example, a group's permission settings allow you to restrict access to new members. Perhaps you prefer new members to be approved first before letting them participate in the current discussion. With a page however, you can only set restrictions based on ages and locations.

5) Applications

Since pages are much more similar to normal profiles and thus allow for the hosting of applications, this makes them much more personalised from this perspective. Groups do not have the capability to host applications.

6) Tracking

With a Facebook page, you will be given a tool to track how many visitors you have received thus far. You will then be able to gauge how successful you have been in building your company's image on an online social media.

The verdict

On the whole, groups are perfect for organising on a more personal level and for a smaller scale of interaction. Pages are better suited for businesses and brands who want to interact with their consumers online. So first, figure out the objective of your company to go on Facebook. Then look through this article and find out which tool is best to achieve your objective. Although working with an internet marketing firm may bring you quicker gratification, being active on Facebook will still gain you some fans. After all, with more than 350 million active users on Facebook, it's safe to say that choosing the right tool can definitely do wonders for your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3371617

The Beginner's Guide To Facebook For Business, Part 2: Profiles, Groups and Pages On Facebook

There are 3 different ways to represent yourself, your business or your interests on Facebook, and they all have different little perks and flaws.

 1. Profile

Your profile is your initial account. It is set up in a way that allows old and new friends to see immediately where you live, work and more. You can (and should) have a profile picture of yourself displayed on your profile.

Perks: Your profile is a great place to connect with friends and family in a free, easy and fun way. You can share your thoughts, what you're doing, photos, videos and more.

Flaws: You can 'only' have 5000 friends which is why your profile is of limited use when it comes to growing a brand and a massive following on Facebook.

Consider This: Your profile is how people that you might know find you on Facebook. Once you have set up your profile, you will receive friend requests from old friends that you haven't been in touch with for years, as well as strangers and people who know some of your Facebook friends.

Some people use their profile to create new business connections. This is ok, as long as you are crystal clear from day one of your Facebook presence that you will utilize your profile in this way.

If you decide to use your profile in this way, make sure that you keep your private stuff off Facebook and that you represent yourself in a positive, professional and worthwhile manner at all times. Your business connections are not interested in what you had for lunch, or your kid's latest adventure!

If you don't, there's a very simple and important rule: DO NOT make friends on Facebook that aren't friends in real life.

I'll tell you how to handle friend requests from strangers in a way that will grow your following in a later article.

2. Groups

Facebook groups are based around shared interests and activities, celebrities, charitable causes and even cities. They have in common that they are usually not-for-profit and therefore unsuitable for marketing your business...kind of!

I will talk about how to utilise groups to create interest in your business when we get to The Advanced Guide To Faceboook For Business.

For now, let's move on to pages.

3. Pages

Your page is where you connect with your customers (past, present and future)and where you build extraordinary relationships with your buyers and get them to buy more of your product or service. A Facebook page is a crucial part of your internet presence these days (please read Part 1: 7 Reasons To Have A Facebook Page if you haven't already done so).

Perks: Over the last couple of years, Facebook has developed sheer limitless ways of sharing what is happening in your business on your business page. Apart from posting ongoing sales and promotions, giving away vouchers, sharing videos and valuable information, you can even build your email list here and sell products directly from your page!

There are also countless 'apps' (short for 'application'), free and paid, that will help you grow your community even faster and easier.

Flaws: Possibly the biggest flaw of the Facebook page is that you don't actually own it. Ultimately, Facebook has power to give...and to take it away! It happens rarely, but make sure you play by the rules so that you don't get into a situation where you have invested time and money into your page and built a huge following, only to have it all taken down.

The Bottom Line

If you don't have a business page on Facebook yet, you must get started today. Because if you don't build great relationships with your customers now, somebody else IS!

Make sure you are professional about building your social media presence from the very beginning. This includes having a professional image on your profile and your page (preferably a 'skyscraper'), and that you have a customized Welcome Tab. Get help from the experts and contact us to find out how we can help you to cash in on Facebook.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5922339

Facebook Marketing: The Basics for Beginners

I almost decided not to write this article, because my fear is once it hits heavy distribution most of what I have written here could be rendered obsolete. This is the risk you take in writing a guide to using social media or SEO techniques - what is valid now may not be in the future as sites and platforms change. With regards to Facebook, I doubt we'll see the last of major changes to the interface and they will allow businesses to use it for promotional purposes. That said, there are some basics a newcomer to the social network should know, and hopefully these tips will remain timely.

Profile or Page?

In the time I have worked with business owners to build their Facebook followings, I'm not surprised to see how many people are confused about concept of the Facebook page. Occasionally I'll get calls from clients asking for the "login" to their Facebook page and I have to explain that access is obtain through their personal accounts. To clarify.

1) A Facebook page can only be created by a person with a Facebook account.

2) The only people who can make edits to a Facebook page are people with administrative access. You can add as many administrators to the page as you wish, just make sure they are people you trust.

3) When an admin makes a post to the Facebook page wall, the post will read as having come from the page, and not the person who wrote it. At this writing, there is no way to change the functionality to make a wall post from an admin look like it's come from you as a person. This is why you want to be careful about what you post on the wall and how you respond to comments.

4) When you post to the wall of your Facebook page as an admin, the activity will NOT show up in your personal profile feed. I find many clients get confused as to what they believe people can see on their profiles. The Facebook PAGE is separate from your PROFILE or PERSONAL PAGE.

5) People you connect with via Facebook through your personal page are "friends." People who click the Like button on your Facebook business page are generally called "fans" or "likes." When a person "likes" your Facebook business page, they won't have access to your personal information unless you have also added him as a friend on your personal profile and granted that access.

6) As an admin of a business page, you can assume the "persona" of the page/business and comment on other Facebook business pages. You cannot, right now, comment in groups or on personal profile walls. You can, though, reshare a wall post from a personal profile.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6815898

Facebook Like Pages - DIY Design and Branding Tips for Beginners

If you're new to Facebook like pages, you'll definitely come across some pretty complicated stuff. But comprehending everything at once isn't really a good idea. Instead, focus on working smart and mastering these design and branding basics to get your Facebook like page to a great start.

Naming Your Facebook Like Page

Your page identity starts with the name you give it, and if you have an existing business or organization name then feel free to use it. If you have yet to name your page and/or your business, try to keep it short, descriptive and full of character. As much as you can, pair it with a keyword such as your locality, industry or specific product so you get categorized easier and ranked better by Facebook and external search engines.

Once you get to 25 fans, you can then use your page name or a keyword-optimized version of it as your official Facebook "vanity URL." Register this name with Facebook so no one else can use it but you.

Choosing a Profile Picture

A great Facebook like page profile picture speaks volumes about the page itself and provides a quick visual for everyone to remember your page by. So take time come up with a great looking photo that showcases your business, product, or concept in the best light. Use a color palette that's pleasant to the eyes, and if you're including text, make sure that it remains readable even in its thumbnail version. Speaking of thumbnails, make sure to edit the placement of your profile photo so it keeps the most important elements within the thumbnails.

Editing Your Navigation

Below your like page's profile photo is the all-important navigation section. This is what most of your page users would use to go around your page. Right now, the listing is limited to six tabs at most, with extra tabs only showing after a user clicks "More." You'll want to keep your most important tabs like within the first six, and if that's not the case, you can hide unimportant sections by clicking "Edit" and then the "x" image next to the tab you want to hide. You can also rearrange the tabs by clicking "Edit" again and dragging a tab to your desired location. Continue to review your navigation section as you add more tabs and content, to ensure that your fans can easily access the most important sections to them.

Customizing Your Welcome Page

By default, visitors to your like page will see your page wall. But many pages are now utilizing a special welcome or landing page as default instead. Non-fans are brought to this page and prompted to click like first before they can access premium content or a freebie. As you can imagine, it's an excellent way to drum up interest and increase likes as opposed to seeing a typical Facebook wall. Besides offering premium content, a welcome page is also a great way to define your page and what benefits the fans can expect from it.

Now, this is definitely the most technical of the concepts mentioned so far and unless you already have some knowledge of iFrames, building a custom welcome page might prove difficult. But the potential benefits are immense, so if you're going to invest on your Facebook like page's design, make sure that you prioritize this one. You can farm out the work to a designer, or purchase a software so you can still control the process, do it on your own and save more money.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6254386

Beginners' Guide To Facebook Advertising

Online Business Tips For Beginners: Elements For Success

There are four key online business tips for beginners. First, eliminate all distractions. Second, find a quiet environment. Third, focus on one thing at a time. Four, be your own boss. Follow these four tips and watch your business take off!

The first element of the online business tips for beginners is to eliminate all distractions. Eliminating all distractions will allow you time to focus, work and grow your business. In the morning, do not check email. Turn your cell phone off. Close all instant messaging services. Leave the television off. Sit down at your computer and complete your income-producing activity for the day. Once you have completed your income activity, check email, check texts, say hello on Facebook and so on. If you do all of these in reverse, the sun will set and you will find that you have not completed one sales generating activity and you will feel like a failure.

The second element of the online business tips for beginners is to find a quiet environment. If you do not have an office, find a private place in your home where you can get your work done. Explain to your family, your spouse, or your cat that you are working full or part-time from home, so you need four to eight hours to work. Working from home is still work. You have to dedicate a certain amount of time to your business everyday.

The third element of the online business tips for beginners is to focus on one thing at a time. Focus on one business at a time. Focus on one product at a time. Focus on one website at a time. Focus on one opportunity at a time. There are different businesses, products, websites and opportunities and they all have great potential. It can be difficult to abstain from taking on too many projects at one time. If you try to do too many different things at one time, you will find that you are going nowhere in your business. You want one strong stream of income before you add a second one.

The fourth tip of the online business tips for beginners is to be your own boss! Hold yourself accountable for both your successes and your failures. There is no one telling you what to do or when anymore. If you plan to write ten articles everyday and end up writing two in one week, what are you going to do about it? If you hired someone to write ten articles per day and he or she only produced two in one week, you would fire that person. Step up to your own goals and be accountable for your actions.

Working from home is fun. However, it is still work. No business succeeds without a responsible person in charge of it. Take charge of your time. Go in to your work area every morning. Spend 80% of your time completing income-producing activities. Once you have completed all of your income-producing activities for the day, clock out and enjoy your family, spouse, cat, etc. They depend on you, so you must take action and make your business grow. Keep these elements in mind and follow the online business tips for beginners and you will be successful.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6843757

Marketing Strategies For Beginners - Don't Let Too Much Information Slow You Down

Marketing strategies for beginners are basically the fundamental skills we need to learn as internet marketers. Every new internet marketer has to start somewhere and selling information and products on the internet requires us to put on a different hat and start thinking like marketers. I also found out along the way that I had many new skills that I needed to learn and it was quite overwhelming at times.

That is why I wanted to share some of the best online marketing tips that I have developed over the years for a beginner to key in on when they set out on their journey to become internet marketers and start their own web business. Here I have broken it down to 8 things you need to focus on with your number one goal of building your list. It is truly where the money is.

1.) Use your time wisely. Set aside a block of time everyday ( Undisturbed ) to work on your business. When we first set out to be internet marketers, it's easy to get info overload and not know what to do next. Take the block of time set aside and break it down into segments of about 1 half hour and use each segment to accomplish one task.

Example - Monday - 1 Post to forums, 2 Post to Facebook and twitter, 3 Put a video on YouTube, 4 Write an article, - this would equal a 2 hour work block. Use a different block to study and learn new skills. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish this way.

The times are not carved in stone but don't get stuck in a forum for 2 hours or see something on YouTube that sends you off course. Stay Focused - Remember, this is a business we are developing, so break it down into smaller parts and you will accomplish so much more.

2.) Use a system that works for you. Take some time to learn several different systems but learn them one system at a time. And when you are comfortable with it, put it into action and move to the next system. Almost every system can produce results. For example...... article marketing, video marketing, classified ads...... But don't go from one system to the next. Learn one at a time.

3.) Start Taking action. After you have chosen a system and learned the basics, you have to start doing. Don't get stuck with "analyzing everything to death" and don't be afraid to take action. Just do it. So what if you make mistakes? Remember this don't worry about it. Fail quickly and learn from your mistakes. They are stepping-stones to your success. "After learning you must start doing or the learning was for nothing".

4.) Learn how to write sales copy. Maybe the best advice I can give you is to learn to write copy and articles yourself. Sometimes you might outsource this task, but knowing the basics yourself will allow you to evaluate their work. However right now you are learning internet marketing strategies for beginners so take some time and learn to do it yourself.

5.) Join a forum or two in your niche. Forums are great places to go to accomplish many things at once. For example if you find a popular topic, ask questions about it in a post. Then take the answers, and copy and paste them into a note pad or word document. Rewrite everything into your own words and you have a great article. Also you can create a signature link for all your posts which is a great way to get traffic to your site and build your list.

6.) There is no such thing as free traffic. Think about this, how much is your time worth, and if you pay for advertising is it saving you enough time to make it worth the price. You might want to consider Pay Per Click. PPC is the quickest way to get traffic to your website. However, if you don't do it right, you can lose your shirt. So learn the ins and outs before using this method.

7.) Learn to create a process. Don't try to re-invent the wheel when you create a new product or web site. Instead, have a specific system. Set up a blog or promote an eBook and learn to give something away for free to build your list. This will save you time in the long run, it will also help you make more money. When first starting to learn internet marketing strategies for beginners, this is the one that so many marketers miss.

8.) Create value for your customers. It's not about taking your customer's money. It is about developing relationships with them and providing them with value. It's much harder to get an initial customer than have someone who trusts you buy from you again and again.

So, there you have some of the key marketing strategies for beginners to get you going. It all revolves around using your time wisely and learning a system that you are comfortable with. Then use that system to build relationships and create value for your customers so you can build your list. So what do you do now? See Number 3 and then, Take Action And Go Get Started!

Stan lives at the tip of the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland.

Stan is a full time Internet Marketer, and has worked with several of the top marketers on the internet today.

Stan's info and teachings have helped many Newcomers and Beginners successfully Start Their First Web Business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7050385

Social Media Marketing Guide for Beginners

Social Media Marketing is the process of gaining attention and web traffic through the social media sites. During this process, usually creative content to reach the masses through publicity coming from a third-party trusted source needs to be created in order for people to share the content of their interest with others and create a vicious chain that would make business cover and go beyond the market audience intended. Every online marketer needs to have a goal, a product, a service and a cause to promote through the vast and overwhelming World Wide Web. If you already have those things defined in your mind, then congratulations! That could be probably the hardest part of entering into the social media challenge, and from now on, every single effort will contribute to reach those goals efficiently and flawlessly until you put your feet on the Social Media Guru status.

The Social Media world is wide and more extensive than ever. It is a very strategic marketing platform that reaches different cultures, ages, religion, sexes, locations, interests and such, therefore it makes it the perfect vehicle to reach and target the right audience and achieve total success. The whole world won't care about video games, for example, but only the people that video games is part of their interests. If you target male audience with ads of high heels on sale, maybe some of them would go and buy a pair or 2 for their wives, but a pair or 2 is not exactly the kind of impact you want to have. Therefore, you focus on certain group ages and certain other factors that cause some services and products, videos and news to go "viral"

First, we need to know the basic social media sites

Facebook
Holding more than 900 million users, if you're already a Facebook user this might not be really new to you, but there are lots of features worth mentioning. You can create a dedicated business page and interact directly, and free, with your customers uploading free pictures, products and videos of the service you intend to provide or the product you are trying to sell. That way, you can build a data base of people that will share your posts to their friends and therefore create the never ending chain. Most of these social media sites have seamlessly mobile integration so people whether it is a portable PC, a desktop, tablet or mobile phone get always connected with media in a way that you should take advantage of. People log in to Facebook, in any situation, while commuting, in the park, at home, at school, at work. Then you're there, promoting your business for it to be displayed in the news feeds, and you would be there, constantly doing the mind trick game to the point that people will find something attractive and worth checking according to their interests. Many big corporations like Starbucks, Microsoft, Apple, Rockstar, Pepsi etc. are doing the same, and it works perfectly!

Blogs
Blogs are an easy way for people to communicate in a semi-professional way when it comes to quality of content. Quality content is always the key to a good writing and therefore, a good blogging. There are many blogger CMS (content management service) where you can get yours up and running for free in less than 5 minutes, some of these are Blogger, WordPress and probably the most user friendly one, Tumblr. One of the tricks here is knowing your audience, your market, who you are targeting and what you want to accomplish with that. Now this has to do with some SEO or Search Engine Optimization knowledge, which is in other words, using the right keywords to rank as high as possible in a search engine i.e. Google, Bing. It has to be related to your posts and at the same time, you have to make sure you use a keyword search tool to check the competition and number of search this given keyword has. The lowest the competition and highest number of searches it gets in a month, the more convenient for you. If you were to advertise your website holding a service of technical support chat, you would have to make the keywords very specific so people that are looking for your service would find you first. It is, for example technical support for Windows, then you'll have to include specific words, as going a little more straight to the point. Since the competition would be really high and Windows technical support is a wide content, you would focus and go further the specific services your product offers, therefore, adding additional keywords to go straight to the point would be the most successful way to do it and you would rank higher in a search engine and people would find your product easily. From "Technical Support Chat" to "Technical Support Chat for Windows 7 and XP" you can see how we are narrowing the concept of the service you offer making it more specific, detailed and then competition of support for mobile operating systems, cellphones, Mac, iPhone, Windows Vista, Windows 8 and such, are left behind and those sites offering the services you're not related to won't steal your chances to be found for people that are merely looking for chat support for Windows 7 and XP. Once understood the keyword concept you can proceed and create content on a blog that would be easy to find on a search engine by including the right tags.

Then we have the Social Media integration again in the blog space. There are many options to share the content of your blog. Many Content Manager Services like Tumblr have the social media buttons to share and like or dislike. You need to look for the options to enable them (in the rare case they are not enabled by default) so every post of yours would have the buttons for share on Tweeter, Google+, Facebook etc. and Reblog within the blogging network you are affiliated to. With great quality and eye catching content you are encouraging people to share your stories on other media sites like the ones mentioned above plus you sharing them and there you have outstanding chances to reach a wider audience.

Twitter
A fast growing, very popular social media site. With over 340,000,000 tweets a day and around 140,00,000 users worldwide, this platform is pretty appealing to business and companies as well as for celebrities, musicians, actors, everybody! A tweet is a message of 140 characters maximum that one can write and post and followers can read and see any time in their news feeds. Talk about it, interact directly and start new conversations is one of the things that make this platform extremely successful. The way they follow Kim Kardashian and read and talk about everything she tweets in a day, the same way they can do with advertising and marketing campaigns about brands and products of their interest.

140,000,000 users to target the right audience might sound like a difficult task, but seen it from the other side of the coin, that means more potential customers for a business. Once you get into the already mentioned vicious chain of any social media site, things just keep coming along by themselves and first thing you'll notice is hundreds of hundreds of people engaged in your brand, talking about it, reviewing it and telling others about events, broadcast and such.

Linkedin
Possibly a not so popular platform making it boring for some people, but a very professional and strategic one for the rest. Some people won't spend long hours chatting or talking to other about silly, trivial things, instead, this social network goes straight to the point. People on Facebook and Twitter for example, follow anyone of their interest for the sake of simply socialize as well as businesses and companies, but Linkedin is intended to filter and leave the fun behind to focus deeper in professionalism in social media.

In Linkedin, you can be part of the people looking for a job/ service, or part of a company offering a job/ service. You can create either a personal profile with your professional information about yourself, studies, contact information, interests, certifications, identifications etc. or, create a business or company page, same way as you do it on Facebook or Twitter sufficing the same purpose: share information about your brand, service, product and keep your audience and followers up to date with the latest information about your company.

YouTube
YouTube is a very interesting platform. People go watch videos of any kind or gets redirected by any website that has a backlink to it or search engines. Once people is there on a given there you have some more "Related Videos" on a column on the right side of the screen. Clicking from video to video makes you find things you never thought you would find, interesting topics, funny videos, how-to kind of videos, publicity etc. Your chances to be seen are overwhelming and you can also get people subscribe to your Channel, which is in other terms, your own YouTube space where you upload your videos. Some people find it way more interesting and easier to just watch a video rather than reading a whole article. You have the resource of visuals. If you were to promote fashion clothes and that is the purpose of your whole social media marketing, you can, along with other options, upload a video with people modeling your clothes, redirect people to your main business site, recommend people to share your video, to subscribe for future video updates, to visit your "fashion blog", like your page on Facebook, follow you on Tweeter, Google+, Linkedin, etc. Close your eyes and try to visualize the Tree Diagram of the whole Social Media marketing strategy and how it gets to potentially reach every single corner of the World Wide Web. Ambitious, isn't it?

Google+
A fairly new comer on the social media site battle, Google+ offers integration of a variety of services including Gmail, Google+ Basics, Google+ Circles that let you share information or "statuses" in a way Facebook does, but has less popularity so far. You have the "Stream" feature similar to Facebook's News Feed that would let you see what others are up to, an option for following very similar as well to Tweeter.

The service is very appealing to professionals and business networks because of the exclusivity and integration of services. You create a Gmail account for example, and unless you disable it, by default you have access to all these service and a profile ready to be edited with a picture, contact information, etc. You have access to the whole Google+ network including already mention Gmail, YouTube, You+, Circles, Basics and even the well-known search engine saving and displaying results to the most relevant things to you. It is convenient to have a spare Google+ account for any Social Media Marketer because it's potential functionality and because no source is too little or too much in marketing. Might not have the same impact, a 30 seconds ad on TV than a small billboard on a bus, but the more you get the message sent the better results you will accomplish.

Social Media Stats

According the new 87 studies perform on social media marketing up to 2012, this approach from companies to customers called B2C or Business to Community has grown and reached 16% of customer engagement but has potential to grow to 57% in the next 5 years. More than 30% of the worldwide population is now online permanently or have some sort of eventual access to the web. More than 1/5 of consumer's free time is being spent on the social media sites, reaching an approximate of 250 million tweets and 800 million Facebook statuses updated every single day. Only in the United States, more than 80% of online active users spend their on social media sites or blogs. 60% of people uses 3 or more digital forms of research product comparison, prices and information about intended purchases, being 40% of those done via social media sites like Facebook or simply redirected from one of these sites leading to even direct interactions with retailers about offers posted. Around 56% Americans have one to three profiles in a social media site being 55% of them aged between 45-55 and having at least one profile

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) facts

70% of the links search users click on are organic. 46% of all searches are for information about products or services. Half of all local searches are performed on mobile devices. 66% of new customers use search and online research to find local businesses. There are 863 million websites globally that mention "SEO." There are 9.1 million searchs conducted including the acronym each month, with the top two phrases being "SEO services" and "SEO company." More than 60,000 Twitter users include "SEO" in their bios, there have been 13 million blog posts published that include "SEO" in the title, and Amazon.com carries almost 2,700 different books about SEO 75% of searchers never scroll past the first page of results. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. B2B companies that maintain active content like blogging and SEO programs increased their total website traffic, on average, by 25% in the past year, while those who neglected SEO experienced an average 15% decline in overall visits. 21% of all time spent online is spent on web searches. The big three search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo! are among the five most-visited sites on the Internet. Considering that AOL is #7 and Ask is #10; five of the top 10 most-visited sites on the web are search engines.

In conclusion, Social Media Marketing is a field where professionals and amateurs in advertising can come across and put their own ideas and plans implementing their own techniques. There is no Social Media Marketer university or college degree, this knowledge that should be acquired by extensive research, it needs to be constantly employed and tested in the desired field. It is a revolutionary strategy that has taken down the old TV advertising tactics shifting it to the online market. The percentage of people that prefer to go online on a computer or capable device versus people that watches TV grows steadily every single day. Statistics show Social Media Marketing in a lower impact percentage compared to the legacy ways for advertising, but the potential it has and room for growth is in no doubt overwhelming and could be much more improved and interactive than TV has been for the past decades.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7357698

Facebook For Business - A Beginner's Guide To Using Facebook For Business

It's already been established that Facebook Fan Pages are the way to go if you are looking to brand and market your business with Facebook.

It's taken a long time for people to figure this out and quite frankly many still haven't made the move from profiles to pages. It's time to make the move so you can stay in front of your competitors and Facebook has come out with a new area on their website specifically designed for businesses

They clearly spent a great deal of time and money with their creatives and arrived at a catchy name. It's called Facebook for Business...

There are essentially four areas or types of functionality that Facebook is pushing to engage businesses to build their identities and brands online.

These include

1. Pages,
2. Ads
3. Sponsored Stories
4. The Facebook Platform.

The site gives a step-by-step rundown of how to build a presence on Facebook with a Facebook Page, which it says lets you connect with potential customers and drive traffic to your business.

Currently studies show that the average Facebook Fan Page has less than 100 fans, but all this means is that building a raving following of thousands of fans is still in the very beginning stages and you can blow your competitors away quickly with just a few hundred fans.

The first thing to do is to set up the page. If you already have a profile then you need to convert it to a page. Whether converting or starting from scratch you need to make sure your page has a number of essential components. These should include:

• A photo of you or your business's logo, name, storefront or maybe even a hot product image. The cooler the better...
• Relevant and helpful links strategically placed to keep the customer engaged. There are different tactics to get the reader to move to different pages you own or sites you may want them to visit depending on your strategy and where they are in the buying process
• Contact information in the information section. This is pretty straightforward, but you can get pretty creative depending on your goals
• Updates need to be consistent and timely regarding events, videos and photos.
• Applications from the Facebook Apps Directory unique to your needs and your customers needs

The whole time you are setting things up and making tactical decisions regarding your page, you need to be defining your Facebook strategy. Your strategy might include:

• Setting specific goals
• Sharing exclusive content throughout the "Reveal Tab" functionality
• Daily Facebook activity to keep engaged with your fans
• Implementing a schedule to help you remember when, where, and what to post.

What Facebook is going for here is to recreate the offline customer experience online. Responding to posts from your fans and customers and updating your Page in a timely fashion keeps you in touch with customers just like you would if they were walking in to your physical store or showroom.

Branding and building a following with a sense of community will be huge moving forward with Facebook. Some people refer to this in social circles as building a "tribe". A loyal following of customers who refer other people and are repeat buyers. There are a number of ways to do this too;

• Put "Like" and "Share" buttons on your other websites and online content
• Place Facebook logos and other Facebook images on offline content like storefronts, business cards and flyers
• Create Facebook ads and sponsored stories

Like any other online campaign you also want to be measuring and tracking your stats on Facebook. They have an area called "Page Insights" which shows you how your page is performing in a few different ways:

• How often people comment
• What day of the week most people visit
• Which of your posts are the most popular
• How to improve your overall page strategy.

When you visit and update your Facebook Fan Page is important and these metrics will guide you toward a strategy that best suits your business and customer base.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6471521

7 Vital Techniques of Using Facebook for Marketing Your Business

Using Facebook for marketing is a new concept compared to the other outdated modes of reaching out to the public. The question that bothers many new entrepreneurs is that whether using Facebook for marketing is actually a good idea and if it is; what is the way to start. The answer to the first part of the query is actually very simple. Getting a wide showcase for your business is your first priority. With over a billion users and an audience that ranges from ages 18- 70, there could not be a better platform than Facebook to market your business. Using Facebook for marketing is an excellent way to reach out to a huge audience but you need to know these 7 vital techniques to start on the right foot:

Create a Profile Page

Creating a profile is the first and the most important part of using Facebook for marketing, so put some thought effort and creativity in to it. Ensure that your profile photo speaks volumes about your business. Add as many friends that you can because you need people to spread your network and you may soon start receiving friend requests too (don't forget to accept them). Photos are another great way to improve the experience of using Facebook for marketing, but make sure that they are relevant to the product or business that you are promoting.

Create a Fan Page

Fan page is an excellent tool to add credibility and professionalism to your business. You may need to encourage users to become fans and by doing so you are adding to your future customer base.

Create a Facebook Group

There are many benefits of creating a Facebook group. You can post multiple messages to all members of the group with a single click. Another advantage is that you can engage your group members in any discussions that involve your business and is an easy way to connect with all of them at the same time.

Create Updates

No one wants to visit a Facebook page that is boring and does not have anything new to say. Keep posting updates and do it on a regular basis. Let your friends, fans and group members know something new or interesting about your business with each update that you post on the wall.

Create a Different Landing Page

Don't make the mistake of treating both your new and old members in the same manner, especially while using Facebook for Marketing. Design different landing pages for them. New users should be taken to a page that requests them to 'like' you and let the old members be taken to another landing page; maybe your wall or any other page that holds their maximum attention and interest.

Create an Active Interaction

Don't limit yourself to your page, your wall, your members and your friends. Search for businesses or products that are similar to yours and indulge in some active posting or commenting. This will not only attract attention by other members but also adds a touch of professionalism.

Create an Social Plug-in

You certainly have a blog or website if you are engaged in an online business. Make sure that you link all of your blogs, sites etc with your Facebook page. Add a Facebook button that enables readers of your blog to leave their comments, and this will be displayed on their Facebook update. These updates are visible to their friends too and it is a great way to attract new members or fans.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6705954

Affiliate Marketing For Beginners - How to Start Making Money Online

Affiliate marketing for beginners can be tough especially if you are trying to make money. There are so many aspects and niches to online marketing that a beginner may be overwhelmed with all the information that is out there. If you want to succeed in this industry you have to be persistent and always learning as things could change overnight.

Affiliate marketing can be very rewarding if you find a successful campaign and know how to market. You have to split test all your campaigns to improve your earnings and make them profitable. There are many ways you can start with affiliate marketing. In this article I will show you the three most popular ways That you can start making money online as a beginner.

Blogging - If you are passionate about something and are willing to write about it why not start a blog. Let's say you have a passion for American cars. You could have a blog that describes all the features that American cars bring. Once your blog has enough content you can start advertising with networks. Your ads need to relate love your blog so the users can click on them. A blog that writes about cars should have ads like auto insurance, car parts, etc..

Article Marketing - This may take some time but once your system is set up, there is little maintenance needed to keep generating income. Basically what you do is give people information about a certain product and place a link at the end of your article and try to make a sale. The content has to be unique and informative. It is a great way to start affiliate marketing for beginners and also learn how to optimize your website to the search engines.

Paid Advertising - This is one step you can take if you want to see faster results. The only downfall is that you need money to advertise. There are many platforms such as Google, Facebook ads and MySpace ads. You are paying each time a person sees or clicks on your ad. You need a strong landing page for the person who clicked your ad to take action. This is for more advanced marketers and can be very risky since money is involved.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4350938

How To Make Money Online - 3 Crucial Mistakes Most People Make

In this ever-growing economy more and more individuals are seeking to work right from their own home. I could remember the day when I quit my day job and how much of a relief it was when I first began to pull in the profits online. I must admit though, it was a little bit of a challenge at first because there was just so much junk out there.

It's hard whenever guru after guru wants you to buy his or her "latest" product and you don't know what to do. It was just a short matter of time though that I had to tighten up or else I would have found myself applying for some burger joint. I know you're probably either looking to make money online or increasing your online efforts so what I want to do is give you 3 most crucial mistakes to avoid so your online efforts will not be a total waste.

Mistake #1: Lacking Focus This is indeed one of the biggest problem areas for individuals trying to make money online. This is a main thing I struggled with greatly in the beginning as well. With all of the different social networks like Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc out there, it can be quite tempting to head over to your favorite social site and just "kick it". What I tend to do now before I even touch my computer is write out everything that I plan on doing. This helps me stay productive and keep that level of focus that every online entrepreneur needs with the different distractions around.

Mistake #2: Not Spending Wisely So here's the guru flashing you his shiny object that's going to show you how to make money online quick and easy. You only have one hundred bucks left in your bank account and you know you need that for bills? Believe it or not, most individuals will take food out of their kids mouth just to get the next get rich quick scheme. Now, I'm not saying that every guru's product is not worth buying, but I'm a strong believer in wise spending.

I recommend sticking with a technique that you know will make you money before moving on to something new. There have been times when I would jump from product to product, but after a while I had to cut that out when my money started to get a little funny.

Mistake #3: Targeting The Wrong Crowd Most people actually get the concept of how to make money online down, but where the main problem exist is when they are in a wrong niche. In which you probably already know, a niche is basically a category. I always stress the fact that in order for you to make money in a niche, that crowd of people has to actually want to buy. Let's say for example you were wanting to target the "dog training" niche, a good way to check if that niche is profitable is just by heading to Google, typing that keyword in and making sure there are ads showing on the right hand side.

When ads are showing that means people are spending money in the pay-per-click network. If they are spending money then of course they have to be making money in that niche.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5622622

How to Make Money Online the Easy Way - A Tip From an Expert

The easiest and so far the least popular way of earning money online is through domain flipping. If you are looking for ways on how to make money online the easy way, then you must give domain flipping a try because it is not only highly profitable, but it is also very easy. You can earn easily even while you are at home without the hassle brought about by businesses. It is also a market that even teenagers could get into. Domain flipping is really one of the easiest ways through which you could earn money online. There are many reasons why it is easy money.

1. It needs small capital. For less than $10 dollars, you would find good domain names in various stores like Sedo and eBay. For a starter, you can buy a few domain names which are popular among the search engines. Maintaining it through ads would also help but only if you are already experienced. You either hold onto the domain first, or you do quick domain flipping wherein you buy domains and sell them immediately for a bit higher prices. But in order to earn higher, it is advised that you first monetize and maintain a domain first.

2. Open market This venture is open to everyone no matter which age bracket they belong to. Because it does not take much hassle to buy and sell domains, your personal life, or even your studies would not get affected. For those looking for a way on how to make money online the easy way, this kind of open market is perfect for you.

3. Lucrative Selling domain names could be quite profitable in the long period especially once you have gained quite a contact list and experience. When you have already made friends with the right people, and you have already established a list of contacts, you could already get into domain bidding where you could price your maintained and monetized domains as high as you want.

These three reasons are enough to show that domain flipping is the easiest market to get into in the online business world. Those who are looking for ways on how to earn money online the easy way would see that while domain flipping saves effort and time, it could earn you quite a lot in no time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5677997

The Most Effective and Efficient Tips On How To Make Money Online

Let me guess! You are brought to this page because you are no longer satisfied with the tiny income you earn from your daytime offline job. Hence, you are looking for some ways and tips on how to make money online. Well, there are actually plenty of options you can choose from. All you have to do is search the internet and compare the pros and cons of different ways to earn extra income through the World Wide Web.

Meanwhile, I can provide you with at least three ways and tips on how to make money online. These are through online trading, web development, and online freelance writing.

First, online trading is for people who want to sell online. You can essentially sell anything online like books, shoes, clothes, gadgets and furniture or home decorations. You can do this through several social networking media like Facebook, Multiply and many others. Recently, the Facebook is the most utilized social networking site because you can reach your market more effectively and conveniently.

If you are considering engaging in the business of online trading, you must consider as well other factors like shipping costs and other fees that will you incur.

Secondly, web development can be very valuable as well. You can earn money by posting ads of other businesses on your site. You can only do this, however, if you have plenty of patrons or visitors on your website. In order to do this, you must increase the ranking of your site by regularly posting SEO-formatted entries, blogs and articles. Consequently, you cannot do this alone on your own. You must hire someone else to assist you.

Lastly, freelance writing is a service that web developers need. As stated above, posting entries is necessary in building the rank of a website. The articles must be in the SEO-format. Hence, this is the job of freelance writer. Online writers earn through writing and submitting articles. There are plenty of sites that will give you opportunities for this one.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5730897

Beginners Guide to Facebook through this Video Tutorial

How To Make Money Online Without Investment Starting Today

This article will share with you how to make money online without investment. Everyone wants to earn " internet money". The best way is to do this is with no experience and with zero cost. Imagine this, you could have multiple sources of online income. This will increase your streams of income. Get rid of the myth that you need to own a web site, you must have online product to sell or you must acquire the technical skills or "internet savvy" for your to earn "internet money".

You could still earn "internet money" if you are not a web designer or a marketing genius. You are still wondering how to make money online without investment? Explore the following ways.

1. Online Writing

You could certainly earn "internet money" if you love writing. There are article directories or websites which pay you money if you submit or contribute your writing to them. Explore these sites, for example, Helium, Hubpages, Squidoo, Snipsly and Info Barrel. Start writing and sharing and start making money online without investment.

2. Affiliate Marketing

This is the best online business model for a beginner online marketer. Basically, you promote some else's product online and you get paid a commission by successfully done so. You could get the affiliate products for free at the affiliate networks. You could use article marketing or even blogging to promote the affiliate products.

3. Blogging

You don't need to have a website and you don't need to know about web designing for you to set-up and blog. You could even set up a blog for free within minutes and start posting. Place ads for free on your blog and you will get paid when the visitors click on the ads. You could even place your affiliate link on your blog and promote the affiliate product through your blog. Again, share you story, your passion or whatever interesting topics through your blog and earn money online without investment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5474804

How to Make Money Online Without Spending Money - 3 Simple Tips

When it comes to generating income from home, many people want to know how to make money online without spending money. Although investing in tools to help your business to grow is by far the most effective way to generate massive amounts of income online, there are ways to start off making some sales without having to spend money or just spend very little.

Especially in the network marketing industry, time compounding is one the key components in growing your wealth that does not necessarily need large investment. Here are 3 simple tips:

Education. It's all about learning the right techniques and mindset to reach your online income goals. You can gain a lot of knowledge and training over the internet for free unlike going to college and spending tens of thousands of dollars on tuition, only to land a flat-rate paying job and working for someone else. This is one of the most important things. Without the good training and knowing what to do, you won't even know where to start. You will become frustrated and be spinning your wheels going no where. Video tutorials are excellent ways to learn and see exactly what to do.

Effort. It's important to understand that what you lack in investment for your online business, you are going to have to make up for in effort. Tools are probably one of the best ways to multiply your efforts and income so it is a good idea to start out-sourcing your efforts once you start making some sales and money. But it is also very simple to still make money online without investing a lot of money. You're just going to have to maybe spend a little more time and effort yourself.

System. It is absolutely crucial to have the right system to work with when it comes to how to make money online without spending money. There are opportunities for people to get their own free income generating website and start making sales immediately if they so desire. There's really no need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to begin an online business and start generating profits from home quickly. Many sites offer a free trial period or a low-cost plan to get your business up and running and start generating profits. Also some companies do not require you to sell anything, as they already have an automated sales team in place to help with follow-ups and close sales for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6333513