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Posts Tagged ‘online marketing’

Niche Marketing 101 – How To Find A Profitable Niche

February 8th, 2010 No comments

There are a couple of questions that need to be asked before anyone enters in the niche marketing business. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most frequently questions people ask or should ask before they enter the niche marketing business.

Engaging in research is the most appropriate method to find a profitable niche. Go on discussion boards to see what people are looking for. Discover using keyword research software what the most popular searches are on any given subject. Pay careful attention so you are aware of new trends and movements.

I think I found a niche, how do I know it is profitable? If the terms related to the niche seem to be searched often and if there aren’t too many people competing for them on search engines like Google, you may have found a good niche. This could be explained by the fact that the niche simply is not marketable. You will find some niches have heavy search volumes and a lot of competition. These are clearly profitable, but because of the high level of competition, you product or any niche marketing effort might fail if it’s not top notch and efficiently promoted.

Niches with no one competing in them are obscure but they can be found. Investigate why this is the case, there may really be no market or the information may be able to be found for free on the web. Test your niche so you are convinced that it is good.

How should I be testing my niche? Visit discussion boards and ask questions about a hypothetical product you might pitch or create. Poll people that will read your thread so you can use them to gauge exactly how people are responding to your idea if the internet marketing discussion boards will allow that. Before launching a product, do a pre-launch as this will show you how people are responding. The use of low cost or even free marketing solutions can test the waters if you are thinking about promoting products through niche affiliate marketing programs.

A difficult question is ‘What is the best way to make money with niche marketing?’ since there isn’t really a “best” way to promote to a niche. Depending upon the niche and your budget and/or capabilities, a blog may be more profitable for some people. Some might consider launching a small report or a full on e-book or video series for their niche whereas others might consider setting up a newsletter. It’s really impossible to tell which way of using niche marketing to make money is the best as there are so many of them.

When done right, niche marketing is very easy. If you do your research, test your products properly and use a variety of methods to promote them, you should be halfway through conquering the niche marketing field in no time.

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Internet Video Advertising Overview – Common Video Ad Formats & Methods

February 7th, 2010 No comments

With the incredible rapid growth that online video sharing and video search sites are realizing, more and more advertisers are pumping money into video advertising. According to the latest research, online video advertising revenues in the US are expected to reach $7.1 billion by 2012 which is a 72 percent compound annual growth rate for the next five years. In 2008, the projections are just shy of $1billion.

Because of the keen interest of the advertisers towards the online video segment, many video sharing sites have been encouraged to come up with different formats for the placement of video advertisements. The quantum of investment in this segment has fueled innovation of the methods in which video sites are deploying online video monetization and advertising programs. In-stream (pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll) advertisement formats have been in existence longest and have produced a good share of revenue for online video content producers.

Pre-Roll Video Ads: Pre roll advertisements start before the video begins and the viewer has to sit through the entire advertisement, if he does not want to rely on chances, rather wants to ensure that ha can watch every single second of the video from its beginning.

Post-roll Ads – This format includes the advertisements at the end of the video clip and it is up to the viewer to decide whether to watch the advertisement clip or not. This format of advertisement is being used by certain video sites. However, this is not effective for the advertiser as often times users dont watch the entire video.

Mid-Roll Video Ads: Again, like the other in-stream ads, mid-roll streams a short video clip within the video player itself, only with mid-stream, the ad gets played in the middle of the video almost like a normal TV commercial. This seems to be somewhat less offensive to users.

Many of the video platforms have experimented with various different online video formats. One of these is in-player ads: In-player ads sometimes include relevant text or image advertisements in the space available in video player between the outer margin of the video and the inner margin of the video player.

Contextual in-video advertising seems to be the way of the future with many different sites attempting to match videos with advertisements that are most relevant to the subject matter. Users like this format more as well as it does not disturb the experience of watching the entire video. This quality of the format makes it one of the most promising advertising formats for the future and there are many diverse ways in which to serve either images, clips, or text ads.

One of the most popular version of contextual video advertising is that of what is known as the “overlay ad.” In this format, relevant textual ads are scrolled or displayed across a small portion of the video screen (usually the bottom). Users in particular prefer this format as it is relatively unobtrusive.

I have given you a brief overview of the most common formats of video ads that are being tested and utilized at the moment. That being said, with growth being what it is, and video discovery as new as it is, we will certainly see many different companies innovating in regards to developing new and exciting formats for online video advertising.

The above article was provided courtesy of ReelSEO, the web’s leading resource for online video industry news and information, covering video marketing, video advertising, social media, and much more. For more information about internet video advertising, visit ReelSEO.com

7 Timeless Blogging Tips You Can’t Go Wrong With

February 7th, 2010 No comments

You have probably come across many blog tips before. Some are good, while others are just repetitions wrote in a confusing manner. Truth be told, you don’t need hundreds on blog tips to succeed when professional bloggers only stick to a few. Simply use these 7 tips and I’ll guarantee you a better blog today.

1. Reply to comments on your blog – Replying to questions or comments from readers is your way of letting people know that your blog is “alive.” It gives readers the opportunity to interact and engage in conversation.

2. Get a self-hosted WordPress blog – Three reasons to use WordPress: 1) Lots of people use it 2) Recognition and reputation 3) Strong support. Even if you just started blogging, I recommend you a self-hosted blog. This shows professionalism to your readers, and more importantly, you will take your blogging seriously.

3. Show your personality in your writing – Your style of writing makes the difference between interesting read or uninteresting. Manolo the shoe blogger is the blogger was the first blogger I remember reading with a really unique voice (he writes in the third person). I’m not saying all style of writing is acceptable, but those that do will make your blog more memorable. Take Copyblogger for example.

4. Focus on your topic – All big blogs have a clear focus on the subject of their topic. If you write on 5 different and non-related topics, people won’t know what to expect from your blog. This is highly ineffective in gaining subscribers and building a blog that people appreciate.

5. Blog on a set schedule – There is no right answer to how often one should blog. Whatever schedule you start out with, make sure you stick with it every week. Take for example, Mashable. After visiting the site a couple of times, you can safely expect to see a new article every single day. The important thing is that they stick with that routine.

6. Study SEO like your life depended on it – Driving traffic to your blog through search engines is what you call “organic traffic.” Other types include referral sites, and direct traffic. Of the three mentioned, organic traffic is what you need to be able to sustain long-term visibility of your blog.

7. Guest post – I can’t think of any other way to market a blog besides guest posting. Ok, maybe I can. But the point is, guest posting is useful in showcasing your writing talent and knowledge to new readers. For better results, I recommend guest posting in big blogs. Don’t wait, send them an email today.

Nik Imran is the writer of IMakeABlog, a blog that provides steps on how to make blog. If you are interested in creating a blog, be sure to check his steps on how to choose domain names. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.