Cool I Got 100% On A Marketing Quiz At Quizmoz.com

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing For Beginners.

Test Your Marketing Knowledge With A Free Quiz From Quizmoz.com!...

Photo by me :-).

Taking a small quiz for different thing you know or want to know is a great way to do three things:

1. See if you have what it takes to be in the market or career you are following.
2. See the areas where you need to improve or need to outsource for help.
3. By taking a quiz is a forward step to put yourself in a learning environment.

I recommend you to go to Quizmoz (where you can test yourself, or create polls for others to take) and take a free quiz, this is a fun way to learn and...

• To help you identify topics that you can turn into content for your niche business.
• And To help you get to know what people is asking about a specific topic, this data can help your product creation effort, which can turn into developing a valuable product or service.

My Score.

The small marketing quiz I took was very good, it wasn't as challenging as I wanted to be. But, it was good enough to actually make me think for a minute or two on one of the questions.

Check my results:

LUIS GALARZA's Marketing Quiz Score Report Total number of questions: 14 Total number of correct answers: 14 Your QuizMoz Score: 100% Average Score for this quiz: 60% Number of people taken this quiz: 553 Maximum score for this quiz: 100% More quizzes

So, don't wait go and test yourself... And let know how you did, by sending me a tweet to @Luis_Galarza or posting your score in the comment area of this article.

Here is another way to put yourself in a learning environment, just check the Internet Entrepreneurs Club where you not only learn from top experts by you can also be part of an elite forum full of online marketers to share and get advice!

Recommended Resources.

- Become an Internet Marketing Certified Specialist.
- The Step-By-Step Guide To Selling Online.

Recommended Books.

- The Social Media Bible.

- Inbound Marketing.

Keep learning, knowledge is power my dear friends!...

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant In Massachusetts.

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Business owners air loan complaints

HAGERSTOWN — They’re designed to help struggling small businesses stay open, refocus and get their cash flow back on track in the struggling economy.

But local business owners complained Monday night at City Hall that special loans for businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration are slow to get approved.

Provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the interest-free loans are for up to $35,000. They are intended for established, viable businesses that need short-term help with their debts.

But Al McGarity said he and six other people were turned down for the loans even though they met all the program’s qualifications.

McGarity, owner of Robbies Billiards and Game Room Outfitters in Williamsport, said the bank told him and the others that the Small Business Administration turned down their loan requests.

McGarity told Edward Knox, lender relations specialist for the SBA, that the bank claimed that the SBA did not give a reason for the loan rejections.

Knox said the SBA will give reasons for rejecting loans, including that the borrower was not a U.S. citizen or that the person had too much money on hand to qualify.

Knox said the fact that McGarity was told that the SBA did not give a reason for the loan rejections did not give him a “warm and fuzzy” feeling.

Banks are saying the loans are not lucrative enough for them because no upfront fees can be charged, according to Knox.

One woman in the audience of about 20 people wondered if President Obama knew about the drawbacks of the loan program.

Knox said he is sure Obama would flip a switch to correct the situation if he could.

“But there is only so much he can do. There is only so much Congress can do,” Knox said.

Brent Bailey of Interstate Communication Services, an information technology company, stood up during the meeting and walked to the front of the room.

Bailey told Knox to let him know if some kind of incentive is offered to banks to stimulate the flow of loans.

“Then I’m in,” Bailey said.

“Without it, it’s just talk,” said Bailey, who left the meeting.

“It sounds like our banks are stopping us at the door,” said another woman in the audience.

The City of Hagerstown hosted the meeting so people could share their experiences with the program and offer ways to improve it.

Knox offered possible solutions, like going back to a bank again after an initial loan rejection. The bank might have changed its mind about the loans, Knox said.

Business owners can let banks know they are not happy about their decision not to offer the loans, Knox said.

Business owners also can take their business to another bank, although there might be a waiting period with the new bank before a loan can be considered, Knox said

Business Twitter hub in progress

I confess I'm a Twitter user and not just to keep up with friends. I use Twitter for on-the-spot news, links to coupons and keeping track of business, food and fashion trends.

Advertisement

I received a tweet from the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association drawing my attention to an article in The Wall Street Journal about how entrepreneurs use Twitter to get through a crisis.

The National restaurant and the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant associations stress that Twitter is a powerful tool for small businesses, especially during any sort of customer-service or public-relations crisis. However, I see an opportunity for Hattiesburg businesses to use Twitter not only for crises but to use it as a public relations machine, as well as to keep up with business articles in the Hattiesburg American.

I'm thinking of starting our own Hattiesburg business Twitter to keep all businesses and customers up-to-date with sales, holiday closings, hiring fairs and special events. Send an e-mail my way if you want to take part or even if you have ideas on how to run it and work out the kinks.
Openings

# The Grill and Grocery, 121 E. Pine St., opened next to Go Young Fashions. The G&G is a combination convenience store and a grill/takeout eatery with a very interesting menu. The G&G is open Monday through Saturday. Details: 336-7986.

# Elements Salon is moving to Canebrake Country Club, 1 Cane Drive, and will reopen as Elements Salon and Spa at Canebrake. The salon, with full spa and massage, has a tentative opening date of Sept. 30.

# Topher's Rock 'n' Roll Grill will open in the old Ray Ray's Fried Chicken building, 5252 Old U.S. 11 in Hattiesburg. The family-oriented, fast food restaurant plans to open Oct. 1. Owned by the parent company that also owns The Bottling Company and Mugshots, the restaurant promises tasty burgers and vintage music memorabilia. Details: 336-7418 or visit www.tophersgrill.com.

# Gatti Town is slated to open this fall. It is located between Best Buy and Toys 'R Us.

# Qdoba Mexican Grill is expected to open Nov. 1 on Hardy Street between Applebee's and Wachovia Bank.

# Auto Barn is being built at the corner of Emerald Lane and Broadway Drive. No completion date was given.

# An independently-owned burger shop is being built in the former Popeye's on U.S. 49 location. No completion date was given.
Events

# The Kitchen Table will host Young Chefs with Julia at 4 p.m. Sept. 28. Participants will learn to cook pasta jambalaya, white chocolate bread pudding with white chocolate sauce. Cost: $35. Details: 261-2224.

# Curves is offering a free 30-day diet program for Hattiesburg-area women Sept. 30 at Curves of Hattiesburg on the corner of Hardy Street and North 25th Avenue. Details: 450-2878 or visit www.curves.com.

Wotif to sponsor Canadian Football Team London City

How is this for a marketing first? An Australian based online travel company buys space on the shirts of a Canadian Football team named after an English city. Wotif.com have announced a sponsorship deal with London City football (Canadian team) that will include logos on the clothing and fan accommodation booking site (LondonCityAway). Not the first time we have discussed sports sponsorship in online trave here at the BOOT. Wotif as a company (up until recently) is not famous for pure brand spent marketing. If you'd ask me to bet on what would be the next brand spend announcment, then sponsoring a Canadian football team would have been a long way down on the list of items that would have got my wager. What do you think? Crazy for an online player to sponsor a football team?

The Importance of SEO in Internet Marketing

When you think about , what do you think of first? Which aspects of are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

If you are already running an Internet marketing campaign or are about to embark on an Internet marketing campaign, one concept you cannot afford to skimp on is search engine optimization ( seo ). SEO is one of the most popular buzz words in Internet marketing but unfortunately most Internet marketers aptly do not know enough about seo to make this strategy work for them. Even those who are knowledgeable about SEO may have difficulty executing their seo strategies to produce the desired affect.

Advertising is a very important extra of running any type of business. You need to advertise to reach new customers and market your products or services. Whether you run your business online or not you probably already realize how earnest substantial is to advertise but if you are running your business online you should understand there is a great deal of free advertising available in the form of optimal try engine rankings.

Well known search engines homologous as Google rank websites according to complex algorithms which are designed to determine which websites are most relevant for particular search terms. Therefore taking the time and venture to optimize your website for relevant search terms may result in you being rewarded with high search engine rankings for these terms. This is important since most Internet users rely heavily on these rankings. Firm is not uncommon for Internet users to matchless review the first few results when they search for a particular term. This means if your website ranks high enough to appear on the first page of the search results you will likely enjoy increased website traffic. However, if your website doesn’t make it to the first page or even the second page, firm is unlikely you will receive a great deal of website traffic from visitors who use search engines.

Now that you perceive why go into gadget rankings are so important you might wonder how to achieve these rankings. The easiest way to optimize your website is to hire a SEO specialist to do the work for you. The macrocosm of seo is complex and continually evolving making it difficult for most business owners who do not specialize in seo to keep up with the changes in the industry.

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about ? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Therefore, business owners who attempt to optimize their website by themselves may have difficulty keeping up with competitors who hire a seo consultant to optimize their website.

The algorithms used by search engines can exhibit rather complex and include a number of different factors. Some of the common factors in the equation include keyword density, META tags, titles, inbound links, website traffic and content.

Keyword density refers to the number of times a particular keyword is used in the content of your website. The theory behind this concept is that website which use a keyword often are likely extremely relevant to that keyword, however, overuse of that keyword may result in penalties to the website if the search engine deemed the keywords are not being used appropriately.

META tags are pieces of HTML justice which some search engines use in evaluating the content of a website. Placing keywords in these tags can body beneficial in some search engines. However, care should be taken to avoid placing irrelevant keywords in these tags as this may result in your website over penalized.

Inbound links are also used by some search engines to rank websites. Inbound links refer to links on other websites which point to your website. In evaluating the worth of these inbound links, some inquire into engines consider the rank of the website providing the link to your website. This means you should ensure the website providing inbound links to your website are high ranking websites to receive the most benefit from these links.

Ultimately, the content on your website can do a great deal to advance your search tool rankings. Most seo firms retain a staff of writers who are skilled at providing quality content which is also optimized for relevant keywords. If you hire a SEO firm who does not providing copywriting services you should invest in hiring a professional writer yourself. This will help to ensure the copy on your website is not only valuable to your visitors but also considered valuable to search engines.

PPPPP

Discussion count 714
So now you know a little bit about . Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

PhoCusWright: Model Blur - media and retail. Big deal for the industry but less for consumers

Philip Wolf is giving his opening monologue at the Centre Stage part of the PhoCusWright conference in LA. The second storm in the "Perfect Storm" is the merging of models in Travel between the media model and the retail model. The media model being eyeball focused, content companies that generate money from advertisers (think TripAdvisor and Away in the travel space, Yahoo!, MSN and online newspapers in the more general media space). The retail model is based on transactions direct with consumers (surely you don't need me to give you examples).

As part of the Philip's perfect storm analogy, these two models are coming together. Expedia has started doing Google Ad words, Partner Marketing is exploding on OTAs (TripAdvisor, Away, IgoUgo and the OTA sites themselves), companies like Hotel.de allow select/preferred hotels to bid for higher spots in the search results with increased margins (much like Google Ad words itself).

This is a big deal for the industry. Retailers embracing the media business is a signifcant and substantive business transformation (and one that I have said has to be executed cautiously and consciously). In a later session Jake Fuller of Thomas Weisel Partners said that while he expected much less consolidation in 2009 compared to 2008, if it does come it will come in OTAs/retailers expanding their media businesses.

But I think this shift is less of a big deal from the consumer point of view. The consumer is coming to online travel retailers and media companies with the same question and desire. Whether they come to a retailer or a media company they are still asking "where should I go and where can I get a good deal?".

My view - focus on answering the consumer question rather wondering which business model we are in or should be in. Answer the consumer need first and let that drive the product and business model needs.

Web Innovations: Free WiFi From Microsoft And MetroFi For Portland Ore.

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing And Make Money Online Tips.

Now Portland Ore. Have Free WiFi or Ad Supported WiFi Service After A Lucrative Partnership Between Microsoft And MetroFi!

This is indeed a good example on how to monetize web innovations from offline. Microsoft is always in the news when we talk about new services, but is good to know that the guys at MS aren't sleeping, and still thinking in an innovative way. This partnership with MetroFi will put Microsoft ahead of the game by mixing community service, innovation, and chances to make money.

MS really want to test this local marketing approach that will provide targeted local audience to their Adcenter advertisers, by simply providing a on-demand service to a city like Portland Ore. absolutely free. The service will be power by MSN Internet service, which will be sponsored by Adcenter advertising network.

Microsoft and MetroFi goal is for this free WiFi service to offer wireless Internet connection to 95% of Portland, which is about 500,000 people, a big audience for advertising looking to use online local marketing campaigns to gain leads and customers from this city.

Turning regular innovative ideas into strategic business innovations can help you grow your business customer base, and revenue. Plus, can give your company a competitive advantage over others that will eventually increase your market share.

Here is what MS mix to get to this lucrative local marketing strategy:

- Community service.
- High demand of wireless Internet service.
- Business innovation opportunity.
- Unique Selling Proposition. "Free WiFi".
- Competitive advantage.
- Secure money making strategy. "Local Adcenter Advertisers".
- Size of target market. "500,000 potential users".
- Size of direct and indirect competitors.
- Strategic Marketing plan.
- Strategic partnerships. "MetroFi".
- Execution or taking action.


Is not just about having a good idea, is about how are you going to make it work, where you idea will serve better, and when... It's today the right time, it is too late, or it will become a winner tomorrow.

Do you research before taking action on any new business or marketing strategy, and don't give up until finding a way to make it work or until you can enough market data that tells you that your idea is not worst going for it... but, even them testing can be a better way to know if a new innovation will be profitable or not.


Recommended Resources.

- Bebiz: Niche Internet Business Builder. New.
- Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online. New Version.


To learn how you can be part of an online association full with Internet business experts and advisers for less than 4 dollars, visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: Find ways to help your community that will provide free local marketing that will increase your market reach in your city. Remember that innovation doesn't need big budgets, but a good strategic business idea that will spread with easy word-of-mouth.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

A proud member of
- The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

Marketing Experiment: Burger King Found The Holy Grail of Marketing

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing And Make Money Online Tips.

It Is Possible That Burger King Found The Holy Grail Of Marketing?

Well in 2006 Burger King turn a marketing experiment into a marketing hit. Before I continue, what do you think will be the holy grail of marketing? What about getting a large amount of people spend hours viewing and interacting with your brand, and even have them paid you to do it.

Wow! Just imaging a powerful such marketing strategy will be, how much new customers will you company generate, how many more sales, and what about doubling your income and profits, because people is paying you to view your brand and marketing message. Well, my dear online marketers this is exactly what Burger King did. By mixing a good design and develop video game with their branding strategies.

They actually have their customers paid $3.99 for each video game, which feature their King, the Whopper Jr., and the Subservient Chicken. The game development aim to the most popular video game console on that year, which is still the number one today, the Microsoft Xbox.... the video game have the BK characters riding racing small motor-bikes, bumper cars, and also you need to give hamgurgers to people, the game became so popular that it sold over 2 million copies in about 4 weeks, which made it the best selling xBox games that was launch on the holiday season in 2006. Plus, was part of the top 10 best selling video games of that year.

Did the marketing experiment worked... Yes, it did! Burger King increase sales on that quarter and pull a 9% increase on their revenue.

As you see while others were talking about video game advertising or Gamevertising, BK were taking that new brand marketing channel into the next level, by making it's own game, that turn into a viral marketing bullet.

As a marketing beginners with not much money to invest, how can you still use such a good marketing strategy?

This can be a big question, but before I give you some tips on how you can apply such a strategy and find your own holy grail, you need to understand that this post it's mean to inspire the creativity in you, it's about thinking different ways to have your customers engage with your brand, and build trust.

TIPS: A few simple things you can do to gain some viral marketing momentum for your Internet business.

1.- Go to sites like Elance.com, Guru.com, and Rent-A-Coder, and hire a video game developer to create a small but fun video game that is related to your company. And maybe make you the main character in the game.

2.- You can create something that doesn't compete with your main offerings, and give it away for free. Remember that have to be something that can carry your brand and site URL with it. Also, need to be something that people is looking for, because if nobody is looking for what you created, your campaign will fail from start.

3.- If you decide on using online video, to have the same effect as Burger King video game did, you need to make a long video with a lot of quality information. Ad, slide show, images, or at least a white board to help people interact better with with you.

I hope this few tips can get you started, and maybe find a marketing holy grail that will generate massive web traffic and revenue for you.


Recommended Resources.

- Internet Wealth Explosion Training System. NEW! Scam review.
- Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online. New Version.
- Search Marketing Lab. To be ahead of the SEO strategies that work.
- Insider Secrets To Email Marketing. Learn List Building and Ezine Marketing.


To learn how you can be part of an online small business association full with Internet marketing experts and consultants less than 4 bucks visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.


In Conclusion: Always experiment with different ways to get your customers spend more time with your brand, and a marketing message that will make them understand what you offers are.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

A proud member of
- The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

Positioning Your Painting Business...

Positioning your painting business has nothing to do with quality, longevity or price... It has everything to do with being at the top of a home owners mind when their looking for a painter.

The main focus of positioning should be to ask yourself:

1. How do I position myself as the painter of choice in the minds of the home owners in a certain neighborhood?
   
   
2. What actions do I have to take to make this happen?

The answer to those questions is marketing... consistent, low cost, effective marketing strategies. (I lay out 16 of them in step-by-step detail in the Painting for Profits course.)

One of my favorites - both for its extraordinary low cost and for its amazingly high ROI (return on investment). No it's not door hangers, although door hangers are great IF you know how to write them correctly.

What I'm talking about is radius marketing.

Radius Marketing is one of the most powerful and cost effective marketing strategies available for promoting your painting business!

Your next satisfied customer is closer than you think!

As a painting contractor who offers painting services, the needs of your clients and their neighbors are often very similar. Homes in subdivisions are built around the same time and as a result are often in need of similar services at the same time. This is especially true with painting!

With the Radius Marketing system for paint contractors, you can now have a tool at your fingertips to launch as little as a 50 piece direct mail campaign to the closest neighbors of the job you just completed… All in less than 12 seconds!

As far as paid advertising goes…I have found nothing that works better or is as powerful as radius marketing because neighbors love to hear your painting business was the trusted source used by neighbors or friends just down the street.

This marketing program is a perfect match for those in the business of:

• Interior and Exterior Residential Repaints
• Power Washing
• Or any other handyman type service

Radius Marketing is an innovative marketing solution. Imagine a simple, sophisticated and powerful system that automatically targets new prospects right around the job you just completed. (Or a neighborhood you hope to work in).

Best of all you can launch a powerful direct marketing campaign in just 12 seconds from your computer and it costs $39.50 per complete mail campaign (4.25x5.5 full color postcard) or $44.50 for the Jumbo 6x11 full color postcard.

You’ll never need to buy another list, lick another stamp or print another letter or card because they do it all for you automatically!

Once you’re set up, you’ll just login to the system, enter the address of the job you just left and hit the submit button. From there they handle the rest.

To view a demo of the Radius Marketing Program and see how easy it is to get a complete mailing campaign started, just log in at www.smartleadsusa.net, enter username: brad123, password: brad123. Hit Enter Jobsite Address and put in your address – about 12 seconds of effort!

It’s like having a multi million dollar print and mail facility attached to your desktop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! They even give you the mailing list!

This is truly one of the best marketing strategies I have come across in years! Be sure to request additional information from Sherie Carlson by clicking here right now!

Internet Marketing, Pool, And Chess

By Luis Galarza - Internet Marketing And Make Money Online Tips.

What Internet Marketing, Pool And Chess Have In Common? Entrepreneurs Can Learn A Lot From The Special Factor That Help Pool And Chess Players Succeed!

I'm not talking only about the average pool and chess player games, I talking about the success factor that makes a an excellent player. Why mentioning these type of games when referring to Internet marketing? Well, my friend I am follower of success, and I think is always a good idea to analyze different kind of successful techniques and examples that can give me lessons about how to improve myself and my company when applying it to my regular business and marketing strategies.

Let me tell you, I learn a lot from regular live example of success and proven achieving strategies. And if you ever seen a good pool or chess player and pay close attention to the way they play, you will notice that is a strategic thinking behind every single of their moves, and that is the strategy of "Two Ahead". This mean that pool players think two shots ahead and chess players think two moves ahead. The key words here is "ahead", being two moves ahead of your competition or two move ahead in your market, is the art of putting strategic business innovation to work for your company.

What pool and chess good players can teach you about Internet marketing is that thinking two moves ahead is a key factor for your success online.

Just imaging putting this business tactic to work for you, imaging getting to steps ahead of your competition and by the time they trying to keep up with your marketing you already another two steps ahead.

Let's think about the pool player for a minute... Imagine someone that has as his only source of income a daily visit to a billiard hall. This mean that if he looses, he will not be able to eat, drink, or put a roof over his head, so for this person pool it's not just a game, for him it's serious business. So, he can't be just good add it, he need to be the best player in that hall.

How he does this? By thinking two strategic shots ahead all the time, this help him put more balls in the pockets than his competition and win.

Internet marketing is simple but the marketplace is a hard to crack, and if you think two shots ahead like the pool player, you can win more marketing battles which give you a a better market share, which mean more loyal customers and off course more money.


Apply The "Two Ahead Strategic Thinking" Method.

- If you are a physical or information product creator you can think on the next two products that can solve a problem in your niche. Is good to know where the market is going and the hot trends involving your industry to have a better understanding of what you can create next.

- If your goal is to use Internet marketing to promote your product or to promote affiliate programs, use this technique to find two new creative ways to promote your business. But, don't forget to think about strategic innovations to increase sales or to drive more targeted traffic to your web site or blog.

Why I mention strategic business innovations all the time in this post? You need to remember that the entrepreneurs that are making big money online in the product creation market, Internet marketing, and affiliate marketing are the ones that create new innovations that solve a current problem in a better way or they just found a new way to do it. A few examples of top experts and companies thinking ahead to stay ahead are:

- Google, making billions with Adwords and Adsense.
- Seth Goudin, the creator of Squidoo, his unusual but great marketing books.
- Derek Gehl, with the new easy online application called Bebiz, and keeping the number one marketing training spot for 10 years with "Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online" course.
- Microsoft, when enter the video game market with a computer type of console called "XBox".

Now none of this can be possible without action, so taking action is crucial to make the tactic work.


Recommended Resources.

- Internet Business Training System. NEW! 16 DVD's and free access to BeBiz.
- Search Marketing Lab. To be ahead of the SEO strategies that work.


In Conclusion: This Internet marketing method is a incredible effective way to build a longterm list of loyal customers, to increase your market share, and to create a consistent revenue generating machine.

To learn how you can be part of a small business association full with Internet marketing experts visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of
- The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

Expedia and the death of the dotcom

A brand refresh has come out of Seattle in the last week or so. Without much fanfare we can see a softening in the curves and tone of the Expedia Brand. As a trusted reader put it "a subtle change in the font, to make it easier to read...more inspiring". Not sure about the inspiring part but I did notice a subtle but I think critical change in the new logo. In the US Expedia site, the logo no longer contains the domain. As well as a font change, Expedia US has in effect changed it's name from Expedia.com to simply - Expedia.

In the early days the ".com" part was critical. It told consumers exactly where they could find Expedia. It also told customers that Expedia was part of the travel revolution. But in 2008, Expedia has the call centre phone number as prominent on the website as the booking engine, has owned a top offline wholesaler (Classic Vacations) for more than 6 years and has joined with Cruise Ship Centers International Inc. to launch co-branded stores (seekingalpha story) - that is right an offline physical location. All of this is clearly telling the Marketing people at Expedia that "dotcom" is dead.

Makes some sense - the US market has crossed the 50% threshold (ie majority of leisure market is online). There is no need to convince consumers that online is good. Online is now just normal. There is no need to include in the logo a mechanism to identify that the company can be found online when in the US market - every single company can be found online.

Expedia in the UK is not yet convinced. They have taken on the brand change but are keeping the domain. But then the UK has not hit 50% (yet). Thanks to a reader for the UK logo comparison picture that beats the pants out of my old versus new efforts with the US logo.

Marketing Poll Results From March 2008

By Luis Galarza - Marketing Training.

So, You Guys Want Me To Add To This Internet Marketing Blog... The Poll Results Are Talking!

In March (2008) I posted a poll to ask you my readers what you want me to add to this blog as part of the Internet marketing training resource. And the results were...

- Video Training - 35% votes.
- Free Downloads - 35% votes.
- Free Reports or eBooks - 20% votes.
- Free Question Line - 10% votes.

Well, base on this I'll already started adding free downloads (videos, ebooks, and tools), and videos will be ready by the middle of this month. As you know you can download or listen to my blog post as audio podcast anytime. The question and answers is being set up, I will let you know when ready, for now just post your question on the comment boxes from each post.

To learn proven Internet marketing strategies, I recommend you to check Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online 2008 Version. This is the number one Internet marketing training for over 10 years.


In Conclusion: Learn as much as you can from my articles, and please give me your point of view or ask me any question and will answer you in the next post. Thanks for your support.

To learn how can you be part of a small business association full with marketing experts for only $2.95 visit the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of

The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs

.

Technorati tags: Luis Galarza, Online Marketing, April Fools,

Best Internet Marketing Articles From February 2008 By Luis Galarza

By Luis Galarza - Marketing Training.

Just And Case You Missed Them... Here Is The List Of My Best Internet Marketing Articles From February 2008, Pick By...!

I'll be going to make a few post like this one that will list the best article on a given month. To make the articles more useful for you, I'm going to make the necesary updates to each blog post that will be part of the list of Luis Galarza's best Internet marketing articles starting on the year 2006, which was the bigging and continue from there.

Here are the list of my best Internet marketing articles from February 2008, and how the articles were picked:

1. eBook Publishing To Grow Your Online Business.
2. Hot Products To Sell Online On February 2008.
3. Lead Capture Page For Beginners - Also Called Squeeze Page.
4. Free Article Directories List For SEO Link Building Successful Marketing Campaign.
5. Digg Sucks - Blog Marketing There Is Like Throwing Crap In The Toilet.
6. Internet Marketing: Free Kudzu Business Premium Profile.
7. News: Yahoo Said No To Microsoft Takeover Bid Offer.
8. Google Toolbar Overwriting 404 Error Pages.
9. Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online Version 2008 Review And Free Video Report.
10. Internet Marketing Definition For Beginners.
11. Free SEO Tool Shows You On What Keywords Your Site Is Ranking High.
12. Why eBook Publishing Business Is The Perfect Online Based Start-up For Beginners.
13. Selling Video Infoproducts On Blue Ray Disc or HD DVD Is Useless.
14. Free Mobile Marketing For Beginners Bloggers.
15. I Hate Pop Ups And Hover Ads But They Work.
16. Send Instant Messaging Ads With EyeWonder InstantWonder.
    

Each Internet marketing article were picked base on the traffic that created for this blog. I did it this way because the more traffic an article generates means that blog post had a good topic that entrepreneurs are interest in, plus had more one way back links.

To learn proven Internet marketing strategies, I recommend you to check Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online 2008 Version. This is the number one Internet marketing training for over 10 years.


In Conclusion: Learn as much as you can from the Internet marketing articles above, and please let me know if you think I miss a blog post you think it should part of this list, or if an article that shouldn't be here.

To learn how can you be part of the Internet Entrepreneurs Club for only $2.95 click here.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of

The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs

.

Technorati tags: Luis Galarza, Online Marketing, Digital Products, Selling eBooks On eBay, Sell On eBay, Sell Infoproducts, Selling Online,

Bring The Sexy Back To Your Online Banners

By Luis Galarza - Affiliate Marketing Secret Training Guide Blog.

Is True, Online Banners Aren't Sexy And Don't Work Any More For Internet Marketing... BUT, Only When You Design Them The Wrong Way!

Hi everyone, today I want to talk about how you can bring the sexy back into your online banners marketing campaign and make them deliver response. I going to try to make it short, because I'm a little exhausted today... I was helping one of my local clients develop a strategic Internet marketing plan for his new blog. I told him I will help him have a good plan on his hand even if take all night, which it did... but, his was happy with the finish project, and that makes me happy.

OK, so let's talk about online banners, I'm not going to tell you that they don't have the same type of response like 10 years ago, but there is hope...

Now after a lot of testing and seminars, I can tell you what type of banners are the one that will increase conversions like: Click-through, pre-selling that sells, and, oh! Hold on, I'm not talking about other uses for banners that also work, I will get into that tomorrow, after I get some sleep :)

First you need to forget including...

- Quick flashing animated images.
- Crazy high quality graphics.
- The "Click Here" message.
- Actually today you will not use any images.

Here is the secret: Online banners that have the highest conversion and responses are the ones that look like any other type of text ad. Yes, the secret was that simple, you have to remember that words sell not the graphics.

What the graphics do is complement the sales copy of your ad. Also to help your banner marketing campaign have a successful response, you have to:

1.- Follow the regular creation pattern of a contextual ad: Your ad sales copy needs to have a catchy headline, a irresistible offer on the body of the sales copy, and a call to action.

2.- Let Your Sales Copy Be Read: You need one of two things. Add enough white space so your copy can be easily read, for example: if you use white background make sure your text is in a really lite color. And second you can use a good contrast on colors and images as soon your text stand out, if not trash the images and keep the text.

3.- Don't Even Think About Telling Them Who You Are: Remember today I'm talking about how to increase the responses that you get from your banner advertising campaign, not using banner marketing as branding exposure tool. So, keep your ego at home, and take the sales copy hat to the office... This mean don't add your site domain name or URL, in your banner, this will tell your viewers that the only way they can get the information they want they have to click on the banner. Plus, this way you can track the advertising results, and use split testing on your ads to help you optimize your results.

4.- Let Them Know You Don't Want Them To Click Your Banner: Don't get confuse, what I mean with this is that you need to use the ad copy to pre-qualify your banner ad viewers, so you only get clicks from a targeted prospect not just any one. For example, if you don't want free ride seekers, just add the prise of your product or service on the ad copy, this will keep free riders away from clicking, which will increase your web site sales conversion.

TIP: Make your ad sales copy interesting and get your prospects curiosity high enough to make them click to check what you have to offer. And another thing... Make sure your landing page is customize for each banner, this is what will increase sales conversion for you even more.


I recommend you to check Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business Online 2008 Version. This is the number one Internet marketing training for over 10 years.


In Conclusion: Test your banners, track everything, and do small changes, until you find the winner ad. Split test colors, headline, sales copy, the call to action, and do the same with your landing pages.

To learn how can you be part of the Internet Entrepreneurs Club for only $2.95 click here.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant Massachusetts.

About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of

The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs

.

Technorati tags: Luis Galarza, Online Marketing, Banner Advertising, Banner Conversions, Banner Ads, Increase Conversions,

Marketing Basics That Internet Marketers Should Know Today

By Luis Galarza - Affiliate Marketing Secret Training Guide Blog

I always like to start my blog post with a little introduction paragraph about the content or the final lesson inside the articles, but this time I want to quote a little phrase spoken by a Internet marketing genius in one of his ebooks, he specialize in Affiliate marketing, his name is Ewen Chia.

"It doesn't matter if you've the best products, biggest list or most traffic. You still fail if you don't know the basics of good old fashion marketing... you'll still stumble if you can't connect with your market... you'll still waste your efforts if you don't push the hot buttons that make people BUY your products."

You can find the rest of this phrase and all the marketing information that this ebook and the rest of Ewen Chia affiliate marketing membership has by subscribing to his site for only $9.99. Personally, I think he is crazy because he offers so much information, access to his private blog, and high quality bonuses to his members for so little... But, that's the way to do it, that's why I completely recommend you to sign up. Plus, you just learn another powerful marketing lesson, which is:

"Always Over Deliver, Always Provide Some Of The Best Information Or Offer You Have, And Eventually You Will Make A Lot Of Money Front Those That Trust In Your Knowledge And Products!" By Luis Galarza :)

I guess this is a good subject for another article or blog post...

Before I forget, Ewen Chia affiliate marketing membership site and ebook:

- "Affiliate Secret Weapon" (excellent for new marketers)
- Also check "Super Affiliate Course" (advanced affiliate marketing)


Back to my main subject "Marketing basics that Internet marketers should know."

Everyone from business experts to new entrepreneurs know that marketing is one of the most difficult parts of any business online or offline, for that reason many people buy different types of marketing books and ebooks (electronic or digital books) that hopefully explain practical strategies that really work in a way that is easy for them to understand.

When you developing a marketing program or writing a marketing plan for your online business, to ensure it success make sure your program is:

- Organized
- Systematic
- Goals Base On Customer Demands


Organized
You need to have a step-by-step plan that fill your day with tasks that will increase your customer base and sales while maintaining a good budget control (of money and time). Also, is good to have deadlines on each part of your project to increase effectiveness.

Systematic
Your marketing program have to be programmable specially on the Internet which is a always changing communication channel, needs to be easy to track and analyse. Also, this means that your plan becomes a system that anyone in your company can follow.

Goals Base On Customer Demands
Don't confuse your online business goals with your marketing goals. Your business goals are exactly what you want your company to achieve, while your marketing goals need to focus on what your target customers want or need, and if you deliver on their demands you will achieve your company goals, too.

All this ingredients are very important because is your job as a marketer to find customers, motivate them to purchase your products, and then motivate them again to repeat a purchase or to buy one of your up-sell offers which can be an affiliate program product or one of your own. This process can be easy if you build a marketing system that is customer demand goal oriented and well organized.


So, What's marketing for you?
As you may know marketing is the soul of every business online or offline... and just you can also go to Google, Yahoo or any of the top search engines and look for what Wikipedia or online dictionaries have to say about the meaning of marketing... but, that's not what I mean, and just to save you the trouble here is what Wikipedia say about marketing:

"Marketing is a societal process that is needed to discern consumers' wants; focusing on a product/service to those wants, and to mould the consumers towards the products/services. Marketing is fundamental to any businesses growth. The marketing teams (Marketers) have the task to create the consumer awareness of the products/services through marketing techniques; unless it pays due attention to its products/services and consumers' demographics and desires, a business will not usually prosper long-term."

Maybe I had to reword my question, because what I mean is: What your customers think about your marketing strategies? I ask you this, because the best way to know how customers want to be approach in a specific market is by asking them and by collecting research data from different sources.

You can use polls, surveys, top search keyword research, etc. You need to collect as much data as you can, analyze it and change your marketing plan to better find your customers or take a Web 2.0 or social media marketing approach and let them find you.

In simple words, you need to see your marketing from your customers eyes.


What marketing can do for your online business?
A good organized, systematic, and customer demands focus marketing program can find your target customers, motivate them to buy, and re-buy your product or service. For many entrepreneurs this can be a hard task... you have to find a good amount of qualify prospects, them some how you need to convince them to purchase what you offer, then help them understand the use of it, and then you need to compel them to purchase again.

OK, I want you to take a look a your marketing plan, program or system or just simple look a what you are doing now to increase your web traffic and sales. Please answer this questions about your marketing plan:

1.- Are testing different sales copy and ad formats to see which one perform better?

2.- Are you presenting your offer in an fashionable way to the right prospects?

3.- Is your web site, blog or landing page copywriting effective enough to make them take action now? (buy, opt-in, call, subscribe)

4.- Are you helping them to understand what to do next? (use your service or product, login to learn more, check their email for the free course or coupon, have a notepad and pen when calling)

5.- Are you using fire back end sales strategies to compel them to purchase again?

6.- Are you tracking the results of each marketing campaign?

7.- Are you trashing what doesn't work and mastering what does?

Here other related articles you should check:

- "Internet Marketing Beginner Think About This Before Starting A Business This Year"

- "eBook Marketing Plan: 7 Success Steps For Newbies"

- "Video Marketing Strategy Number One Tip"

- "Internet Marketing Books Are Full Of Crap"

- "What Is A Unique Selling Message Or Proposition - USP"

Internet marketing give you a lot of ways to track and test your advertising efforts, below is a list of resources to help you develop a good marketing program for your own online business.

To learn how can you be part of the Internet Entrepreneurs Club click here.

To your success,

Luis Galarza, Internet Marketing Consultant


About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Internet Marketing and Small Business Consultant in the area of Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Also, he had teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online and offline without their own product.

A proud member of

The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs
.

UGC vs Editorial. What's better? What's the balance? What's more 2.0?

A debate is going on about content and Travel 2.0/Web 2.0. What is better at providing recommendations and information - the crowd or the specialist? TripAdvisor has proven that that crowd has power. Millions of people with millions of points of view producing a searchable and understandable review mechanism. But Web 2.0 is also pushing back on the size and difficulty of listening to the crowd. This has produced plenty of sites that believe that editorial is now critical - for exampl human search start up Mahalo is producing dedicated and editorially driven guides.

The crowds eliminate the errors of a editorial statistical sample of one but there is a point at which UGC is too hard to navigate. Ever tried surfing YouTube? Just going to the YouTube homepage with no plan in mind and looking around for something to watch rarely produces entertainment. Compare that experience to going to Break.com or Digg Videos where an editor or technology backed by the community has produced an easy list to tell you what they think you should watch. There are less videos on Digg and Break, and you may not like the ones you see, but you can be certain that you will find easily something to watch that does not involve a cat or an idiot miming Justin Timberlake.

Travel reviews and content are similar. As much as I shift from giving Lonely Planet a good and a bad time for their online activities there is a sense of comfort and certainty you get from reading a Lonely Planet story or recommendation. This comfort comes from their brand, their readership but mainly from their editorial rigour. They send someone to everywhere they review and they send them back again and again. This is the pure editorial model. The positive of it is that trust is already established and time and energy is spent maintaining that trust. The downside is that it is less reactive. The editorial based product sometimes misses updates because its research or publishing cycle is...well.. by definition a cycle and not immediate.

In the wisdom of the crowds model you throw as many human beings as you can at a problem/issue/thing/wall and hope that the accumulation of knowledge produces the right answer and that the right answer can be filtered by those looking for it. This is what TripAdvisor does and there is a point at which for every hotel they have their is a terrible review (room sucks, staff awful, never again), a brilliant review (love it...oh my God I love it) and a whatever review (it was ok, kinda, sorta, you know). I discussed this my "Who you callin' ugly post" about Travelpost.com.

As with all these things it is about balance. You need the crowds to give you the immediacy of updates and the statistical spread but you need the editors or trusted uber user to help you sift and order the information. This has problems of scale (how do you balance controlling quality across a huge range of destinations and information) and openness (to be an editor involves cutting out some of the crowd - a crowd that can get ugly when you cut them out).

My thoughts on how to balance this are the same as for a transactional site/intermediary that has thousands of hotel/supplier options. In the early days of hotel/air intermediaries there was discussion that as some point a limit to the number of choices would arise. How could a consumer possibly look through 10,000 hotels, then 20,000 hotels, then 30,000? Now people like HRS and hotel.de are claiming 200,000+ hotels. The answer is more than better search technologies. It is combing technology, merchandising/rev management smarts and user reviews to generate sort order biasing. This is the approach that content companies need to follow. Match UGC with editorial biasing.

This thinking came to me in an email exchange with a startup pitching itself as the review/information site that has found the balance. The email exchange was with Jim Johnson Vice President of Product Management of LocalGuides.com - itself a spin off from a local search company called LocalMatters. The LocalGuides site is a site that wants to provide...well...local guides. Detailed information on destinations about activities, restaurants, hotels etc. Jim and I had a very interesting mail exchange on the how they would find the balance. Here is what he had to say...

"Our approach to Local Guides has been to seed the site with the key editorial content to provide users a starting point to iterate based on their own local expertise. The interesting transformation is the community has used the tools to create a personal publishing platform (think blogging on steroids) in ways beyond what we originally thought. Guides have been created around making sushi at home, best concert venues and how to get out of the doghouse with your wife. We expected more top 10 restaurants’, hotels and bars to be the norm. The distinguishing focus on Local Guides is in its “personal local publishing” orientation; rather than aggregating all user’s content into one summary view of a business or place, it supports each user’s unique views as “guides”, and builds community around exploring, sharing and relating to “individual voices”. While sites like TripAdvisor, while highly useful for opinion aggregation, we aim to retain the opinion and viewpoint of each individual. Somewhat more of a “reporter’s view”, if you will."

Their view is that the editors set up the framework, provide the basic facts and guidance and then let the crowd fill in the detail with more freedom than you see on TripAdvisor. It is hard to provide much commentary on their approach and whether it will work as the site is in beta - though I would call it very early beta maybe even alpha as there is a lot more content that they need (editorial or otherwise). I like the idea but not sure if that will provide the balance I have discussed. If you give the crowd too much control you risk looking like the comment list in a popular video on YouTube.

Been a bit of a long post but would be interested to hear your thoughts on getting the balance between the crowd and the editor.

SALES QUOTES: February 3, 2006 Sales Quote

Provided by Luis Galarza

"Remember always that you have not only

the right to be an individual;

you have an obligation to be one."

.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

U.S. First Lady,

U.N. diplomat, humanitarian

.

Sales Quotes Power by
Cogni360: Lower Your Phone Bill!
.

SALES TOOLS: Free Customer service checklist

By Luis Galarza

Free Sales Tools.- I just got this sale tool from a Sales Training Company, is a customer service checklist and I though everyone should have this tool, which can hepl you and your sales team provide better experience to your customers. Remember that good customer service is a sales opportunity.

Engaging with the customer, in every case, is an opportunity to further enhance your relationship and build even higher barriers to competitive entry.

Quality customer service is defined by the individual experiencing it-- one size, one solution does not work... buyers want to be treated as unique individuals. However, companies renowned for their customer service know that one can orchestrate or create a customer service experience that most often exceeds customers’ expectations.

Use this link to audit your team's (and your own) skills with the customer service checklist by justsell.com.

About the Author:
Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn telecommunication tip at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr/. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com.

INTERENT MARKETING: How the Super Bowl Football can Increase Your Web Traffic?

By Luis Galarza

Free Internet Marketing Tips.- That's right my friends, Super Bowl weekend is finally here. What's the significance of such a game you ask? Well, not only does this mean one of the most-watched sporting events will be on, those who watch it will be privy to a online community bonanza that you don't normally see, save for the Christmas season. In fact, watching the Super Bowl has become an event all of its own. There are a number of social groups, forums, online clubs that discuss which ads, which player, or team were the best and so on.

Keeping with the theme of this coming weekend, I thought I have to tell you to dedicate some time to Super Bowl score predictions and the actual game. And become a online discussion maniac, there are a number waiting to start talking on online forums, and chat rooms about this. Before and after the game. So, if you'd like to get in the spirit of the weekend, drop by and tell who you think is going to win or lose, talk about the pass, the players, answer questions, and anything about the game. So, go and sign up for football groups, and discoss all you want, do not post ads, or direct marketing text... That will get you out of the groups for spams.

So, how you'd use online forums to gain web traffic for Free. Simple, write a little signature (about you text) file of no more than 3 lines and put it at the end of each comment, question, or answer you post. Make it good enaugh to make people click on it, use the classifieds strategies to make viewers exting to click and see what's on the other side of the link.

Don't try to sell anything on your signature file, your goal is to make them click not get up set with you for turning your signature file into an spam ad...

Read all the group guidelines, first to avoid any probelms.

Good luck!

You guys have a great weekend and if you having a Super Bowl party, make sure you do so safely.


About Author:
Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn how to save money own your phone bill at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr/. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com
.

BUSINESS JOKES: Business one-liners jokes, Part 01

By Luis Galarza

Business Jokes.- I think is time to have some laugh, and i got these one line jokes from a friend of mine. Hope everyone enjoy these tiny jokes...

A President of a democracy is a man who is always ready, willing, and able to lay down your life for his country.

A backscratcher will always find new itches; a brown-noser will always find new sense.

A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.

A bird in the bush usually has a friend in there with him.

A bird in the hand is always safer than one overhead.

A bird in the hand is dead.A bird in the hand makes it hard to blow your nose.

A boss with no humor is like a job that is no fun.

A clean tie attracts the soup of the day.

A closed mouth gathers no foot.


About Author:
Luis Galarza is a Business and Communication Consultant. Learn how to save money own your phone bill at: http://www.cogni360blog.co.nr/. And get your free business tips at: http://LuisGalarza.blogspot.com
.